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

DATE: SATURDAY, December 4, 1993                   TAG: 9312040083
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

JOBLESSNESS TAKES PLUNGE

In a sign that the nation's economy is steadily mending, the unemployment rate plummeted to 6.4 percent in November, the best single-month improvement in 10 years and the lowest level in nearly three years.

The size of the decline from October's 6.8 percent rate surprised many economists, who said it resulted in part from a decrease of 81,000 in the number of people looking for jobs. But they said the report - that an extra 208,000 people found non-farm jobs and the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since January 1991 - still shows the nation's economy is rising steadily from the doldrums.

A robust gain of 105,000 jobs in such service industries as health care, finance and real estate, and the second straight monthly improvement in the beleaguered manufacturing sector combined to push the rate down.

The last 0.4 percentage point decline was October 1983, when the country was pulling out of its worst recession since World War II.

But some economists, like Robert G. Dederick of Northern Trust Co. of Chicago, said there were some flukes in the good news.

"When you get a strong report like this, the first question is always, `Is it for real?' " Dederick said. "We don't usually get movement of that size in the real world. The economy doesn't tend to have such marches."

The number of unemployed fell by 534,00 last month, leaving 8.3 million people still looking for work. A separate survey of businesses showed a gain in non-farm employment of 208,000, the best showing since July.

Manufacturing companies, which had shed 256,000 since February, added 30,000 people to November payrolls. Construction employment increased 27,000.

Industries closely associated with defense, such as aircraft manufacturing, continued to lose jobs. The number of retail jobs also declined.

The government said the average work week for manufacturing employees edged up one-tenth of an hour to 41.7 hours, a post-World War II record. Factory overtime also was up one-tenth of a percent to the highest level since the government began keeping those statistics in 1956.

by CNB