BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2000
Since last fall when it was introduced, the Bureau of National Affairs' wage
trend indicator has started to suggest a modest acceleration in the rate of
increase in private industry wages over the next few months. A look at the
wage tend indicator figures over the last year explains the impact of its
individual components and the outlook for private sector wages. To varying
degrees, each of the seven components that comprise the wage trend indicator
is exerting upward pressure on the index, which is designed to predict
turning points in the rate of change in private sector wages. The seven
components are: expected inflation, average hourly earnings, scarcity of
professional/technical workers, production/service expansion, job losers,
unemployment rate, industrial production. But the ratcheting up should be
modest and should occur by late spring or early summer, according to Joel
Popkin, whose firm devised the wage trend indicator for the Bureau of
National Affairs. ... (Wage Trends 2000 is a special report included with
today's Daily Report).
Data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 14 week of 2000
show a weighted average first-year wage increase of 3.5 percent in newly
negotiated contracts, compared with 2.4 percent in the same period in 1999.
When construction contracts were excluded, the all-settlements weighted
average gain was 3.7 percent, compared with 2.5 percent last year.
Manufacturing contracts provided a weighted average increase of 3.4 percent,
compared with 2.8 percent in 1999. Excluding construction contracts, the
nonmanufacturing industry weighted average increase was 3.9 percent,
compared with an average of 2.2 percent one year earlier. ... (Daily Labor
Report, page D-2).
The pace of activity in the U.S. nonmanufacturing sector accelerated in
March, and businesses voiced increasing concern about rising prices for
materials they must purchase, according to a survey released by the National
Association of Purchasing Management. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-7).
Fewer than half of all employees feel strong attachment or loyalty to their
employers, according to a workplace survey by Walker Information and the
Hudson Institute. The nationwide survey of 3,000 workers, weighted to
reflect the country's industry mix, found that one in three employees plans
to leave their organization within 2 years and four in 10 are "trapped"
workers who are not committed to their employer but have no plans to leave
their job. Employees with the strongest attachment to their employers are
those in small companies, those with graduate school education, and
Hispanics, the survey found. Employees in utilities and government are more
likely to stay with their employer, while those in business services, retail
trade, and technology are less likely to be "trapped" in their jobs,
according to the survey. Union workers are less likely than nonunion to
feel loyalty toward their employer. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-5).
A 150-page report by Cheskin Research, Redwood Shores, Calif., says that the
gap is narrowing for Hispanics in terms of computer and Internet usage, and
that the rate at which Hispanics in this country are buying computers far
outstrips that of the general population. The study, entitled "The Digital
World of the U.S. Hispanic," was based on a telephone survey of 2,017
Hispanic households in February. That survey found that 42 percent of the
nation's 9.3 million Hispanic households had a computer. That represents a
68 percent increase over 1998, compared with a 43 percent increase in
computer ownership for the general population. Economics still plays a
large role. The median income for Hispanic households is $28,300, compared
with $38,900 for the general population says the author of the study. ...
(New York Times, page E6).
DUE OUT TOMORROW: The Employment Situation: March 2000
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