THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412030267
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Robust hiring in construction and manufacturing helped drive the nation's unemployment rate to a four-year low last month. But another report Friday suggested economic momentum may soon be slowing.
The November unemployment rate was 5.6 percent, down from 5.8 percent in October. That was the lowest since August 1990. The Labor Department said a seasonally adjusted 350,000 new workers were added to nonfarm payrolls in November, many more than expected.
The report shows ``just how strong this recovery has been,'' President Clinton said.
Labor Secretary Robert Reich called it a ``Goldilocks expansion.''
``It's not too hot. It's not too cold. It's not hot enough to ignite inflation, but it doesn't seem to be cooling off at all,'' Reich said.
The jobless rate has dropped 1.1 percentage points since January, with an average 281,000 jobs per month added to nonfarm payrolls.
Meanwhile, the government's chief forecasting gauge of future economic activity pointed in the other direction, falling in October for the first time in 15 months. The Index of Leading Economic Indicators, released by the Commerce Department, slipped 0.1 percent in October.
Some economists said that report should be read cautiously.
``It has been giving misleading signals for a long time,'' said Gene Sherman, an economist with the New York brokerage firm M.A. Shapiro. ``It has indicated a slack economy and we haven't had a slack economy. We've had a very strong economy.''
A third report showed that orders to U.S. factories fell 0.4 percent in October, the first decline in three months. The decline was led by a sharp drop for cars and other transportation equipment. But the September figure, which originally estimated orders to be down 0.2 percent, was revised to show an increase of less than 0.1 percent.
KEYWORDS: UNEMPLOYMENT RATE JOBLESS RATE by CNB