Business Notes EMPLOYMENT

The U.S. economy passed two impressive milestones last week. First, the nation completed its 58th consecutive month of growth, tying a peacetime record. Then the Government announced that for the first time in this decade the unemployment rate fell below 6%, dipping one-tenth of a percentage point from its August rate, to 5.9%, in September. Most of the employment growth over the past five years has been in services. But the manufacturing sector, recently reinvigorated by rising exports, accounted for fully 40% of the 132,000 new jobs created last month. Said Jerry Jasinowski, chief economist of the National Association of Manufacturers: "These are the best numbers we have seen in some time and reflect manufacturing's comeback."

But some economists fear that a tighter job market will push up wages and launch a new inflationary spiral. In November 1979, the last time unemployment was as low as 5.9%, inflation was roaring ahead at a seemingly unstoppable 12% annual rate. The current consensus, however, is that the economy still has enough slack to keep that from happening. One reason: in addition to the 7.1 million people the Labor Department officially lists as "unemployed," an additional 1 million, classified as "discouraged," have given up looking for jobs but are still part of the country's available labor pool.