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

DATE: SATURDAY, November 6, 1993                   TAG: 9311060058
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

JOB HUNTERS BOOST THE JOBLESS RATE

The government's monthly unemployment report released Friday also showed employers are using more temporary workers and pushing permanent employees harder.

The October jobless rate was 6.8 percent, up from 6.7 percent in September and August. But companies reported 177,000 more jobs in the month - 12,000 of them in manufacturing, which had seen no job growth since February.

Private economists did not expect the rate increase, but said it was nothing to be alarmed about.

"What it probably means is people are now being attracted back into the labor market by the growing economy. That's a plus," said economist Robert Dederick of Northern Trust Co. in Chicago.

The report also showed that workers from temporary agencies filled 69,000 of all new jobs, more than one-third of them, and more than half of the service-related jobs. And factory employees worked an average 41.6 hours, matching a high set in 1966.

Construction firms added 30,000 jobs; banks, insurance companies and real estate firms 20,000; and hotels 15,000. Government lost 8,000 jobs after a 72,000 jump in September; retailing dropped 2,000.