BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1997: Analysts at BLS say the latest figurs show no major varieations from their initial finding that the experimental CPI is rising about 0.25 percentage point less than the official CPI. Patrick Jackman, BLS economist, said it is too soon to interpret what the figures on the major components of the experimental CPI (Food, housing, etc.) indicate about which types of goods and services will be appropriate for the geometric mean method and which will not. "We are not going to have a clue until some of the tests we have put forth are in. It will probably be August or September before we fan say (how different components are affected), he said (Daily Labor Report, page D-3). The Employment and Training Administration reports that new claims for unemployment insurance benefits rose by 5,000 during the week of May 17 to an estimated 322,000, seasonally adjusted (Daily Labor Report, page D-1). __The Washington Post (page G2 and G8) says the Labor Department said first-time claims for jobless benefits rose less than expected last week, leaving the overall tally in a range that still indicates a strong job market. __The New York Times (page C6) carries an AP story that says that many analysts had expected an increase of about 6,000 last week. __The Wall Street Journal (page A10) reports that the 4-week moving average for claims -- a key barometer of labor-market conditions -- since it smooths out weekly fluctuations, rose 750 to 333,250. Analysts said this level, though just slightly below the 15-week high, is still consistent with a relatively tight labor market. The earnings gap between the rich and the poor has stopped widening, says The New York Times (page C1). Over the last 18 months, wages at the low end of the spectrum have picked up. Today they are rising significantly faster than the inflation rate -- faster, percentage terms, than the pay of middle-income Americans. For all their lack of skill, low wage workers are in great demand today. The higher wages, in turn, are helping to draw into the labor force more black women, older man, immigrants, teenagers, and Hispanic Americans. In the last year, the labor force -- people working or seeking work -- has grown by 2.7 million, the largest annual gain in over a decade and more than twice the increase in the working-age population. The surge of new workers, particularly at the low end, tends to keep wages from rising faster than they already are, and helps to explain why inflation has remained at a mild 3 percent a year or less. Graphs the illustrate the article include in their credits BLS. The Clinton administration yesterday officially launched FedStats, an Internet service that links computer users to statistics from more than 70 federal web sites. The new World Wide Web page -- found at www.fedstats.gov -- provides an A to Z listing of topics. Among the information you can find through the Fedstats Web site is "According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: The percentage of wage and salary workers belonging to a union declined again in 1996, to 14.5 percent (The Washington Post, page A27).
