"VIRGINIA'S LOCAL ECONOMIES" REPORT SHOWS
FREDERICKSBURG AREA LEADING THE STATE IN
GROWTH OF EMPLOYMENT, INCOME AND POPULATION

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 2 -- "Virginia's Local
Economies:  Statistical Update, 1996," the latest report on
Virginia's regional economies by the University of Virginia's Weldon
Cooper Center for Public Service, shows that the Fredericksburg area
has scored a triple play, leading the Commonwealth in average annual
growth in population, employment and personal income in recent years.
	From 1990 to 1993 the RADCO (Rappahannock Area Development
Commission) planning district, including Caroline, King George,
Spotsylvania and Stafford counties along with the City of
Fredericksburg, led Virginia's 21 planning districts in all three
average growth rates.
	Statistics compiled by John L. Knapp, business and economics
director at the Cooper Center, showed that the RADCO planning
district led the state in growth of total real personal income with
a 3 percent annual rate from 1990 to 1993.  The Thomas Jefferson
(Charlottesville area) and Northern Virginia planning districts
followed with 2.7 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.
	Recent population estimates by the Cooper Center show RADCO
growing at 4 percent annually from 1990 to 1994, double Northern
Virginia's 2 percent.
	Total employment in the RADCO planning district grew at an
annual rate of 2.1 percent from 1990 to 1993, compared to only 0.2
percent in Northern Virginia.  Knapp attributed the Fredericksburg
area's dominance to the spread of the Northern Virginia suburbs to
the south along the Interstate 95 corridor.
	With more than 200 pages of tables, texts and maps, the
"Virginia's Local Economies:  Statistical Update, 1996" is available
to the public for $15, plus taxes and handling.  For additional
information please contact the Weldon Cooper Center for Public
Service at (804) 982-5638.
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April 1, 1996
	Reporters:  For additional information or interviews contact
economist John Knapp at the Cooper Center at (804) 982-5604.
Television reporters should contact our TV News Office at (804)
924-7550.