DATE: Sunday, June 15, 1997                 TAG: 9706130004

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial

                                            LENGTH:   51 lines

NAVY CUTBACKS DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE

Shocked by The Virginian-Pilot's front-page headline, ``Navy cuts cost area 10,400 jobs in '96''? We were - by the magnitude. But the trend in that direction has long been unmistakable.

Yes, Hampton Roads has not escaped pain accompanying the shrinking of the U.S. military in the post-Cold War era. The closing of the aircraft-repair center at Norfolk Naval Air Station, which employed highly skilled personnel at above-average wages and benefits, was a blow. Others have been delivered by cutbacks in the fleet and in shipbuilding and repair.

But the loss of 10,400 jobs - 8,000 performed by uniformed personnel, 2,400 by civilians - in one year is a jolt. And for every 10 Navy jobs lost, economist John Whaley estimates, four nondefense jobs disappear.

Whaley is on the staff of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. Tracking the ups and downs of the local economy is his duty. He has his finger on the region's pulse. But he professed to having been taken aback by release of an annual report noting 1996's fast drop - 866 jobs per month - in Navy employment in Hampton Roads.

``That's a bunch,'' he told staff writer Jack Dorsey. ``I find that to be surprising, if not shocking.''

Not fatal, of course. And the expected transfer of F/A-18 Hornets from Cecil Field, Fla., to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach will ease the pain. It promises to bring 5,100 personnel to the region. But as the downsizing of the military continues, Hampton Roads won't be immune. A new round of BRAC closings could have an impact here. That makes efforts at economic development increasingly important.

The region's business and financial leadership, working with colleges, universities and the military, initiated early in the '90s a broad-based effort to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Hampton Roads economy and to promote economic development aimed at expanding the number of well-paying jobs.

As many localities have learned, defense cuts need not be a death warrant. Fearing disastrous economic decline, community after community has aggressively - and successfully - marketed its merits to established industries, investors and entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, Hampton Roads' economy is growing - a reflection of the continuing robust national economic performance, to be sure - but also attributable in no small measure to the surprisingly fast rise in the volume of waterborne cargo through Hampton Roads' terminals.

Smooth sailing is not the norm for any economy, but as the Pentagon contribution to the well-being of the Hampton Roads economy dwindles, the focused regional drive for economic development to make up the difference must gather strength and speed.

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