ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, December 6, 1996               TAG: 9612060023
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-17 EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER 

CANADIAN STRIKE FELT HERE VALLEY JOBLESS RATE 2.8%

The effects of the General Motor strike in Canada rippled to Western Virginia.

A combined 1,200 employees at Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corp. in Dublin and auto parts suppliers in Wytheville and Lebanon were temporarily sent home as a Canadian United Auto Workers' strike halted production in October, a state labor official said Thursday.

That increased the state's unemployment rate slightly, to 4.1 percent for that month, said Bill Mezger, senior economist with the Virginia Employment Commission. The Roanoke Valley's jobless rate was 2.8 percent.

"In most cases, they were only out a week or two," said Mezger, adding that his estimate of the number of workers affected was based on applications for unemployment checks. The strike was resolved.

The jobless report's monthly profile of employment said health care grew the most of any field - by 600 workers - during the year in Roanoke, Salem and Roanoke and Botetourt counties. Jobs in transportation and public utilities posted the greatest drop - 400.

All told, employment rose to 139,200, an increase of 500 jobs, or 0.4 percent.

The average hourly wage of local manufacturing workers rose to $12.22 in October from $11.89 in October 1995.

LENGTH: Short :   35 lines
ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC:  Chart by staff: Unemployment rates.