BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2000
RELEASED TODAY: The U.S. Import Price Index rose 1.9 percent in February.
The increase -- the largest since October 1990 -- was primarily led by
higher prices for imported petroleum products. Nonpetroleum import prices
were also up in February. Export prices increased in February, up 0.5
percent after edging up 0.1 percent in January. ...
The Washington area added 78,200 jobs overall in 1999, a new, detailed
government employment count shows, documenting what was by far the best year
for the region's economy in the decade. ... While job growth around the
nation slowed last year, it jumped forward in the capital region, continuing
an acceleration that began in the mid-1990s and has followed step for step
with the takeoff of the Internet economy. The Washington region's annual
average employment figure for 1999 was boosted by nearly 8,000 from the
preliminary count in the new BLS report. The increase occurred when
officials "benchmarked" the monthly employment surveys by comparing those
findings with detailed year-end tax reports by all employers. "The growth
was faster than expected. There are a lot of smaller companies that provide
computer services, and contractors that build computer systems and
networks," said the chief economist with First Union Corp. in Charlotte.
"It's very hard for the Labor Department to capture that [employment]
initially." ... (Peter Behr in "Washington Business" section, March 13,
page 12).
Retail sales rose a robust 1.1 percent in February, according to a Commerce
Department report, with consumer spending showing little sign of slowing.
In the year ended in February, retail sales jumped 9.4 percent. A Merrill
Lynch economist predicts that spending will moderate in coming months. ...
(Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_____Retail sales surged, boosted by a big
jump in sales at grocery stores and at auto dealerships. The advance came
despite rising interest rates, a jump in oil prices, and stock market
volatility -- factors that could have tempered spending. It was the
strongest pace in sales since a 1.9 percent rise in December and was bigger
than the 0.9 percent increase many analysts were expecting (Washington Post,
page E1)_____Soaring gasoline prices did little in February to deter
consumers from spending money on other goods, like cars, food and clothes.
... (New York Times, page C6)_____Americans seem to have forgotten that
interest-rate increases and surging energy prices are supposed to slow
consumer demand. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2).
A modest improvement reported by employers in their search for professional
and technical workers was the largest contributor to a decline in the Bureau
of National Affairs wage trend indicator for the first quarter of 2000,
according to revised data. But other factors continued to point toward a
modest acceleration in wage increases in the next 3 to 6 months, the Wage
Trend Indicator shows. Designed as a leading indicator of wage trends, the
Wage Trend Indicator predicts changes in private industry wages and salaries
as measured by the employment cost index which is published quarterly by
BLS. The Wage Trend Indicator does not predict the magnitude of change in
wages, but rather indicates accelerations and decelerations in the rate of
wage increases. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-4).
The shortage of skilled labor during a period of unprecedented growth and
full employment in the construction industry remains the single most serious
problem facing the industry, the president of the Associated General
Contractors says in an interview during the association's convention. He
says his organization is attacking the manpower problem on many levels,
including generating interest in a construction career among fifth graders.
It also has provided 146 scholarships for college students, sponsored
supervisory training programs, and conducted training programs for project
managers, he says. ... (Daily Labor Report, page C-1).
Amid low inflation and milder economic growth, NAM takes issue with the
Federal Reserve Board's tight monetary policy, urging it to crack down on
stock market speculators instead of "beating down" manufacturers by raising
interest rates. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-8).
DUE OUT TOMORROW: Producer Price Indexes -- February 2000
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