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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 5, 1994                   TAG: 9403050041
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: associated press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE REPORTS LOOK FINE, BUT CHECK JUST UNDER THE SKIN

More Americans were on the job in February, but many of them were working fewer hours. The unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a point despite the

deep freeze across much of the nation, the government reported.

And the government's chief economic forecasting gauge rose 0.3 percent in January, signaling a continuation of growth but at a more moderate pace.

The Labor Department said nonfarm businesses added 217,000 workers to their payrolls in February, driving the unemployment rate down to 6.5 percent.

"You look at the surface of it and the report looks strong, but then you look under the surface and these people didn't work that many hours," said Donald Ratajczak, director of the Economic Forecasting Project at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

The Labor Department said unusually severe winter weather caused a "particularly large" drop in the average number of hours Americans were on the job, down a half-hour to 34.3 hours from 34.8 hours in January.

The Index of Leading Economic Indicators, meanwhile, has risen for six straight months, including advances of 0.7 percent in December and 0.4 percent in November.

The index is designed to show directions the economy is likely to move in the next six to nine months.

The increase in nonfarm payrolls was a considerable improvement over January, when the figure was down 2,000. Initial reports had said the January total was up 62,000.

"It's kind of a weird report," said Bruce Steinberg, senior economist with Merrill Lynch in New York. "On the surface, it appears strong, when in fact it's not a very strong report at all." He said the economy seemed to be shedding "some momentum from an unsustainable rate of growth."

Construction employment suffered most from the bad weather, losing 22,000 jobs. Restaurants also saw job losses, although overall employment in the retail sector was up a strong 58,000 after a slight decline in January.

Overall, the service sector posted a robust gain of 121,000 after a January loss of 21,000. Government agencies at various levels added 7,000 workers.

Manufacturing employment was up 12,000. Some industries were hurt when roads closed by ice and snow stalled delivery of raw materials.

The Labor Department said 8.5 million people were out of work in February, while 122.3 million people had jobs.

The largest employment gains were in industrial machinery, electronics and food processing. Auto manufacturing, one of the industries hurt by transportation delays, lost some of its January employment gains. Both apparel and aircraft manufacturing, which have been on a downward spiral in recent months, continued to show declines.

by CNB