STATE OF BUSINESS: Sedan to Casablanca

Sedan to Casablanca

Between the low pit of Allied fortunes (the collapse of France, June 1940) and the high tide United Nations success reached this week, the U.S. economy did this:

> Federal Reserve Board Index of industrial production rose from 121 (1935-39 = 100) to an estimated 187.

> Steel operating rate rose from 84.5 to 100.1% of capacity.

> Merchant-ship construction rose from a piddling four ships in one month to an unprecedented three per day.

> Total civilian and military employment rose from 47,746,000 to 59,200,000, and manufacturing employment (now largely in war work) increased from 10,868,000 to 15,322,000. Employment of women is up 28%.

> Average work week went from 38 hours to 42 hours, but in critical war industries now stands as high as 55 hours.

> The BLS factory payroll index went up from 103 to 220 and average hourly earnings zoomed 26%.

> Wholesale price level rose 28%, cost of living 16%, and the price of food 36%. But even so real wages rose.

> Manufacturing profits for the first three quarters of 1942 fell 32% below 1941 and 15% below the same period of 1940.

> The New York stockmarket this week finally took its cue from the British market and bounced to 117—a new 1942 high for the Dow-Jones Industrial averages.

> Output of military equipment—planes, tanks, battleships, etc.—as measured by Government expenditures, rose from $153 million to $5.5 billion per month.