Jobless Rate Steady at 5.2: Clinton Camp Revels in Data
The last major economic report due before Election Djy showed the economy moving ahead smoothly with low undnj-ployment and little inflation pressure.</br></br>The Labor Department reported yesterday that the nationÛªs jobless rate remained steady at 5.2 percent in October while employers boosted their payrolls by another 210,000 workers. That brought to 10.7 million the number of payroll jobs added since President Clinton took office in January 1993.</br></br>"This is another set of numbers that is an incumbent politicianÛªs dream,Û said Robert Dederick, an economic consultant for Northern Trust Co. in Chicago. ÛÏWe have comfortable growth but not so rapid as to trigger inflation concerns.Û *</br></br>Earlier this week the Commerce Department saidÛªtile economy grew at a 2.2 percent pace, after adjusting for inflation, in the JuIy-to-September period, down from a 4.7 percent rate in the second quarter of the year.</br></br>In Santa Barbara, Calif., Clinton told a rally, ÛÏIt is time for my opponent and those on the other side to stop all this doom and gloom talk about America. In spite of what he wants you to think, when it comes to the economy, the sky is not falling."