BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1996: President Clinton selects Alexis M. Herman, White House director of public liaison and a former social worker, as his choce for Secretary of Labor in the Administration's second term. The Herman nomination follows intense infighting among key Democratic constituents, pitting organized labor, civil rights groups and Hispanic groups against one anotherm, as they lobbied on behalf of their own candidates (Daily Labor Report, page AA1; The Washington Post, December 21, page 1). BLS reports import prices fell 0.1 percent in November, with both petroleum and nonpetroleum prices contributing to the fall (Daily Labor Report, page D-13; The Wall Street Journal, page A2). The head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration resigns to take a position under the governor-elect of Washington state, leaving the Clinton Administration to select a new OSHA administrator who can be confirmed by the GOP-held Senate (Daily Labor Report, page A-1). Michael M. Phillips, writing in "The Outlook" feature of The Wall Street Journal (page 1) says the rich really are getting richer and the poor poorer in this country. He contends that a widening wage gap alone doesn't prove that -- a more interesting issue is whether workers' lifetime earnings are growing more unequal as well. To answer that question, economists look at class mobility. Unfortunately, economists find that, like annual wages, lifetime wages may be becoming more unequal. Rapid technological change is bringing increasing rewards to skill and education, and trade and immigration may also play a part. Unless mobility rises along with wage inequality, workers on average can expect their lifetime earnings to become more unequal. Lawrence F. Katz, Harvard economist, says the middle class did hold its own. The average annual income of the middle fifth of American families, adjusted for inflation, increased slightly in the 20 years between 1973 and 1994. But, Katz adds, People who tend to be in the upper brackets spend 80 percent of their lives there, while those in the bottom spend 80 percent of their lives at the bottom. Initial jobless claims are predicted to be 346,000 for the week to December 21, according to the technical data consensus forecast published in The Wall Street Journal's "Tracking the Economy" feature (page A4). The figure, to be announced Friday, is in contrast to the previous actual figure of 351,000. A survey of 17 top graduate business schools found consulting firms attracted 30 percent of the Class of 1996. Growth in base salary is shown in a page B1 USA Today graph, with the 1994 annual pay at $71,000, the 1995 pay at $77,000, and the 1996 pay at $82,000.
