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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994                   TAG: 9402080075
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

VIRGINIANS PAID LESS THAN AVERAGE

The average annual pay for workers was below the national average in 1992 in every Virginia metropolitan area except Northern Virginia suburbs around Washington, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Monday.

Annual pay for the 320 metropolitan areas studied nationwide averaged $27,173, up 5.6 percent since 1991, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

The Washington metropolitan area, which includes five counties and five cities in Northern Virginia, averaged $32,899, the tenth-highest nationwide.

Danville recorded the lowest pay level in Virginia, with an average of $20,707, 260th overall.

The Roanoke metropolitan area had average pay of $22,081 in 1992, up 5.5 percent from $20,932 in 1991. The Roanoke area ranked 200th nationally based on its 1992 pay level, and 95th based on the size of change over 1991's level.

Average annual pay was computed by dividing total annual payrolls of employers covered by unemployment insurance programs by average monthly employment for those employers, the bureau said. - Associated Press

by CNB