Inside Report (1)

The AFL-CIO is thumping the tub for low interest rates to prop the sagging construction industry.

Unemployment in the construction industry, the hardest hit sector of the economy, reached 19.4 percent in April. The key, union officials say, is in President Reagan's hands - through powers granted under the the Credit Control Act of 1969. They call on Reagan to remember his ''public statements that interest rates should be lowered to 10 percent'' and use CCA powers - as President Carter did - to bring rates down.

Such a step would revive the home building industry, and spur building trades jobs, and boost industsrial production and employment in other industries, according to AFL-CIO.