THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 17, 1996 TAG: 9609170429
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 39 lines
The Hampton Roads economy continued to sputter in July, faltering for the third month in a row, according to an economic report released Monday.
Employment in five of seven major job categories dropped from June to July, Virginia Wesleyan College economics professor David Garraty reported.
``You try not to get too hung up on a month here and a month there, but over the last six months it's down,'' said Garraty, who devised the index.
The economic performance index compares the current state of the Hampton Roads economy with the 1991-1993 average level of 100. The index for July stood at 104.1, a drop from 104.4 in June. More important, Garraty said, the index measured 105.3 in January and has either declined or stood still during every month of the year.
Weighing down the region's economy in July were seasonally adjusted declines in government (down 11.6 percent), transportation (7.4 percent), finance (5.6 percent), construction (3.7 percent) and services (2.1 percent). Those figures are an annual projection for the declines if the economy would continue to perform as it did from June to July.
``The service sector is just anemic compared to what we're used to,'' Garraty said. ``A lot of months, a lot of years, service carries the economy.''
Even a bright note in July manufacturing job growth - an annually adjusted increase of 5.5 percent - comes with a downside, Garraty said. July manufacturing employment stood 2.9 percent below last July's mark. By contrast, economic activity in the state strengthened in July as Garraty's statewide index jumped from 108.3 to 108.6.
Garraty termed the economic expansion in the state ``modest,'' noting that it didn't appear to be keeping pace with the national economy. But the state economy continues to grow faster than that of Hampton Roads, and Garraty sees nothing on the horizon that will help the region keep pace.
KEYWORDS: ECONOMY by CNB