[PEN-L:3464] BLS Daily Report

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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." ...
(Daily Labor Report, page A-8).


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