Economic Trends

GRIMMER JOB-LOSS NUMBERS FOR AMERICA'S DEFENSE INDUSTRY

If you think defense cutbacks have hurt employment, you haven't seen anything yet. According to a new Labor Dept. study, although some 900,000 defense-related jobs vanished from 1987 through last year, the loss will come to an additional 1.9 million by 1997--with the private sector accounting for 1.2 million. And that's only jobs directly affected by defense spending. With multiplier effects, private experts estimate the coming carnage could top 5 million.GENE KORETZ