BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1997
RELEASED TODAY:
CPI -- In December, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers rose 0.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, the same as in each
of the three preceding months. The food index increased 0.1 percent
in December, after advancing at a 0.5 percent average monthly rate in
the preceding six-month period ....The energy index increased for the
third consecutive month ....Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose
0.1 percent, following increases of 0.2 percent in each of the
preceding two months ....For the 12-month period ended in December
1996, the CPI advanced 3.3 percent. This compares with an increase of
2.5 percent in 1995. Increases in the food and energy components,
which acted as moderating influences throughout most of the past five
years, were responsible for the acceleration in 1996 ....The CPI
excluding food and energy advanced 2.6 percent in 1996, following an
increase of 3.0 percent in 1995. The 1996 advance, along with an
increase of the same magnitude in 1994, represents the smallest annual
increase in this index since a 1.5 percent rise in 1965 ....
REAL EARNINGS -- Real average weekly earnings increased by 1.1
percent from November to December after seasonal adjustment. This
gain was due to a 0.9 percent rise in average weekly hours and a 0.5
percent increase in average hourly earnings, partially offset by a 0.3
percent rise in the CPI-W ....From December of 1995 to December of
1996, real average weekly earnings grew by 1.8 percent ....
Newly merged U.S. companies cut fewer employees from their combined
work forces in 1996 than in 1995, despite a record volume of mergers,
said Chicago-based employment agency Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Mergers accounted for 8.9 percent of the jobs eliminated in 1996,
compared with 16.4 percent of the 1995 job-cut total (Washington Post,
page D1).
College recruiting soars as employers hire early and often.
College-placement officers say the economy's gain will make 1996-97
the best for hiring in five or six years ....Demand for computer grads
pushes starting salaries into the $35,000 to $50,000 range, placement
officers say ("Work Week," Wall Street Journal, page A1).
Head West to San Jose, Calif., for the nation's best pay for midlevel
and technical employees, according to William M. Mercer's annual
salary survey. San Jose for the fourth year in a row tops 200
metropolitan markets for midlevel and technical employee pay, $59,800,
followed by San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and Newark, N.J.
....Using available and reliable published data, Mercer evaluates and
reports on salary levels up to $50,000 ....(Daily Labor Report, page
A-11).
Sixty percent of executives expect to raise prices as much as 5
percent this year. An additional 30 percent plan to raise prices 6
percent or more, according to a survey of 200 CEOs by The Conference
Board. Average increase is 3 percent, up from 2.1 percent in 1996.
Economists warn that strong economic growth has made it easier for
companies to pass costs on to consumers (USA Today, page 1B).
>From "scuffed wingtips" to gnomes -- A Business Week article (Dec. 30,
page 138) on the new "inflation-protection" bonds said that the
biggest risk tied to them is if Congress decrees a full percentage
point cut in the CPI ...."If Congress punts, the government gnomes who
compile the CPI may well lower the rate a half-point on their own
...."
