THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510080113
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: ELECTION '95
THE CITIZENS' AGENDA
The Virginian-Pilot has asked people around the state what their major
concerns are leading up to the Nov. 7 election. This is one in a
series of in-depth reports on those concerns. Today's topic: Job
security.
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
It's a global economy, making itself felt in our neighborhoods. In our workplaces. It's showing up in people's anxieties about job security, and slipping standards of living, themes citizens discussed in talks The Virginian-Pilot held across the state this summer.
It's pressure that would have made Richard Giddes hit the highway if he hadn't been too close to retirement age at a welding supply company in South Hampton Roads. He would have joined several of his colleagues who were young enough to pick up stakes and leave the state in search of higher wages.
Giddes, now retired in Virginia Beach, wonders how working people can make it in a state that sells itself as a modest-wage mecca.
``They talk about a brain drain in Europe,'' he said. ``We've got a brain drain right here in Virginia.''
A statewide poll confirmed the theme: Half of Virginians consider job creation a ``critical'' function of state government.
People's expectations are high, at a time when the General Assembly has less and less control over the state's economic destiny. Policies in Richmond easily can be thrown off course by events in Moscow, Tokyo or Guadalajara.
Just ask the 250 shipyard workers who were tossed onto the street in Norfolk this summer when the Jonathan Corp. shut its gates. The company - like other defense-related companies in Hampton Roads - saw its naval repair orders fall after the demise of the Soviet empire.
Or ask the 1,000 assembly-line workers in Southwest Virginia whose jobs evaporated five years ago when AT&T Microelectronics packed its bags for Texas and Mexico. AT&T found it more profitable to export jobs to a developing nation that pays workers a fraction of American wages.
``There is a limited amount that government can do. The private sector creates jobs.'' So says Gregory H. Wingfield - an economic developer who heads the Greater Richmond Partnership. Previously, he led Forward Hampton Roads and worked in the Virginia Department of Economic Development under Govs. Charles Robb and Gerald Baliles.
Yet even in the global environment, state government makes its presence felt in Virginia's economy. ``Government's role is to provide a legislative framework that allows a business-friendly environment to exist,'' Wingfield said.
KEYWORDS: COMMUNITY CONVERSATION ELECTION VIRGINIA by CNB