[PEN-L:689] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

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BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1998

BLS got all the fiscal 1999 funding the Clinton Administration requested
to continue efforts to improve the CPI and other data series, according
to the agency. ...  BLS funding will allow the agency to continue its
ongoing effort to improve the CPI and develop a new data series on labor
market conditions, according to Kate Newman, head of BLS's financial
planning and management division. ...  BLS says the extra money will
allow the agency to speed up the process of updating the market basket
of goods and service sampled to determine price changes.  The added
funding should allow BLS to expand the amount of information collected
on the prices and characteristics of certain goods and services. ...
Current statistical series do not show directly labor market shortages
and if labor market tightness is exerting upward pressure on wages.  "We
would be providing monthly data on separations, new hires and current
job openings to assess the demand for labor or the existence of labor
shortages," Newsman said.  BLS will begin publishing the data in 2001.

"Wage Inflation?  Not to Worry" is the title of a Washington Post op-ed
article by Robert I. Lerman, director of the Urban Institute's Human
Resources Policy Center. ...  In it, he says that, between 1992 and
1998, the unemployment rate for adult high school dropouts fell from 12
to 7 percent; for teenagers, unemployment plummeted from 20 percent to
about 14 percent.  Meanwhile, among never-married mothers, the
proportion holding jobs jumped from 45 to 61 percent.  During this same
period, employment rates at the high-skill end of the labor market
barely changed.  Unemployment already was low for these workers and for
college graduates it fell a bit more, but the proportion of college
graduates holding jobs stayed the same -- 78 percent.  Given these
trends, theory would dictate wage growth, especially for the most
skilled workers.  But that didn't happen.  Between 1995 and 1998,
college graduates saw wage gains of about 2 to 3 percent above
inflation, about average for all workers.  Why?  Many analysts point to
corporate competition at home and abroad, weakened unions, and recent
productivity increases.  But also at work here is an abundance of
well-educated workers. ...  Of the net increase of nearly 12 million
newly employed adults between 1992 and 1998, 90 percent had completed at
least some college education and more than half obtained at least a
bachelor's degree. ...  

The Wall Street Journal's "Tracking the Economy" feature (page A2)
predicts that the employment cost index for the third quarter, to be
released by BLS Thursday, will rise 0.8 percent in comparison to the
previous quarterly change of 0.9 percent.

Salaried employees can expect an average 4.1 percent merit-based salary
increase in 1999, the same increase that salaried employees have seen
for the last two years, according to a survey of 406 Fortune 1000
companies released by Buck Consultants.  The annual survey also found
that three out of four employers reported that they are using
alternative reward strategies such as hiring and retention bonuses,
stock options, and annual bonus programs to compensate talented
employees. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-9).

The number of women in a state legislature appears to have a strong
correlation with the wage gap between women and men in the state, a
panel sponsored by the Institute for Women's Policy Research said in
releasing a report.  The economic status of women tends to be correlated
with their political status, according to the president of
Washington-based IWPR, an independent, nonprofit organization. ...
(Daily Labor Report, page A-4).


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