DATE: Sunday, September 14, 1997            TAG: 9709130025

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial

                                            LENGTH:   77 lines

VIRGINIA'S FUTURE BUSINESS TAKES THE LEAD

Back when a worker with a sixth-grade education could perform most manufacturing jobs just as well as someone with post-high school training, business leaders lobbied mostly for lower taxes and less government meddling in their affairs.

Those were the days, not long gone, when a high school dropout with a manufacturing job probably earned more than his teachers had.

These days, what many Virginia business leaders seek from government is a better-educated work force, better transportation and in general a better quality of life.

Three examples:

In 1995, business leaders helped block an attempt by Gov. George F. Allen to cut state taxes. Joined by three former Virginia governors, they argued that the cuts would harm higher education. Their protests stiffened the General Assembly's spine, and the cuts never passed.

In the present gubernatorial race, Northern Virginian business leaders in particular favor spending billions more dollars for transportation over virtually eliminating the personal property tax on personal cars.

The Hampton Roads Partnership, consisting mainly of business and elected leaders, is pressing for infrastructure improvements that would make this region more attractive to employers. Partnership goals include better transportation and more high-tech training for workers.

It's this simple. Businesses, today, need trained workers. Tomorrow, businesses will need workers with even more training. Good schools are the best way to get them.

Businesses also need to transport swiftly and reliably the raw materials they depend on and the products they produce. And they need communities whose amenities can attract the kind of highly educated, highly mobile labor force on which they will increasingly depend.

Last week, Pilot staff writer Akweli Parker reported on a study by the College of William and Mary's Bureau of Business Research showing that 63 percent of the growth in Virginia's gross state product between 1991 and 1996 came from the high-tech sector.

During that period, technology industries churned out $8.3 billion of the $13.2 billion growth in the gross state product. Most of the jobs created required special training and skills, and on average they paid 66 percent more than other jobs in Virginia. Technology-based wages in 1996 averaged $46,403, compared with $25,624 for all other Virginia industries.

Meanwhile, Hampton Roads has 2,000 high-tech job openings but lacks the properly educated workers to fill them. In Northern Virginia, nine times as many high-tech jobs are going unfilled. When the 1990 census was taken, fewer than half of Virginians over age 25 were educated beyond high school.

``It's like running out of iron ore in the middle of the industrial revolution,'' said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America.

So it's no wonder business leaders want improved schools. Economic progress will stall without the workers that schools produce and attract to a region.

A step in the right direction is Old Dominion University's recently announced plans for a high-tech training school called the Hampton Roads Work Force Technology Center. Its intention is to quickly train workers for computer-related jobs.

Still, the best education in the world won't get a commuter past a traffic jam. Hampton Roads reportedly faces $6 billion to $9 billion in unfunded highway needs over the next 20 years. Again, economic progress will stall unless workers can get to and from work and goods can get to customers.

No wonder business leaders have begun to oppose tax cuts and call for increased government spending to meet infrastructure needs.

``The business community has been notably absent from responsible governance,'' said John T. ``Til'' Hazel, a Northern Virginia developer who supports better schools and roads.

Clearly things are changing rapidly.

As John Williamson, co-chair of the New Century Council of Roanoke area businessmen, put it, ``If the business community comes behind an issue such as adequate funding for higher education, I think (it) has more influence than a handful of interested citizens.''

But business leaders alone can't ensure the investment needed to secure Virginia's future. Voters, too, must insist on needed improvements in transportation and schools.

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