NBC Nightly News open - 1977-05-06

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:02] This is NBC Nightly News with John

[0:04] Chancellor and David Brinkley. Tonight,

[0:07] May 6th, reported from London.

[0:12] And from the NBC News Center in New

[0:15] York,

[0:16] good evening. Good news today on

[0:18] unemployment. The rate is down to 7%.

[0:21] That's a 3/10en of a 1% drop. It hasn't

[0:23] been that low since 1974.

[0:26] The number of people actively looking

[0:28] for work in April was 6,700,000.

[0:32] That's a drop of 330,000 people. And

[0:35] those working reached 90 million, a

[0:37] record number. Half a million people

[0:39] found jobs last month, which is also a

[0:41] record. And for the past 2 months, 1

[0:44] million people have gone to work, which

[0:46] has never happened before in a 60-day

[0:48] period. One of the bright areas is in

[0:51] construction work. Kenley Jones has more

[0:53] on that from Atlanta.

[0:56] Employment in Georgia's construction

[0:58] industry has risen 11% since January

[1:01] when it was at its lowest point in

[1:02] recent years. One reason is that housing

[1:05] starts in the state were up 50% during

[1:07] the first quarter of this year over the

[1:09] first quarter of 1976. The state labor

[1:12] department says the increase in building

[1:13] is the result of the return of good

[1:15] weather and lower rates for commercial

[1:17] loan.

[1:17] >> 10° above zero. We tried fishing a

[1:20] couple of days and I mean we were just

[1:21] bored to death. didn't have anything to

[1:23] do.

[1:24] >> And now work has picked up.

[1:25] >> Oh yes, we're working something like 9

[1:28] and a half 10 hours a day. Uh 6 days a

[1:31] week.

[1:32] >> So you're getting more work now.

[1:33] >> Yeah. It's a lot better. Enjoy the

[1:36] summertime. Enjoy the warm weather.

[1:40] >> And the money.

[1:41] >> Definitely. So the money is the best

[1:42] part. Wouldn't be out here if it wasn't

[1:44] for that.

[1:45] >> In Atlanta, industrial construction

[1:47] starts were up 24% for the first quarter

[1:50] of this year. The emphasis here has

[1:52] shifted away from high-rise office

[1:54] buildings and hotels to construction of

[1:56] shopping centers and business

[1:58] establishments in outlying areas. That

[2:00] has brought a sigh of relief from the

[2:02] construction industry, which feared the

[2:03] loss of many more jobs when the downtown

[2:05] building boom ended. Industry officials

[2:08] point out that there is always a lag

[2:09] between the time a building is planned

[2:11] and the time construction starts. They

[2:13] say the upswing in construction now

[2:16] actually reflects renewed confidence of

[2:18] builders last year that the economy

[2:20] would improve. Kenley Jones, NBC News,

[2:23] Atlanta.

[2:24] >> Some steel companies raised prices today

[2:27] with some products priced more than 8%

[2:29] higher. The Council on Wage and Price

[2:31] Stability said that while the companies

[2:33] need price increases, today's are

[2:36] excessive. In a minute, David Brinkley

[2:38] will be reporting from London on the

[2:40] Summit Conference.

[2:44] Hi. You know me, Sandy Duncan, glamorous

[2:48] Hollywood star. You know what I'm going

[2:50] to do right now? I'm going to have

[2:52] myself some wheat bins.