clarinews@clarinet.com (BOB WEBSTER, UPI Business Writer) (02/02/90)
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- January's mild weather boosted construction employment to offset jobs lost at temporarily idled auto plants, keeping the month's civilian unemployment rate unchanged since June at 5.3 percent, the government said Friday. The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 6.5 million Americans were unemployed last month. Janet Norwood, the bureau's commissioner told the congressional Joint Economic Committee that January's unemployment report reflects slow but consistent job growth and stable unemployment in the labor market. ``The jobless rate in January continued the pattern of remarkable stability that it has followed for many months now,'' Norwood said. Although the number of jobless showed little change, the number of layoffs rose slightly, to continue a trend started in the middle of last year. The number of unemployed in the manufacturing sector increased nearly a full percentage point to 5.9 percent, the department said. Economists said the report does not signal enough weakness in the economy to prompt an easing of credit by the Federal Reserve, which in recent comments has been touting its confidence that a recession is unlikely. Still, a pocket of weakness, or what one economist termed a ``mini-recession'' has turned up in the manufacturing sector. Job cutbacks continued in the manufacturing sector, falling by 110,000 last month. Much of the decrease was attributed to temporary plant shutdowns in the auto industry. The auto industry payroll dropped 90,000 jobs last month to total 734,000 from 824,000 in December. The auto plant shutdowns also caused employment to dip in the related fabricated metal products, rubber and plastics industries, the department said. ``Manufacturing surely continues in its mini-recession, with automobiles being the prime mover,'' said Robert Dederick, chief economist at Northern Trust Co. in Chicago. ``We are in an automobile recession and it is havings effects elsewhere but that is not capable of drawing down the rest of the economy,'' Dederick said. Little change was posted in jobless rates for most individual worker groups last month. Among adult men, 4.7 percent were unemployed; adult women, 4.6 percent; teenagers, 14.5 percent. The department said the unemployment rate among blacks was 11.3 percent; Hispanics, 7.1 percent; and whites, 4.5 percent. Unemployment among black teenagers totaled 26.7 percent. Total civilian employment remained at 117.6 million in January, meaning that 62.9 percent of Americans held jobs. The department said non-farm payroll employment increased by 275,000 last month to an annualized rate of 109.8 million. The largest employment increases were in the construction and retail industries. Construction employment increased by 105,000 last month after slipping 50,000 during December. The department attributed the increase to the relatively mild weather in January, which followed unseasonably cold weather in December, ``January was a month of very mild weather, and more than the usual number of construction projects continued, resulting in a substantial seasonally adjusted employment increase,'' Norwood said. Retail employment rose by 115,000 in January after slipping in December. General merchandise, food stores and restaurants each posted gains of 25,000. Employment in the service industries increased by 105,000 with nearly half the gain in health services. Gains also were posted in the transportation and wholesale trade industries, the department said. The average workweek for production and non-supervisory workers increased 0.1 hour last month to 34.6 hours. In manufacturing, the average workweek and overtime remained unchanged at 40.7 hours and 3.6 hours, respectively. Hourly earnings among production and non-supervisory workers rose by 0.1 percent in January, while weekly earnings rose by 0.4 pecent, the department said.