BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, JUNE 2, 1997 Slightly more than half of the largest US. employers now offer work at home or job sharing arrangements to their employees, according to a survey of 519 companies by the management consulting firm of Watson Wyatt Worldwide ....The survey found that 51 percent of large companies and 31 percent of all respondents allow employees to work from home, an arrangement that is most popular in communications and publishing firms, as well as in electronics, computer, and software industries, according to the survey. Job sharing arrangements in which workers split the responsibilities of one position is an option at 50 percent of companies with more than 5,000 employees and at 26 percent of all firms in the survey ....Large companies reported that, over the past five years, the percentage of their workforce sharing jobs has risen by 81 percent and the number of employees who work from home has risen 70 percent, Watson Wyatt said, adding that the trend is likely to accelerate since 90 percent of the large companies expect more employees to work from home in the next two to three years and 75 percent predict more job sharing among their workers (Daily Labor Report, page A-6). After rising briskly for four years, prices for used cars have begun to fall and the effects are rippling through the auto industry, according to The New York Times (May 31, page A1) ....Used-car prices climbed 4 to 9 percent a year from 1992 through 1995. Auto industry officials attributed the rise to the greater durability of cars, the wider availability of used-car warranties, and a growing public acceptance of low-mileage, late model used cars as an alternative to new cars. But retail prices for used cars, as measured by part of the CPI, have fallen 2 percent in the last 12 months, even as new car prices have inched up by nine-tenths of 1 percent .... Stronger exports and more inventory accumulation caused the Commerce Department to upwardly revise estimates for GDP to a robust annual rate of 5.8 percent in the first quarter of 1997. The surge in real GDP is the highest quarterly increase since a 6 percent gain in the fourth quarter of 1987. Analysts expect a slowdown in the second quarter of 1997 as consumer spending slackens from the frantic pace of the first quarter and businesses hold back production to sell off inventories ....(Daily Labor Report, page D-3). __Analysts broadly expect the economy to cool after the steamy pace of the first quarter -- when it grew at 5.8 percent -- and the last three months of 1996 -- when growth was a robust 3.8 percent. But beyond the certainty growth will cool, it is less clear what the summer will hold. Economists split on whether the economy will be resilient or if it could hold some downside risks ....(Daily Labor Report, page D-1). __The U.S. economy grew in the first three months of this year at a faster rate than earlier estimated, but a senior Fed official said that since then growth "clearly is starting to slow down". The Commerce Department raised its estimate of first quarter growth ....Coming at a time of low unemployment, the unusually rapid growth sparked concerns that it could cause an increase in inflation ....Meanwhile, in a separate report, the Commerce Department provided what analysts said is added evidence of slowing. Sales of new homes fell 7.7 percent in April, after rising 2 percent in March. The April figure was close to the selling pace of the final three months of last year ....(Washington Post, May 31, page D1; New York Times, May 31, page 23). __Corporate profit margins climbed to 11.8 percent of output in the first quarter from 11.5 percent at the end of last year, the Commerce Department said, suggesting that companies have room to absorb some cost increases without raising prices ....(Wall Street Journal, page A2). In an article on internships, The Washington Post (June 1, page H4) says that workers gain experience and contacts through them, while employers get a chance to try before letting someone fly ....A 1996 survey of 434 members of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, a professional association of human resources professionals who hire college graduates, found that 70 percent of employers require new hires to have had internships or other job training. Work experience was second only to "major" on the list of factors used to screen students for interviews. Sixty-one percent of the respondents said they offer summer internship programs, and 96 percent of those said they use the programs to find permanent employees. On average, nearly half of summer interns were offered full-time positions .... When companies were downsizing and slashing payrolls, many laid off executives decided to start their own businesses. Now, with a booming job market, many executives have decided it's easier and more secure to work for someone else, reports Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a company that helps laid-off workers find jobs. Challenger, Gray says the number of discharged executives and managers who chose to start their own firm dropped to 5.1 percent in the first quarter of this year from 12.9 percent in the second quarter of 1996. In 1989, one out of five people seeking new jobs started his or her own business ....(Washington Post, June 1, page H4). The Wall Street Journal feature "Tracking the Economy" (page A4) says that the Technical Data Consensus Forecast projects a nonfarm payroll increase of 233,000 for May when the payroll figure comes out Friday. The jobless rate for May is forecast to be 5.0 percent in contrast to the previous month's 4.9 percent.
