> BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1999
>
> RELEASED TODAY: Regional and state unemployment rates were relatively
> stable in May. All four regions reported little or no change over the
> month, and 39 states recorded shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less. The
> national jobless rate, 4.2 percent, was little changed. ...
>
> The Government Accounting Office recommends to BLS that it periodically
> evaluate the "degree of consistency and accuracy" of the data agency's own
> commodity analysts as they help to produce monthly consumer price index
> figures. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, did not find
> accuracy problems with the CPI itself, but raised issues about how the BLS
> reviews the work of its commodity analysts as they determine whether price
> collectors have allowed for the proper substitution of goods and services
> when the original items are no longer available. BLS employs about 50
> commodity analysts in its CPI program. These commodity analysts are
> responsible for several key functions pertaining to the maintaining of the
> CPI's massive price collection effort, according to Kenneth Dalton, BLS
> associate commissioner for prices and living conditions. ... (Pam
> Ginsbach in Daily Labor Report, page A-10).
>
> Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan says he would be "hard pressed" to find
> evidence of accelerating inflation, yet conveyed the impression that Fed
> policymakers will most likely nudge up interest rates later this month,
> because there are "developing imbalances" that threaten the long-term
> economic expansion. Those imbalances, he told the congressional Joint
> Economic Committee, arise from the strong demand for labor that has
> reduced the pool of available workers -- a development that cannot
> continue indefinitely without creating wage pressures. ... (Daily Labor
> Report, page A-16; Washington Post, page A1; New York Times editorial,
> page A28, news story, page C1; Wall Street Journal, page A3).
>
> The number of new unemployment insurance claims filed with state agencies
> dropped by 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 297, 000 in the week ended June
> 12, the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration says.
> ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-8)_____An ETA analyst said the decline
> may have been affected by the seasonal adjustment factor used to correct
> for volatility around the Memorial Day holiday. "We didn't get the
> increase we expected" in unadjusted figures, he said. ... (Wall Street
> Journal, page A2).
>
> The big difference in labor productivity between American and Japanese
> auto makers in the 1980s, then a matter of considerable dismay in the
> United States, has been sharply reduced by Ford, but General Motors and
> DaimlerChrysler still lag, according to a comprehensive study made by
> Harbour & Associates, a manufacturing consultant in Troy, Mich. The labor
> cost difference has persisted for GM and Daimler-Chrysler, which has only
> improved as quickly as the Japanese makers. ... (New York Times, page
> C6)_____U.S. auto makers are narrowing their productivity gap against
> their top Japanese competitors, but they remain well behind, according to
> a closely watched annual study. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2).
>
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