9 - taken by our managers to control costs and assure a swift recovery. Margin improvement continues to be a major Company objective. Here are some statistics you might ponder: Since 1971, real volume of output has gone up 11%, total employment has risen only 2%, and salaried employment has gone down 4%. General Electric today is more productive and efficient than it was. We continue, of course, to modernize and expand our facilities. During most of this year our plant and equipment expenditures continued at about the same pace as last year, but new projects have been approved and the expenditure rate is picking up. The total year is now estimated at about $480 million, or about 7% higher than last year. We anticipate something like $625 to $650 million next year up about a third over this year. That's exclusive of Utah, of course. STRONGER FINANCIAL STRUCTURE Another important change since 1966 is the improvement in our financial structure. General Electric has one of the few Triple-A credit ratings in manufacturing, and we value that greatly because it helps to assure our capacity to finance our future growth. We are now in a better position to do so than we were in 1966 or in fact just two years ago. In December 1966 our debt-to-total-capital ratio was 26%. It is at about the same level now. But there is a difference. In 1966, our surplus cash over and above current working needs was zero and we were supporting those