Picking Up Speed

Some 2,000 of the nation's top businessmen who gathered in Manhattan last week at the meeting of the National Industrial Conference Board took their annual look at the state of the U.S. economy. Their report was still another confirmation that the U.S. is in the early stages of a new boom. The businessmen thought that a steel strike might slow the economy's pace somewhat in 1959's second half, but not enough to take the zip out of industry--or prevent it from hitting new peaks in many important sectors.

As the businessmen met, the latest statistics from Washington underscored their forecasts. Gross national product was rising even faster than the preliminary estimates, reached an annual rate of $467 billion for the first quarter of 1959. More important, the gain was real: with hardly any price rise to speak of since last year, the new G.N.P. showed an 8% jump in constant dollars from the recession low.

Consumer buying was up to an annual rate of $300.5 billion, some $500 million better than had been predicted a few weeks ago. Consumer inventories were also building up faster than expected. The figure: an accumulation rate of $5.7 billion, or $1.7 billion more than the early estimates. Much of the buildup was undoubtedly due to fears of a steel strike. Ward's Automotive Reports cautioned that auto dealer inventories may soon hit an alltime high of 1,000,000 unless production is cut back in late June and July.

So many men were back at work that unemployment dropped sharply in 90% of the 149 major U.S. industrial areas during the two-month period ended in mid-May. Across the land, 33 employment areas were changed to better classifications on the Labor Department's list, and 14 were removed from the surplus-labor category altogether.

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