FOR MORE THAN A YEAR, THE U.S. has been tantalized by tidings of economic recovery. And now those esoteric leading indicators that so hearten the experts are becoming visible to average workers: consumers are buying, and the economy is growing at a steady, if unspectacular, pace. Yet something important is missing as President Clinton prepares his prematurely overdue economic plan: new jobs.
In spite of the good news about the economy as a whole, most large corporations prefer almost any alternative to hiring new full-time employees. Not only do they have painful memories of the recent recession, but they now face...