Unemployment Down a Notch in January to 63%
Unemployment continued to decline in January, edging down from 6.4 per-cent to 6.3 percent, the Labor Department reported yesterday. The figures confirmed that the dramatic December improvement in employment was not an accident.</br></br>The January level is the lowest since October 1974. In December the rate tumbled from 6.7 percent to 6.4 percent.</br></br>White House press secretary Jody Powell" told reporters that the President ÛÏobviously feels that the improvement in the unemployment picture is good news.Û But Powell quickly added that steady improvement in the economic situation should not call into question the ÛÏneed lor a tax cut.Û</br></br>Carter has proposed a $25 billion tax cut to take effect Oct. 1. The president argues that the effects of the economic stimulus package Congress enacted last year will be wearing off by then and the economy will need I lie spending boost a tax cut would bring. While some legislators question the need for a cut that big, the administration has worried publicly that Congress will cut taxes too much.</br></br>If the predictions in the budget President Carter sent to Congress last week are correct, there will be little