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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 28, 1993                   TAG: 9305280114
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HELP-WANTED ADS FORETELL BAD NEWS FOR '93 GRADS

The help-wanted advertising index, a measure of labor demand, remained flat in April, evidence that the nation's job markets have not fully recovered from recession.

The Conference Board, a New York business research organization, said Thursday the index stood at 96 points in April, unchanged from March and down 1 point from February. The index was at 90 points in April 1992.

The index is compiled by measuring the volume of employment advertising in the classified sections of 51 U.S. newspapers. The index uses 1967 levels as its base of 100 points.

"After a very modest rise in job advertising at the start of this year, ad volume has again become very static," said Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein. "The graduating class of 1993 is facing a tougher labor market than those who graduated in the middle of the recession in 1991."

In the board's South Atlantic region, which includes Virginia, the index stood at 100 points in April, up from 98 in March and 87 in April 1992. - Staff report

by CNB