THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020255
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Hello Virginia. Welcome to the post-industrial economy.
It's a service economy out there, folks, and an out-of-state retailer is poised to pass Newport News Shipbuilding as Virginia's largest private employer.
Food Lion Inc. has 17,812 workers in Virginia, just 265 fewer than the giant Peninsula shipyard.
The 110-year-old builder of Navy warships has held the title for decades, employing nearly 30,000 workers during the Reagan military buildup of the 1980s. But it began paring its work force in 1990 in response to defense budget cuts. The yard expects its payroll to level off at between 16,000 and 16,500 by the end of the year.
Food Lion, based in Salisbury, N.C., has grown in Virginia from its first store 16 years ago in Buena Vista to 235 stores and a distribution center in the state, said spokeswoman Cecily Durrett.
The retailer plans to open more Virginia stores and hire more workers this year. That means the grocery store chain probably will overtake the yard soon as the state's largest employer, although many of Food Lion's workers are part-time employees.
``It just illustrates the fact that the defense industry is shrinking while the service industries are growing,'' yard spokeswoman Jerri Dickseski said.
William F. Mezger, planning research economist with the Virginia Employment Commission, pointed to two trends leading to the passing of the mantel of largest employer.
The rise of big retail chains such as Food Lion squeezed aside the small, family-owned stores of decades ago, Mezger said.
Meanwhile, manufacturing employment has been dropping - it's down 4.3 percent since 1985, Mezger said. Service employment, on the other hand, grew from 547,000 in 1985 to 700,000 last year. by CNB