BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2000
Motorists have plenty of pungent words for the gasoline prices that have
shot upward since 1998, says Peter Behr, writing in The Washington Post
"Business" section (page 10). Economists sometimes call them a tax. That's
how gasoline price increases work -- they take away money from consumers,
just like a tax, and turn it over to oil-exporting nations and to oil
companies and their stockholders. And like sales and payroll taxes, high
gas prices hit proportionally harder on consumers standing on the lower
range of the income ladder. The Bureau of Labor Statistics details consumer
spending by individuals living alone as well as family members living
together. ... An average Washington area household will pay just over
$1,700 on average for gasoline in 2000 for two cars, assuming ... prices
don't change during the balance of the year, according to the BLS consumer
survey results. (Figures from the 1998 survey have been raised to take
account of the 45 percent increase in gasoline prices since then). Now
look at how that motor fuel bill varies depending on a household's income:
Households with after-tax income between $5,000 and $9,999 will spend an
average of $614 this year for their one car. Those with after-tax incomes
in the $20,000 to $29,999 range will spend twice as much on average --
$1,294 for the two cars they own. And the gasoline and oil bill will nearly
double again, to $2,354, for a household with $70,000 in after tax income,
the BLS figures show. ... Accompanying the article is a table that show how
gas and oil prices hit consumers at different income levels, accounting for
5.6 percent of income at the $5,000 to $9,999 income-after-taxes level, 3.8
percent at the $20,000 to $29,999 level, and 1.7 percent at the $70,000 and
over level. Source of the data is given as BLS.
Workers younger than age 20 face a serious risk of death from work-related
injuries in agricultural operations, particularly when working in crop
production and with tractors, other vehicles, and industrial equipment,
according to findings announced by the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-15).
Employer-sponsored benefits are important to business success, and this
importance will continue in the next decade, according to most respondents
to the American Benefits Council's membership survey. "Ninety-nine percent
of our members think employer-sponsored benefits are key to the competitive
success of American business, and that importance has more than doubled in
the last 10 years," said the council's president. ... The ABC survey was
conducted by Harris Interactive Inc., an Internet market research firm. The
American Benefits Council was formerly the Association of Private Pension
and Welfare Plans. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-14).
Employees worldwide share a low level of loyalty and commitment and a
dwindling level of faith in their organization's ethics and leaders,
according to a global workforce study. ... The survey, conducted by Walker
Information Global Network and the Hudson Institute, found only one-third of
worldwide employees believe their organization is highly ethical, and only 6
in 10 believe their senior people are people of high integrity. ... The
"2000 Global Employee Relationship Report" contains the results of a survey
completed by 9,718 full- and part-time employees in 32 countries in
business, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. ... (Daily
Labor Report, page A-7).
Is the boom in technology spending -- a driving force behind the economy's
strength -- beginning to fade? While statistics continue to show that
companies are spending a fortune on building high technology infrastructure,
some economists and analysts warn that the growth in spending on a wide
variety of high-technology products -- including computers, servers and
switching devices, and software -- will level off soon at best and possibly
even decline. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2).
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