BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1998
RELEASED TODAY: The U.S. Import Price Index fell 0.8 percent in
February. The decline marked the fourth month in a row the index was
down and was again attributable to decreases in both petroleum and
nonpetroleum prices. The U.S. Export Price Index, down 0.2 percent,
fell for the third month in a row, primarily due to falling agricultural
prices ....
__More than 21 million Americans performed some of their work at home as
part of their primary responsibilities, according to Labor Department
data. "While the number of persons reporting work at home grew by only
1.5 million since 1991, there was a sharp increase in the number of
persons who were paid for working at home," BLS says. In 1997, 3.6
million wage and salary workers -- about 3.3 percent of all wage and
salary workers -- were paid for the work they did at home. In 1991,
only 1.9 million wage and salary workers -- 1.9 percent of the total --
were doing work at home for pay. More than half of the 21 million
people engaged in some form of work at home were wage and salary workers
not expressly paid for their time working at home ....(Daily Labor
Report, page D-1).
__Two new surveys underscore that the stigma once associated with
home-based businesses is giving way to acceptance. BLS released its
survey that specifically looks at that category. The survey finds that
6.1 million households or about 6 percent of all U.S. households had
home-based businesses last year. And, the study reveals, a large
portion of these businesses are professional in nature, focusing on such
activities as computer programming and communications consulting. In
the Washington area, home-based businesses are even more prevalent,
according to another survey by Greater Washington Consumer Research Inc.
showing that 11 percent of local households are home to a business.
Experts attribute the spread of home-based businesses to a trend toward
more flexible work arrangements, such as telecommuting. The Labor
Department study found that the number of wage and salary workers doing
paid work at home nearly doubled from 1991 to 1997 ....(Washington Post,
page D1).
Wage data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 10
weeks of 1998 shows that the median first-year wage increase in newly
negotiated labor contracts is 3 percent, the same increase as reported
for the comparable period of 1997. The weighted average increase for
settlements reported to date is 2.8 percent, compared with 4.1 percent
in 1997 ....(Daily Labor Report, page D-9).
The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee approved Richard
McGahey's nomination as assistant secretary of labor for policy.
McGahey, an economist and former partner with Neece, Cator, McGahey &
Associates, served as executive director of the JEC and chief economist
for the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee ....(Daily Labor
Report, page A-14).
DUE OUT TOMORROW: Producer Price Indexes -- February 1998
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