I censored the USA Today report on UPS as too biased. ---------- BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1997 Total spending on new construction -- including the full range of structures from houses to highways -- declined by 1.1 percent in June, ending the second quarter on a weak note, according to the Census Bureau. The June total for construction outlays was up 4.1 percent from a year earlier ....(Daily Labor Report, page A-5; USA Today, page 1B; Washington Times, page B10)_____The drop in new construction was the first in five months and the steepest since December, reflecting declines in both housing and commercial building ....(Washington Post, page C1)_____Construction spending in June was at the lowest level since January. Analysts had expected the report to show a rise of 1.6 percent ....(New York Times, page D2)_____Many analysts said anecdotal evidence of strong summer building activity and recent trends such as falling mortgage rates indicate that the fall in construction was likely temporary ....(Wall Street Journal, page A2). Boys who grow up poor earn considerably less as adults than boys from the middle-class, says University of Michigan professor Mary Corcoran. In a study of more than 1,300 men (58 percent white, 42 percent African-American) between the ages of 25 and 35, Ms. Corcoran found that boys raised in poor families earn 41 to 63 percent less per year and 29 percent less per hour than boys from middle-income households (Wall Street Journal, "Work Week" column, page A1). U.S. health care expenditures, 1970 and projected to the year 2000, are shown in the Washington Post's "Health" supplement (page 5) ....Data is attributed to the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration and BLS.
