[PEN-L:181] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1998

RELEASED TODAY:  In March 1998, employer costs for employee =
compensation
for civilian workers (private industry and state and local government)
in the United States averaged $19.76 per hour worked.  Wages and
salaries, which averaged $14.30, accounted for approximately 72 percent
of these costs, while benefits, which averaged $5.47, accounted for the
remaining 28 percent.... =20

The average daily employment in the temporary help industry increased
10.7 percent in the first quarter of 1998, compared with the same =
period
last year, according to a survey of staffing companies by the National
Association of Temporary and Staffing Services.  The trade group's
survey found there were an average of 2.6 million temporary employees
working each day in the first quarter....  (Daily Labor Report, page
A-9).

Consumer borrowing increased in May at a slower than expected pace as
credit card use declined, Federal Reserve figures showed....  The May
increase was the lowest since November....  (Washington Post, page E3;
Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Borrowing by U. S. consumers in May grew by smaller-than-expected $400
million, the slowest pace in six months, as credit card use declined,
the Federal Reserve reports.  Economists say rising incomes and low
interest rates have allowed many consumers to pay cash for purchases=85
Inventories at U.S. distributors grew 0.6 percent, and sales fell for
the first time in six months, the Commerce Department says.  The =
figures
suggest companies are taking advantage of cheap prices on imports from
Asia and are less able to sell overseas (USA Today, page 1B). =20

BLS Deputy Commissioner William G. Barron Jr. will leave the agency
after 30 years to manage budgeting and oversight of the 2000 Census.
Barron was acting commissioner at BLS for nearly two years, ending in
October 1993.  He will leave the agency July 27 and will start his new
job as the Commerce Department's deputy undersecretary for economic
affairs on Aug. 10.  Leaving BLS after 30 years "is a very hard thing =
to
do," Barron told BNA.  "There are a lot of programs I've worked on and
put in place.  These are people I have known and respected for many
years."  Tempering his sadness at leaving BLS, he said, is the =
challenge
of working on the greatest of statistical programs -- the decennial
census....  The 2000 census is already embroiled in political
controversy.... (Daily Labor Report, page A-5).

The GOP and Democrats spar over Census funding and sampling issues....
(Washington Post, page A17)

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Producer Price Indexes -- June 1998


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