Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 18, 1993 TAG: 9308180032
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The 1,500-worker gain was led by strong growth in business and health services and local government.
The state agency said Roanoke has so far been able to withstand losses caused by the close of Gardner-Denver Mining & Construction, defense cuts and the shutdown of the Sears Telecatalog Center.
Acquisition of Dominion Bankshares Corp. by First Union Corp. has also "so far had little impact on net job totals," the commission said.
Construction employment in June, however, was below last year's.
In Virginia, employment rose 0.3 of a percentage point, the weakest gain of any month so far in 1993.
The commission blamed variations in school calendars for June's "more leisurely rate of job increase."
Schools in the Northeastern states did not let out until well past mid-June this year. It is that area that supplies most of Virginia's tourists, and that schedule often drives tourism employment in the state.
Because families could not travel then, businesses and jobs at Virginia's tourist attractions were down from normal June levels.
The problem mainly affected Northern Virginia.
Three of Virginia's eight major industrial divisions experienced gains in June, with most of the growth in new and small specialized service industry firms.
Services added 15,100 jobs for an all-time high of 787,700. The previous high was set in May.
Strongest growth in the service subsectors were in engineering and management, business services, health services, amusement and recreation, and private social services.
Employment was up in local government, but defense cuts brought a drop in the number of federal workers.
Financial industries adding jobs were real estate, insurance and security brokers.
Charlottesville, Lynchburg and the New River Valley saw slower job growth in the summer because their universities and support industries are major local economic forces.
Unemployment was about as expected for June, with the rate rising 0.2 of a percentage point from May's 5.1 percent to 5.3 percent, as high school youth joined college students already in the summer job market.
But the rate was well down from 6.4 percent in June 1992.
by CNB