On the Rise

For the first time in six months, U.S. employment is on the rise. The Commerce and Labor Departments in a joint report (to eliminate previous conflicting reports) announced that the number of jobless dropped from 3,725,000 in early March to 3,465,000 in early April. The upturn so far was no more than seasonal, and manufacturing employment continued to decline. But it was more than offset by more outdoor jobs.

Much of the gain came from the growing boom in construction. It swelled to $2.8 billion in April, an alltime record for the month. For the first four months of the year, new building totaled $10.1 billion, up about 1.5% from last year's record-breaking levels. Highway construction shot up 25% from a year ago to $250 million in April. Private housing stepped up last year's fast pace in the first four months to better than a million-unit-a-year clip. The trade magazine Engineering News-Record reported that last week was the second highest on record for new housing starts.

Danger Signals. Businessmen in a score of fields reported that the slide has stopped. U.S. Steel's Ben Fairless announced to his stockholders that "an upturn in demand is beginning to appear." In the copper industry, which has recently been trimming production. Kennecott Copper President Charles R. Cox also reported a turnabout; his company will increase the work week from five to six days at four western mines. And a special committee of the Government's Business Advisory Council reported that the business decline has leveled out.

But the council warned that there were still danger signals here and there in the economy. Personal income in March, reported the Commerce Department, was still slightly below February and a year ago. While March new-car registrations were down only 1 % from a year ago, total car production for the first four months was off 9%, at 1,959,688 (but still the third highest on record). Business inventories of $81.1 billion on March 31 were still high--$1.6 billion higher than a year ago--although they were $1.2 billion below last October's peak.

Smoke Signals. But the stock market paid little heed to pessimists, kept right on climbing as more good earnings came out. Even the tobacco industry, whose sales had been slumping at year's end, reported higher sales and sharply higher earnings in the first quarter. P. Lorillard Co. sales rose from $51.9 million a year ago to $56.4 million, and net was up from $1,276,026 to $1,955,748. R. J. Reynolds increased net income from 69-c- a share a year ago to 90-c-. Showing its confidence in business in the months ahead, Chrysler Corp.'s board voted the usual $1.50 dividend despite nearly a 43% sales drop and earnings of only 88-c- a share in the first quarter.

At week's end, the Dow-Jones industrial average hit a new 24 1/2-year high of 321.30, up 1.97 for the week. The railroad averages, which have lagged behind, also spurted. They broke through last July's peak to reach 108.52, up 4.21 points.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.