JOBLESS RATE A STUBBORN 7.3 PERCENT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 9, 1993                   TAG: 9301090114
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
JOBLESS RATE A STUBBORN 7.3 PERCENT
The unemployment rate held at 7.3 percent in December, the government said Friday, underscoring the difficulty of generating jobs in a weak economic recovery.
The jobless rate for the year was 7.4 percent, worse than the 6.7 percent rate in the recession year of 1991 and the highest since 1984.
The Labor Department report probably will be the last major economic statistic before President-elect Clinton decides on the shape of his economic stimulus proposal to Congress.
"This is the last big report before the inauguration and it did not show enough strength to turn off the idea of fiscal stimulus. In fact, just the opposite," said economist Allen Sinai of the Boston Co.
Elsewhere, the Federal Reserve said outstanding consumer installment credit rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2 percent in November to $723.9 billion, after gains in September and October. It was the first time credit has risen for three straight months in two years.
But economists say consumers need more than a greater willing- The figures . . . throw cold water on the theory that the recovery is gaining momentum. John M. Albertine ness to use credit - they need job and income gains - to sustain recent increases in retail spending.
"The figures . . . throw cold water on the theory that the recovery is gaining momentum," said economist John M. Albertine, a Washington consultant. "The economy is simply growing too slowly to create enough jobs to make a significant dent in the unemployment rate."
The department reported a gain of 64,000 jobs on employers' payrolls in December. Most of the increase came in service industries. The latest advance was held back by the elimination of 45,000 temporary election jobs.
Employers added 557,000 workers in 1992 overall, bringing their payrolls to 108.7 million. But economists said that was one-fourth to one-fifth of the gain that normally would be expected early in a recovery. And the payroll total remains well below the 110.3 million peak reached in June 1990, just before the recession began.
Analysts are looking for job gains in 1993 to be double or triple the 1992 increase. That would bring the jobless rate by the end of 1993 to 6.5 percent to 7 percent.
In December, the average work week slipped to 34.3 hours from 34.6 hours in November. That normally would be a sign of economic weakness, but William G. Barron Jr., deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said the number probably was depressed by unusually severe storms.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB