BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2000
RELEASED TODAY: The revised seasonally adjusted annual rates of
productivity change in the first quarter were: 1.8 percent in the business
sector and 2.4 percent in the nonfarm business sector. In both sectors, the
first-quarter productivity gains were the same as those reported initially
on May 4. In manufacturing, the revised productivity changes in the first
quarter were: 7.3 percent in manufacturing, 11.3 percent in durable goods
manufacturing, and 1.9 percent in nondurable goods manufacturing. ...
The Producer Price Index for May, to be released by BLS on Friday, is
forecast to increase 0.3 percent, the same as in April. The core PPI is
forecast to increase 0.1 percent, also the same as the previous month (Wall
Street Journal, June 5, page A2).
The growth rate in the economy's nonmanufacturing sector slowed in May, with
some respondents to a National Association of Purchasing Management survey
saying they are trying to reduce inventories in anticipation of a slowdown
in sales. ... New orders, backlogs of new orders, employment, and prices
increased at a slower rate than in the previous month. Conversely, new
export orders increased at a faster clip. ... Although the rate of price
increases moderated, respondents continued to voice concern over the cost of
purchased materials and services. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-1).
Business investment in information technology is likely to propel the
current U.S. economic expansion well into the future, the Commerce
Department says. "In the era of the Internet and other information
technologies, the American economy may be able to achieve rates of economic
growth that are higher and more sustained than in the past, with stronger
income gains and lower inflation and unemployment than we have seen for a
generation," Undersecretary of Commerce Robert Shapiro told reporters. In
its third annual Digital Economy Report, the Commerce Department said
investment in information technology is responsible for more than half of
productivity growth since 1995 and has pulled down annual inflation rates by
0.5 percentage points per year during that period. Although this industry
accounted for only 8 percent of the overall U.S. economy in 1999, it was
responsible for 32 percent of growth, it said. Rising productivity and low
inflation are two of the most important reasons the U.S. economy has
continued growing for the past 9 years and that should continue, Shapiro
said. ... Shapiro dismissed concerns that rising interest rates and the
rise in unemployment evident in the May jobs report might signal a more
serious slowing in economic growth. The most recent jobless figures are
suspect because of difficulty in seasonal adjustment during May, a month
when teenagers and college students traditionally enter the workforce,
Shapiro said. On an unadjusted basis, the U.S. work force grew
substantially, he said (Washington Post, page E2).
The costs of running employee pension and retirement plans fell last year
for many of the nation's largest companies, as the strong stock market
continued to swell pension-plan assets. ... For some companies, the
equation was aided by employee layoffs that reduced total pension exposure,
as well as cuts in benefits to tens of thousands of workers who remain on
payrolls. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2).
Although just 16 percent of workers say their employers offer telecommuting,
four in 10 say they can do their job away from the office with phone, fax,
and Internet access, according to a graph in USA Today (page 1B). Source of
the data is Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Rutgers University.
DUE OUT TOMORROW: Employment Situation of Vietnam-Era Veterans
application/ms-tnef
