
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 9, 1994                   TAG: 9403090046
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LON WAGNER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

VIRGINIA ADDING JOBS

Employment in Virginia rose 3 percent in January, the best rate of growth since the state began coming out of recession in April 1992, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Tuesday.

The service industry led statewide job growth with a 5.5 percent increase, which translated to an estimated 41,600 jobs added. The trade sector - wholesale and retail - showed the second-largest increase, adding 21,700 jobs for a growth rate of 3.4 percent.

Manufacturing was again the heaviest drag on the state's economy, losing 1,900 jobs from January 1993 to January 1994. But the VEC noted that if two industrial sectors that have been hard hit by defense industry cutbacks - transportation equipment and chemicals - were excluded from the figures, manufacturing employment would have increased 0.7 percent.

The Lynchburg metro area - which has been expanded to include Bedford and Bedford County - led the state in job growth, much of which was attributable to a 10.3 percent gain in the service sector.

Employment in Roanoke grew 3.5 percent, tying it with the Richmond-Petersburg area for fourth in the state. Roanoke added an estimated 4,400 jobs in January over last year's figures; much of Roanoke's growth was in the service subsectors of health care and business. Manufacturing in the Roanoke metro area grew 1.1 percent, or 200 jobs, over the past year.

by CNB