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

DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993                   TAG: 9308260079
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FACTORY FURLOUGHS DECLINE

A rise from June to July is normal because of plant vacation closings, the Virginia Employment Commission said Wednesday. It is traditional in many communities in the Shenandoah Valley and Southside areas for plants to take a vacation around July Fourth.

Workers with seniority usually are paid for the shutdown period, the commission said, but recently hired workers can and do file for unemployment benefits.

Vacation furloughs this year were only 70 percent of last year's. This year's claims volume was half of that in July 1990 at the start of the recession, the commission said.

"The small number of vacation furloughs would indicate inventories are generally in good shape," the commission said.

Few vacation furloughs generally forecast stable plant employment and business conditions in the last half of the year.

"The auto-related industries also experienced little downtime this year at the annual model changeover period, indicating a much healthier current car market," the commission said. - Staff report