The new employment tally last week produced a pleasant surprise. Though the flood of graduates swept unemployment to a 17-year high of 5,437,000 last month, the total was far below the 6,000,000 once forecast for June. It dropped to 6.8% of the labor force, from 7.2% in May and 7.5% in April. The number of jobholders actually increased by 920,000 for the month, came close to 65 million. More important, factory employment rose by 156,000. This was a solid sign that the long-depressed manufacturing sector of the economy was steaming up.
There was plenty of other evidence of industrial expansion....
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