Low Labor Costs

Wages and salaries are over 40% less that state and national averages for comparable work. Average weekly wage in Westmoreland County of $347 is 57.6% of the state average. (Source: Virginia Employment Commission, 1998)

Average Annual Salaries ($000) by Business Sector

LOCATION	MFG	WHSL	RET	FIRE	SVCS	TOTAL
Westmoreland County	19.1	19.2	10.8	17.1	12.9	14.1
Fredericksburg	26.4	27.3	13.1	27.3	22.6	20.9
Maryland’s Eastern Shore	23.7	26.4	14.2	25.6	20.7	20.5
Northern Virginia	44.1	43.2	16.3	37.6	35.3	32.3
Hampton Roads-North Shore	36.3	28.4	12.3	23.0	20.9	22.6
United States	31.7	32.1	13.4	33.6	23.1	24.9

Average Annual Salaries ($000) by Position

POSITION	HIRE RATE($)	AVERAGE($)
Administrative Assistant	20.8	27.2
Computer Programmer	22.9	32.4
Payroll Clerk	17.3	22.0
Customer Service Rep	17.7	21.1
Accounting Clerk	17.5	21.4
Computer Operator	18.1	24.1
Technicians/Technical Support	23.8	29.2
POSITION(production)	HIRE RATE($)	AVERAGE($)
Unskilled Laborer	12.5	16.6
Bench Assembly	14.6	16.6
Material Handler	14.6	16.6
Machine Operator, no set-up	16.6	16.6
Machine Operator, set-up	16.6	18.7
Maintenance	18.7	22.9
Machinist	22.9	27.0

Source: 1998 Survey by Wadley-Donovan Group

Readily available labor supply

Skilled workforce for light manufacturing and back office

Low labor costs

Growing supply of new entrants to workforce

Workforce development resources