BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2000
The Labor Department said that, in May, there were fewer announced [sic]
layoffs and fewer workers laid off than in any similar period over the past
4 years (Wall Street Journal, "Work Week" feature, page A1).
Salary increases will continue to average 4 percent this year and throughout
2001, but an anticipated increase in inflation will cause a decline in the
real earnings gain, the Conference Board says in its annual salary survey.
This is the seventh year in a row the survey has pegged increases at 4
percent, the board said Salary-increase budgets remain at the lowest level
since the board began tracking them in 1973. ... (Daily Labor Report, page
A-2).
Orders for machine tools increased 8 percent in May, as demand in almost all
regions picked up, according to a report by the Association for
Manufacturing Technology. ... May orders were 8.5 percent lower than the
total for May 1999 (Washington Post, page E12).
"Obsessed with tests, we forget that jobs take varying skills," writes
Robert B. Reich, labor secretary from 1993-97, on the op. ed. page of The
New York Times. ... "Our challenge is to find different measures of the
various skills relevant to the jobs of the new economy. It's our job not to
discourage our children, but to help them find their way."
Industry groups say 800,000 programming and other information technology
jobs will go begging for lack of workers. But many members of a huge
potential labor pool -- women in college -- aren't interested. Education
Department statistics show that fewer than 28 percent of the computer and
information science bachelor's degrees awarded in 1997 went to women, down
from 37 percent in 1985. The portion of women receiving master's degrees in
those fields remains flat, about 28 percent. While skilled and comfortable
using the Internet and productivity software such as graphics programs and
databases, many female students are put off by technical and narrowly
focused activities like programming, experts say. The situation is
aggravated by the way computer science is taught as a lab course segregated
from other subjects. Thus, more women are ignoring high-demand tech
careers. ... (Wall Street Journal, "Work Week" feature, page A1).
More worker-starved businesses are finding that the best way to attract
qualified employees is to let them stay home. The ability to telecommute --
whether from a home office or the kitchen -- is a key perk that helps
companies recruit new employees and retain existing staff. At least that
was the view of 62 percent of the 200 human resource professionals surveyed
recently by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the outplacement firm. ... (New
York Times, July 9, "Money & Business" section, page 6).
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