Profits Are Up, Jobs Are Down, Magazine Says : Recovery: Forbes reports that earnings rose almost 14% last year, while employment declined.

Corporate profits among U.S. companies rose nearly 14% last year--but at the cost of jobs, Forbes magazine reported in its Forbes 500s issue.

The special April 25 issue ranks the nation’s leading manufacturing and service companies according to four measures--sales, net profits, assets and market value.

General Electric Co. earned top ranking on the Forbes Super 50, a composite ranking of the most powerful and competitive of the Forbes 500s--those firms that earn high scores on all four Forbes lists.

Profits grew four times faster than sales among the 785 companies in the Forbes lists, showing the companies made their money by improving productivity.

The flip side of higher productivity, however, is getting more out of every worker, slashing costs and getting rid of as many workers as possible. As a result, the magazine said, total employment among the Forbes 500s declined about 1% last year to 20.2 million.

The numbers look more troublesome when viewed over a period since the economic recovery began in March, 1991. Big American firms in the Forbes 500s rankings have announced cutbacks of nearly 1.8 million jobs, or 10% of total employment, since then.

During the same period, 27 companies announced they would cut at least 10,000 workers.

Topping the ax-wielding list is International Business Machines Corp., which said it would lop off 85,000 jobs, followed closely by American Telephone & Telegraph Co., which shed 83,500.

Others with heavy axes include General Motors Corp., cutting 74,000 jobs; Sears, Roebuck & Co. with 50,000; GTE Corp.’s 32,150 and Boeing Co.’s 30,000.

But not all big businesses cut jobs. Payrolls grew dramatically at Microsoft Corp., Home Depot Inc., McCaw Cellular Communications and WMX Technologies.

Overall, profits of the top 500 firms rose 13.8% to $204 billion last year, while sales rose only 3.5% to $3.8 trillion. Assets expanded 10.2% to $8.9 trillion, and market value rose 6.9% to $3.6 trillion.

Topping the list of most profitable is Exxon Corp., which earned $5.28 billion. In terms of sales, General Motors Corp. was No. 1 with $138.2 billion.

General Electric tops the Forbes Market Value 500 list, with a market capitalization of $89.2 billion. It also ranks above all other firms in total property, plant, equipment and financial assets, at $251.5 billion.

GE ranks behind Exxon in profits. It earned $5.18 billion, followed by AT&T;’s $3.97 billion, Philip Morris Cos. Inc.’s $3.57 billion and Ford Motor Co.’s $2.53 billion.

Detroit fared well on this count. For the first time since 1986, Forbes reports, all three U.S. auto makers were among the 10 most profitable corporations in America.

But the biggest earnings surprise came from Sears, Roebuck & Co., which lost $2 billion in 1992 but reversed course to gain $2.4 billion last year.

Improving its core retail operations, shedding its catalogue and brokerage businesses, reducing its equity in Allstate Insurance and slashing 30,000 workers helped rescue the retailer, Forbes reports.

Newcomers to the Market Value 500 list include Lotus Development Corp., whose capitalization quadrupled over the year to $3.8 billion despite a 31% drop in profit.

The magazine also ranked firms likely to show earnings growth of at least 13% in 1994. They include Chrysler Corp., Citicorp, Compaq Computer Corp. and Ford.