This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------_=_NextPart_000_01BE59F9.E3A6C030 BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1999 Multifactor productivity, or output per unit of combined labor and capital inputs, rose 0.4 percent in the private nonfarm business sector in 1997, BLS reports. This gain marked the sixth consecutive annual increase in multifactor productivity. ... Multifactor productivity differs and is more encompassing than labor productivity as measured in BLS' quarterly series, Larry Rosenblum, a BLS economist, told the Bureau of National Affairs. "If you are producing something, you not only use labor to produce output, you also use capital," Rosenblum explained. "If you just compare one output to one input, you can have wide shifts in productivity, because businesses decided they would use capital in exchange for labor. ln multifactor productivity, you compare both." Labor output has increased at a much faster pace than capital output, Rosenblum said. ... (Daniel J. Roy in Daily Labor Report, page D-3). If education is the key to America's future and the well-being of its individual citizens, the nation's young - and particularly young females - seem to have gotten the right message, says Business Week (Feb. 15, page 26). BLS reports that a record 67 percent of 1997 high school graduates were enrolled in colleges and universities in the fall of that year, up from 62 percent a mere 2 years earlier. And two-thirds of that number attended 4-year institutions. ... Although a greater percentage of young men than young women have traditionally held college degrees, this changed in the 1990s. By last year, 29 percent of women in the 25 to 29 age group were graduates of 4-year institutions, compared with just 25.6 percent of men. Jobless benefit claims filed with state agencies dropped by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 281,000 in the week ended Feb. 6. This is the fourth consecutive week in which claims have decreased. They now are at their lowest level in 18 months. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-1; New York Times, page C2; Wall Street Journal, page A2). Retail sales rose 0.2 percent in January, posting a smaller gain than the revised 1 percent in December, the Commerce Department says. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-15)_____Retail sales rose in January for the sixth consecutive month, led by sales at department and clothing stores. ... (New York Times, page C2)_____Consumers took a breather last month, as retail sales grew at their slowest pace since August. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2). The administration's 2.4 percent growth forecast for this year already looks "too conservative" in view of the burst of growth that took place in the fourth quarter, Jeffrey Frankel, member of the CEA, tells the Economic Strategy Institute. ... Frankel says there is "no reason to think the recovery is spent" since inflation is low, households' net worth is high and can continue to fuel consumer spending, and inventories are under control. He says the CEA economists take a "moderate line" on the nonaccelerating-inflation rate of unemployment. "One has to recognize limits" to how far the jobless rate can drop without fueling inflation, Frankel says, but adds that with growth as strong as it has been, he now believes the unemployment rate can stay where it is "a little longer." ... 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[PEN-L:3464] BLS Daily Report
Richardson_D Tue, 16 Feb 1999 17:15:38 -0500boundary="----_=_NextPart_000_01BE59F9.E3A6C030"