Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 6, 1990 TAG: 9007060746
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The civilian jobless rate, as measured by a household survey by the Labor Department, dropped from the 5.3 percent registered in May. The nation's unemployment rate has been fluctuating close to 5.3 percent for more than a year.
Private industries produced 92,000 new jobs last month, a weaker number than the 125,000 payroll additions private analysts had been calling for.
Job growth figures are derived from a separate survey of business establishments. That is often considered a more reliable indicator of economic activity than the household survey from which the overall unemployment rate is calculated.
Today's report, and its evidence of continued sluggishness, was sure to renew pressure on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and spur economic activity.
The nation's manufacturing sector, which has been on a downward spiral for months, continued its slide as factory payrolls fell by 31,000 jobs. It was the 14th time in 15 months that manufacturing jobs declined.
Since reaching a post-recession peak in March 1989, about 335,000 factory jobs have been lost.
The number of construction jobs fell for the fourth month is a row, reflecting continued weakness in the housing market, the government said. Construction payrolls, after seasonal adjustment, fell by 14,000.
Meanwhile, the service sector, which has been providing most of the economy's steam over the past several months, added 83,000 jobs, including 40,000 in the health services industry.
Retail trade businesses lost 7,000 jobs in June, bringing the monthly increases in the first half of this year in that sector to 15,000, half the average for 1989. Wholesale trade added 7,000 jobs while business services added 5,000.
Labor costs, which have been pushing up and are being blamed for fueling the nation's inflation problems, continued to increase.
Average hourly earnings posted a 0.3 percent rise in June to $10.01, up from the $9.98 the average worker earned per hour in May.
The Labor Department said the federal government's hiring of census workers forced it to revise its May figure to 356,000 new jobs on non-farm payrolls, up from earlier estimates of 164,000 new jobs. All of the revision was due to additional census workers, the agency said.
The 92,000 jobs gain in June on private industry payrolls does not reflect the government's employment activity.
About 57,000 census workers were laid off in June, the government said, bringing jobs gains for overall non-farm payrolls - including the government - to 40,000 in June, the Labor Department said.
The Labor Department's household survey showed that overall, total civilian employment was about unchanged at 118.4 million in June. The jobless numbered 6.4 million, down from the 6.7 million unemployed in May.
The average manufacturing work week was unchanged from May at 41.0 hours. Manufacturing overtime held at 3.8 hours in June.
Excluding the once-a-decade census workers the government has hired this year, private industries have been adding only about 100,000 new jobs each month so far in 1990. Last year at this time, private payrolls were growing by about 200,000 each month.
The unemployment rates among major demographic groups last month were:
Adult white men, 4.1 percent, down from 4.2 percent in May.
Adult white women, 3.9 percent, unchanged from May.
White teen-agers, 11.4 percent, down from 13.1 percent
All blacks, 10.4 percent, unchanged from May.
Adult black men, 9.4 percent, up from 9.1 percent.
Adult black women, 8.9 percent, down from 9.1 percent.
Black teen-agers, 25.3 percent, down from 27.6 percent.
Hispanics, 7.1 percent, down from 7.7 percent.
In a separate calculation of unemployment that counts members of the armed services stationed in the United States, the June jobless rate was 5.1 percent, down from 5.3 percent in May and the same as June's civilian rate.
by CNB