BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1996 _____Rising food and apparel prices pushed the consumer price index for all urban consumers to a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent increase in September, BLS reports. Food prices, which have risen sharply in the last three months, jumped 0.5 percent in September ....Helping offset rising food prices, energy costs remained flat in September after dipping 0.6 percent in August ....The CPI core rate rose 0.3 percent, driven up by a 0.5 percent apparel price increase after declining 1.4 percent in August ....(Daily Labor Report, pages 1,D-1) _____Consumer inflation quickened in September but the moderate increase was dominated by seasonal quirks and reimposition of the tax on airline tickets ....(New York Times, page D1; USA Today, page 1B). _____Mild inflation is continuing, new data show. Consumer prices increased 0.3 percent during September; one-time factors are cited ....(Wall Street Journal, page A2). The Social Security Administration announces that Social Security recipients will receive a 2.9 percent increase in their benefits by January. The cost-of-living increase is linked to the rise in September in the CPI-W and will amount to an average gain of $21 a month for Social Security beneficiaries ....It is good news for the economy that the inflation rate has remained below 3 percent for the last four years, said the AARP. "The bad news is that some policymakers claim the CPI overstates inflation and want to reduce their COLA by one percentage point," the AARP said. Determining the accuracy of the CPI remains a technical issue best left to experts in BLS and in the private sector, the association said ....(Daily Labor Report, pages 2,A-3; Wall Street Journal, page B5; USA Today, page 1B). About 60 million Americans -- approximately one in five -- will get a 2.9 percent increase in their government checks next year as a result of cost-of-living adjustments in Social Security payments, veterans benefits, and federal pensions. Under federal law, the annual adjustments are based on the over-the-year change in the CPI. The final calculation was made after the Labor Department reported that the index rose 0.3 percent last month, primarily because of higher prices for food, new model cars, fall clothes, and a resurrected federal tax on airline tickets ....These annual cost-of-living increases have recently become the subject of political controversy. Budget experts warn that the steady rise in such entitlement payments will soon bankrupt the federal government as the giant baby boom generation begins to qualify for the benefits. And economist argue that the adjustments are higher than they need to be because they are tied to the CPI, which overstates the annual inflation rate by 1 percentage point or more. Both issues will confront the next president and the next Congress as they struggle to craft a plan to balance the federal budget after the year 2000 ....(Washington Post, page D1). Inflation-adjusted earnings of most U.S. workers rose 0.8 percent in September, reflecting an expansion of hours worked and an advance in hourly pay, according to BLS ....(Daily Labor Report, page D-10; Washington Post, page D4; Wall Street Journal, page A2). >From transcript of Presidential Debate: President Clinton, part of answer to a question about the family leave act -- "We've had record numbers of new small businesses and 10-1/2 million jobs ...." Robert J. Dole, part of answer to a question about imports -- "Well, right, we've lost 357,000 manufacturing jobs. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today that they made a mistake, it's probably going to be a much, much higher figure. So we're talking about all these new jobs, we'd better wait and see what the results are ...." President Clinton, part of answer to question about imparts -- "We lost a lot of manufacturing jobs in the 12 years before I became president. We've gained manufacturing jobs since I've been president ...."
