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_01BE8288.C154F2D0 BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1999 RELEASED TODAY: The U.S. Import Price Index edged up 0.1 percent in March. An increase in imported petroleum prices more than offset a decline in nonpetroleum import prices. In contrast, the price index for U.S. exports fell 0.3 percent in March, after posting a 0.2 percent decline in February. .... The Bureau of Labor Statistics just made an important confession, says James C. Cooper, writing in Business Week (April 12, page 40). Based on results from studies released March 30, the government has all but admitted for the first time something that many economists have argued for many years: U.S. productivity growth is understated, especially in hard-to-measure service industries. The results offer the latest ammunition for those who believe that the U.S. economy is in the middle of a technology-driven productivity revolution that could have significant long-term impacts on growth, inflation, and economic policy. The heart of the research is a study by the bureau's William Gullickson and Michael J. Harper, in which they break down productivity growth by various industries using a concept called multifactor productivity. ... Based on existing data, the contribution of nonmanufacturing industries -- mainly services -- to productivity growth was zero from 1979 to 1996. ... That result strains credibility. How far off are the results? Associate Commissioner Edwin R. Dean will only say, "We have not shown that the degree of underestimate is large." ... To be sure, the BLS research leaves many questions unanswered. ... The best thing to come out of this research is likely to be better productivity data, since it identifies the key industries where the BLS will now redouble its efforts. In particular, Dean says that work on more accurate banking-sector data already underway will result in better measurement for that industry by year end. ... Social critics have claimed that workers are putting in far more time on the job than they used to -- to the detriment of other aspects of their lives. Others have disputed such claims, noting that worker surveys show that the average workweek has hardly changed since the early 1970s, staying close to 42 hours for men and 37 hours for women. A study in the "Review of Social Economy" by Jerry A. Jacobs of the University of Pennsylvania and Kathleen Gerson of New York University throws light on the issue. While confirming that the average workweek has not changed much in recent decades, the two sociologists point out that significantly more people are working either long or short weeks -- often to their dissatisfaction. Since 1970, for example, the share of male workers logging at least 50 hours a week on the job has climbed from 20 percent to 25 percent, while the share of female workers putting in similar long hours has risen from 5 percent to more than 10 percent. The ranks of those working fewer than 30 hours a week have also grown. Skilled and highly educated Americans are especially likely to work long hours, note the researchers. ... As for those most dissatisfied with long hours, the researchers believe much of the discontent is among dual-earner couples -- particularly those with children. ... (Business Week, April 12, page 26). Wage data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 14 weeks of 1999 for all newly negotiated contract settlements show that the median first-year wage increase was 3 percent, the same as that reported in the year-ago period, and the weighted average increase was 2.4 percent, compared with 2.8 percent in 1998. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-1). GM reported its U.S. light-vehicle sales were down 2.2 percent in March, worse than analysts expected but not enough to keep the total industry from hitting new monthly and quarterly records. ... (Washington Post, page E1). 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[PEN-L:5025] BLS Daily Report
Richardson_D Fri, 9 Apr 1999 08:59:29 -0400boundary="----_=_NextPart_000_01BE8288.C154F2D0"