ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040051
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
The Roanoke metropolitan area slipped from its place as state job-growth leader in October, posting a ho-hum expansion rate of 2.6 percent.
State labor officials, in a report Wednesday, estimated there were 141,200 jobs in October in the region made up of Botetourt and Roanoke counties, Roanoke and Salem, compared to 137,600 in October 1994.
That growth rate put metropolitan Roanoke fifth in the Virginia Employment Commission's monthly ranking of eight metro areas across the state based on change in total jobs. The Roanoke area had led the chart in August with a growth rate of 4 percent and September with a 3.6 percent gain.
Labor analysts estimated there are 3.1 million jobs across the state, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier. Nearly 900,000 jobs were service-related, making services the largest and fastest-growing economic sector.
The state's employers created 34,400 new service jobs in the 12 months that ended in October, nearly 14,000 of them in well-paid fields such as computer and business services, the VEC said. In other areas, engineering and management consulting firms added 5,400 jobs, health-care employment rose by 3,500 and private social services jobs rose by 3,000.
Trade was the Roanoke area's fastest-growing segment, having added 2,000 jobs during the period covered by Wednesday's report.
LENGTH: Short : 32 linesby CNB