QUAlITY

down to 46.63 per million man hours worked.

The Western Pine industry employs about 70,000 and )vs aDout /u.Lruu ano f America's softwood produces approximately 30 percent of iumber. I. P. Reinmuth. Potlatch Forests, Inc., Lewiston, Idaho, is chairman of the association safety committee'

fhe Business Situqtion

Clear signs of recovery have featured recent business activity, acirding to thC monthly review of the business situjtion preparid by the Commerce Department's Office of Business ^Economici for publication in the May issue of its monthly Survey of Current Business. Personal income and employment advanced in April; industrial oytpg! and sa-les showed a sharp pick-up, and new orders received by durable goods manufacturers -increased. The improvement. in the Iurable goods sector, which had led the earlier decline and which st*ill remains below year-ago levels, was especially noteworthy.

Several factors were responsible for the recovery in durable goods, OBE reports. Two of the most important are (a) the rise in automobile demand and output this spring, and (b) the improvement in the condition of durable goods manufacturers' raw materials inventories, which have necessitated an enlarged flow from suppliers' These forces have bolstered the expansionary effects of the steppedup rate of defense ordering by the Federal Government and the rise in construction activity.

SIZES

FAST

The expansion in output that has followed from the increase iu demand was reflected in the comprehensive figures on personal income for April, which reached a seasonally adjusted annua-l rate of $410 billion. This compares with a low point of $406 billion in February of this year. Income from productive activity-that is, exclusive of transfei payments-rose by about $2 billion (annual rate) over the month. Payrolls were up markedly in manufacturing and construction, and there were smaller payroll gains in retail trade, service industries and State and local governments.

With the rise in passenger car sales this spring over the very low rates in the first iwo months of this year, automobile manufacturers have increased production substantially. Second quarter output is currently scheduled to be 30 percent above the first. Whilt: ihis rate would still be lower than in the corresponding 1960 period, production typically falls off from the first to the second quarter, OBE noted.

Housing activity has shown some advance in recent months from the year-end low. Private nonfarm housing starts in the first 4 -onihr, seasonally adjusted, averaged a bit below 1.2 million units (annual rate), as compared with the year's total of over 1.2 million and 1.5 million in 1959.

The Survey of Current Business is available from Field Offices of the Department of Commerce or from the Superintenderlt of Documents, IJ.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C.' at an annual subscription price of $4.00, including weekly supplements; single copy 30 cents. .SUPPIRT NACIONALE FIREST PRODUCCS WEKE, OKTOBIR 15-21'. The spelling is WRONG bul the thought is RIGHTI