[PEN-L:71] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

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BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MAY 18, 1998

After years of spectacular growth that has astounded the most optimistic
analysts, the U.S. economic machine is in no danger of sputtering to a
standstill.  But the twin imbalances caused by worker shortages and the
Asian economic crisis are expected to slow the expansion somewhat.  In a
special report examining regional labor markets, analysts contacted by
BNA say the U.S. Pacific region will be particularly hard hit by less
demand for its products as Asia's economic downturn continues.  Analysts
expect job growth in the Pacific region, which has been rapid, to slow
considerably.  Worker shortages, increasingly a problem throughout the
United States, are acute in the Midwest and South.  Growth in these
regions will slow because businesses no longer can find enough workers
to meet their needs....  (Daily Labor Report, special report).  

Led by a surge in business equipment production, industrial production
rose 0.1 percent in April, the second increase in as many months, the
Federal Reserve reports.  Industrial production has risen 3.8 percent in
the last year....  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_____The factory-use
rate, which measures the amount of industrial capacity in use, fell
slightly in April....  (New York Times, May 16, page B14)_____Industrial
production rose a scant 0.1 percent, hobbled by shrinking utility
output.  But manufacturing output increased 0.3 percent, after declines
of 0.2 percent in March and 0.4 percent in February....  (Wall Street
Journal, page A2). 

A trial run for the next census forecasts trouble in 2000....  Results
of a "dress rehearsal" for the year 2000 census confirm that nearly half
the population doesn't want to be counted, at least partly because
people don't trust the government.  Since April 18, the Census Bureau
has conducted preliminary tests in Sacramento, Calif., 12 South Carolina
counties, and on a Menominee Indian reservation in northeastern
Wisconsin.  The results:  Just 53 percent of those receiving mailed
questionnaires in Sacramento responded.  For the South Carolina
counties, the figure was 54 percent, and, for Menominee, 40 percent....
The dress rehearsal results are especially disappointing because the
bureau had gone to some lengths to encourage a higher return....
(Washington Times, page A12). 


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