Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990 TAG: 9006080148
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In the region from Charlottesville west, the Roanoke-Covington planning district ranks high in size of population, amount of employment, total personal income, per-capita income and taxable sales, said David Argue, co-author of an economic profile of the district prepared by the UVa Center for Public Service. The profile is based mainly on 1988 figures.
The assessment of strength is tempered by an outlook that "several potential paths for new development may help revive prospects for growth in this area, which in recent years has lagged behind the other major urban centers in the state."
One growth industry listed is fiber optics, found at ITT's Alcatel operation, General Electric, smaller companies and a Virginia Tech research center. The Explore project is described as a possibility for regional development.
Commuter patterns into Roanoke, Covington and Clifton Forge are based on 1980 figures, but the people who drive from Roanoke and Botetourt County to work in Covington are not mentioned.
With the shift from manufacturing to services employment, the planning district is second in the state after Fredericksburg in the relative importance of retail jobs, the study says, adding that the mail-order houses of Tweeds, Home Shopping and Orvis have helped boost services employment to more than 25 percent of those who are working.
Manufacturing lost almost 2,000 jobs from 1980 to 1988, but construction companies gained more than 4,300 new jobs.
In the decade through 1989, the district had 91 announcements of new or expanded plants, bringing an expected 6,687 new jobs.
The study points to a diversity of factories, showing announcements of new or expanding plants for all but two of the types of manufacturing industries in the district during the decade.
Almost 90 percent of the district's employment was in the Roanoke area, but Westvaco wages boosted Covington to an average weekly factory pay of $470 per week. This was among the 10 highest in the state.
Taxable sales for the district amounted to $8,151 per person, third highest in the state and better than the state average of $6,801 per person in 1989. More than 53 percent of the district's taxable sales were in Roanoke.
John Knapp, business and economics professor at the UVa center, said that "Roanoke popped up as doing well . . . Roanoke has been sort of chugging right along with a not spectacular but resilient economy."
He warned, however, that average figures for the state can be misleading because Northern Virginia's often are high.
by CNB