> BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2000:
>
> College enrollment rates for the 1999 graduating class declined compared
> with the class of 1998, according to BLS. The college enrollment of young
> women (64.4 percent) continued to outpace that of young men (61.4
> percent). Among races and ethnic groups, 59.2 percent of blacks, 42.2
> percent of Hispanics, and 62.8 percent of whites who graduated from high
> school in 1999 were enrolled in college the following fall (Daily Labor
> Report, page D-10).
>
> The booming U.S. economy brought about a 4.8 percent gain in per capita
> personal income in 1999, reflecting higher pay across most industries,
> according to figures released by the Department of Commerce's Bureau of
> Economic Analysis. The gain brought per capita income to $28,518 in 1999.
> BEA said the per capital income ranged from $39,167 in Connecticut to
> $20,506 in Mississippi. The 1999 percent rise in per capita income marked
> the third consecutive year that this key measure of prosperity climbed by
> about 5 percent. Per capita income increased by 4.9 percent in 1998, and
> by 5.2 percent in 1997, according to BEA figures. Taking inflation into
> account, the latest report showed the "real" per capita income rose 3.2
> percent in 1999, somewhat less than the 4 percent gain for 1998. BEA used
> as an inflation measure its own quarterly index for personal consumption
> expenditures, which is part of the gross domestic product series. That
> price index rose 1.6 percent in 1999. "Personal income growth accelerated
> in five regions -- Plains, Rocky Mountain, Southeast, Southwest, and Great
> Lakes -- and decelerated in three regions -- New England, Far West and
> Midwest" during the fourth quarter, BEA found (Daily Labor Report, page
> D-1).
>
> U.S. high-technology companies have added 1.2 million jobs to the economy
> since 1993, according to a survey released by the American Electronics
> Association. The increase brings the total of high-tech jobs to about 5
> million by 1999, the report -- "Cyberstates 4.0: A State-by-State
> Overview of the High-Technology Industry" -- indicates. AEA uses 45 SIC
> codes to define high-technology industries, according to the report..
> They fall into three broad categories -- high tech manufacturing,
> communications services, and software and computer-related services.
> ...these 45 SIC codes do not comprehensively cover the entire high-tech
> industry, as the structure of the SIC industry is limited. In an effort
> to produce solid statistics, AEA does not include broad categories if the
> high-tech portion does not represent a clear majority. Wages were greater
> in the high-tech industry than in the economy as a whole. Among high tech
> workers, the average annual salary in 1998 was $58,000, compared with the
> average private sector wage of $32,000 (Daily Labor Report, page A-11).
>
> Data computed by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 20 week of
> 2000 show a weighted average first-year increase of 3.5 percent in newly
> negotiated contracts, compared with 2.6 percent in the same period in
> 1999. Manufacturing contracts provided a weighted average increase of 3.3
> percent, compared with 2.7 percent in 1999. Excluding construction
> contracts, the nonmanufacturing industry weighted average increase was 3.6
> percent, compared with an average of 2.3 percent one year earlier (Daily
> Labor Report, page D-13).
>
> The U.S. has lost the distinction of having a college graduation rate
> higher than those of other industrialized countries, an international
> survey shows. At the beginning of the 1990s, 30 percent of the U.S.
> population graduated from college. As of 1998, the last year for which
> figures are available for all countries, it was 33 percent, but Norway (37
> percent), the United Kingdom (35 percent) and the Netherlands (34.6
> percent) had pulled ahead. "The 1990s witnessed rapidly growing demand
> for education," says Andreas Schleicher of the Organization for Economic
> Cooperation and Development (OECD), which issued the "Education at a
> Glance" report. "Every government understands education is key to
> economic and social success today" (USA Today, page 9D).
>
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