ig ByN.l;VerlCbrlatenaen yproval of an apeement to control shtputenta of European steel to America should give a long-needed shot in the arm tojte ailing domestic steel indumry. .QVhile the pact’a benefits will have their limits and certainly will be no cure-all, the nel arrangement is expected to translate into jobs, improvement in industry diblllty, and hence a positive effect on thi economy. Qonreatlc steel companies long have catpplained ofthe undetermining effect of intense foreign competition, particularly frqn producers with unfair advantage dt to one form nf auhsidy or another. Qnly recently, U.S. Steel Corp. David M. Roderick, who also as chairman of the American lron and Steel Institute, said the combination ofloreign shipments and high labor costs could be the doom of the American steel lndlmry. Hin remarks cannot be taken lightly with steel mills limplng along at about half-capacity output and 140,000 steelworkers currently- on layoff. The U.S.-European agreement brings apparent solution to a long-standim; dispute with limitations set on shipment of various steel products. As part oi the pact. eight American steel companies agreed to withdraw unfair trade complaints filed against European firms. alleging below-cost sales and unfair subsidies. The next goal in the drive for domestic steel recovery could be more lavoroale labor contracts. “If wc had the labor costs of a Japan, we woult.ln’t have an important pruhlem,” Roderick told steel industry analyms meeting ru Cleveland. “If wages continue to escalate. the industry could pemranently lose the jobs of workers now laid off.” it would be unreasonable, of course, to equate American wages with those of some other countries. but Roderick made a point that ought to be explored when he charged that the average steelworkers hourly wage i which he pegged at $24 i is nearly double that of other manufacturing industries. ”We cannot survive by attempting to carry such a premium on cost which has grown tnp-heavy measured against the wages of Americans in any other manufacturing industry, or against wage competition from the same union’s own locals in Canada, domestic minimills. Europe, Japan. and the Third World,” he asserted. The industry is expected to pursue wage concessions when the current contract with the United Stcelworkers of Anrerica expires in August 1983. But taking one step at a time, the immediate focus should be to implement and enforce the new agreement with the European countries and deal with other allegedly-unfair import practices. The steel industry is important to the country. Improvement of its own economic health can have an impact on the state of America’s economy.