[PEN-L:1163] BLS Daily Report

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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1998:

Today's News Release:  "Mass Layoffs in May 1998" indicates that in that
month, there were 1,180 mass layoff actions by employers as measured by
new filings for unemployment insurance benefits.  Each action involved
at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and the number of
workers involved totaled 107,952.  Both the number of layoff events and
initial claimants for unemployment insurance were higher than in May
1997.

While the number of displaced workers has declined amid steady growth in
the U.S. economy,  the risk of displacement has increased as the huge
service-producing sector has experienced more job turmoil, according to
the latest figures from BLS.  Between 1995 and 1997, some 3.6 million
U.S. long-term workers lost their jobs due to plant closings and similar
situations, down from 4.2 million in the 1993-95 period.
At the same time, the risk of displacement has increased, particularly
among white-collar workers, BLS says.  In the most recent period, 4.6
percent of all workers over age 20 who had been in their jobs an average
of 3 years were displaced, up from 3.8 percent in the 1987-89 period,
which BLS economist Steve Hipple says represents a comparable business
cycle period to the 1995-97 period.  "There are several factors that
have increased the risk of displacement, including competitiveness,
deregulation of several industries, such as telecommunications and
banking, and technology changes," Hipple said in a telephone interview.
He also said the 
agency is considering changes to the displacement worker survey because
officials are not sure if the current wording of questions is picking up
all of the service-producing workers that it should. The displaced
worker survey is conducted every other year by the Census Bureau for
BLS, as a supplement to the monthly household employment survey, called
the current population survey (Daily Labor Report, page D-5).
__The most comprehensive survey of permanent layoffs in America finds
that in the last 3 years, a smaller percentage of workers were downsized
than in any other period in this decade.. But the layoff rate is still
significantly higher than in the 1980's, and women now get pink slips
almost as often as men, says Louis Uchitelle in The New York Times (page
D1).  BLS began its biennial job displacement surveys in 1984, when
widespread permanent layoffs were just becoming an issue.

The report "Park-Time Work, Full-time Bills" released by AFL-CIO
concludes that the nation's 21 million part-time workers on average
receive lower wages and fewer benefits than their full-time counterparts
who are equally qualified.  Comparing part-time and full-time workers
with similar employment experience and educational backgrounds, the
report said men in part-time positions earned 10 percent less and women
5 percent less than their full-time counterparts (Daily Labor Report,
page A-8).

President Clinton has approved an average 3.6 percent pay raise for
federal workers next year, and proposed a 4.4 percent figure for the
following year, which, if implemented, would represent the largest wage
increase for the nation's 1.8 million civil servants in nearly 2
decades, administration officials said yesterday.  The 3.6 percent pay
hike takes effect January 1, 1999, and the 4.4 percent increase would
begin January 1, 2000 (The Washington Post, page 1).


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