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THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS WASHINGTON March 7, 1974 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT Subject: Employment Situation in February The employment-unemployment figures just reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics look much better than those released a month ago. After rising from 4.6 to 5.2 percent from October to January the unemployment rate remained unchanged in February. Whereas last month's figures showed a decline of about 250,000 from December to January in employment on non-agricultural payrolls, this has been revised to a decline of only 100,000 and a rise of 175,000 is reported for February. The estimates of hours of work have been revised up for January and a further increase is shown for February. Moreover, evidence accumulates that there has been a significant decline in employment closely related to the energy situation (gas stations, automobile factories, airlines) and a strong rise in the rest of the economy. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in February was 5.2 percent, the same as in January and not significantly different from the unemployment rate in February 1973. This is higher, however, than the 4.6 percent unemployment rate in October 1973. The stability of the unemployment rate from January to February reflected the stability of its components. The February seasonally adjusted civilian labor force (90.6 million), , civilian employment (85.8 million) and unemployment (4.7 million) were the same as in January. Nonagricultural payroll employment increased (175,000) in February over January (which was itself revised upward by 148,000 over the previous estimate) and was greater (by 332,000) than in October 1973. The decline in durable manufacturing payroll jobs from January to February (134,000) was concentrated in transportation equipment (83,000) machinery (16,000), electrical equipment (19,000) and primary metals (10,000). REVOLUTION 1776-1976