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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 17, 1994                   TAG: 9405170107
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LON WAGNER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NORTHERN VA. LEADS WAY IN JOB GROWTH

Northern Virginia, which led the state's economic boom during the 1980s, again took the lead in job creation in March and pulled the state to its largest monthly gain since the recession, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Monday.

Northern Virginia added 39,300 jobs in March, compared with a year ago, due mostly to employment gains in services, trade and construction.

The service sector, in fact, led the statewide employment expansion, gaining 45,500 jobs over last March. Service jobs made up 46 percent of the state's annual employment gain in March, and the VEC reported much of the growth was in the "high-skill, high-wage end" of the service sector.

Roanoke's job growth also was centered on the higher wage services, including the business and health subsectors.

The only weak spot in Virginia's economy - and the only region that added jobs at less than a 3 percent rate - was the Norfolk area. Defense-related losses in federal employment (4,200) and in shipbuilding (1,800) held the area's job growth to 1.1 percent.

by CNB