Economic Trends

IS JOB GROWTH ABOUT TO PICK UP STEAM

Despite continued announcements of future layoffs by major corporations, the statistical signals are flashing green for U.S. employment gains and the overall economy, according to Columbia University's Center for International Business Cycle Research.

The CIBCR says that its leading employment index--made up of such components as the workweek, initial unemployment insurance claims, the layoff rate, and part-time employment--rose sharply in December for the third month in a row, hitting its highest growth rate since the recovery began in early 1991. The center's short and long leading indexes of U.S. economic activity also both posted healthy increases.

"The outlook," says CIBCR Director Geoffrey H. Moore, "is for a continued expansion, at least through 1993, with notable improvement in the employment situation in the next few months."GENE KORETZ