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

DATE: FRIDAY, October 7, 1994                   TAG: 9410070012
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

JOB MARKET COOLING OFF

A national index measuring the demand for labor fell a slight 3 percent in August, but the report released Thursday also suggests a trend of a more significant slowing in the job markets.

The Conference Board's monthly Help-Wanted Advertising Index dropped to 118 points from 122 in July, but it was up from 103 in August 1993, the New York business research organization said.

The index is based on the volume of help-wanted classified advertising in 51 U.S. newspapers. In August, 33 percent of those papers reported a rising volume of ads by employers seeking workers, compared with 78 percent in July and 76 percent a year earlier.

"The labor market is clearly cooling," said Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein. "New hiring is less intense than during the summer months, when the economy generated 300,000 new jobs a month. Even so, hiring is expected to pick up in the first half of 1995.''

- Staff report

by CNB