> BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2000:
>
> Today's News Release: "Extended Mass Layoffs in the Third Quarter of
> 2000" indicates that in the third quarter of 2000, there were 975 mass
> layoff actions by employers that resulted in the separation of 209,903
> workers from their jobs for more than 30 days, according to preliminary
> figures. Both the total number of layoff events and the number of
> separations were lower than in July-September 1999, with events and
> separations at their lowest level for any third quarter period since 1995.
>
> If workers' incomes continue to grow at a rate of a 1 percent to 2 percent
> per year over the next several decades, the workers can use those
> increases to finance longer, more comfortable retirements, an economist
> tells a group of researchers at a hearing sponsored by the Senate Special
> Committee on Aging. The population of older Americans continues to grow,
> causing increases in the costs of pensions, Social Security, and health
> benefits. However, worker productivity is likely to keep pace with those
> costs, according to a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a
> Washington, D.C.-based think tank. Because more women are in the
> workforce, he says, the amount of time Americans between the ages of 25
> and 54 spend at work has risen in the last 30 years. Women's average work
> hours have climbed from 13.6 hours per week in 1968 to 20.3 hours per week
> in 1998. 61.7 percent of women over the age of 16 are expected to be in
> the labor force by 2006, said the director of Portland State University's
> Institute on Aging. The increased work hours can help pay for shorter
> hours and longer retirements after age 55. However, she said between 1984
> and 1994, the proportion of chronically disabled elderly Americans relying
> solely on family members for their care dropped from more than 50 percent
> to 40 percent (Daily Labor Report, page A-10).
>
> The U.S.trade deficit in goods and services surged 15 percent to set a new
> record of $34.3 billion in September, as imports rose while exports fell,
> the Commerce Department says. Total imports rose 3.2 percent to a record
> $126.6 billion. Exports, by contrast, declined 0.7 percent to $92.4
> billion, their second highest level on record. The chief economist with
> Standard & Poor's said some of the deterioration in September reflects a
> better-than-expected improvement in August. The deficit that month
> narrowed by 6 percent, to $29.8 billion. The Commerce Undersecretary said
> the U.S trade deficit has increased with all of the world's regions.
> Trade with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has accounted
> for about 25 percent of the year-to-date deterioration in our deficit in
> goods, due to a surge in oil prices (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
> __The U.S. trade deficit surged to a record $34.3 billion in September, as
> Americans' appetite for cars, clothes and other foreign goods hit an
> all-time high while exports shrank slightly So far this year, the trade
> deficit is running at an annual rate of $360 billion, far above the record
> of $265 billion set last year (The Washington Post, page E3).
> __Imports surged, exports slipped, and the United States trade deficit
> widened sharply to a record in September, raising fears that the economy
> is slowing faster than expected and that the robust dollar may come under
> pressure. Some economists have begun to wonder whether the combination of
> the large deficit and a dollar that has strengthened sharply against most
> major currencies all year raises the risk of a "hard landing" (Joseph Kahn
> in The New York Times, page C11).
> __The trade deficit exploded to a record in September, as Americans
> continued to soak up imported goods and U.S. exporters were hurt by damped
> economic growth overseas. The gap between exports and imports hit $34.3
> billion, almost 13 percent wider than economists had expected for the
> month, and 15 percent larger than the revised $29.8 billion deficit posted
> in August, the Commerce Department reports (Michael M. Phillips in The
> Wall Street Journal, page A2. The Journal's page 1 graph is of gross
> domestic product, 1995 to the present).
>
> Natural gas prices rose more than 4 percent, reaching a record for the
> second straight session, as an early cold spell in the United States
> boosted demand for the heating fuel. Natural gas for December delivery
> rose 15.9 cents or 2.5 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
> Prices were the highest in 10 years of trading. Gas prices are up 43
> percent this month, and have almost tripled from a year ago (The
> Washington Post, page E2).
> __Starting next year, the optional standard rate allowed for business use
> of a car will rise to 34.5 cents a mile, up about 6 percent from 32.5
> cents this year. This rate is used to figure tax deductions for business
> travel as an alternative to deducting your actual costs. The standard
> rate for use of your car for medical reasons, or for computing deductible
> moving expenses, will increase to 12 cents a mile from 10 cents. Internal
> Revenue Service says the "primary" reason for these increases in "the jump
> in gasoline prices". But the standard rate for use of a car when
> providing services to a charitable organization will remain unchanged at
> 14 cents a mile. This rate is set by law, IRS says (The Wall Street
> Journal "Tax Report" feature, page 1).
>
> The Ford Motor Company and the United Automobile Workers announced one of
> the most ambitious social efforts ever undertaken by an American
> corporation yesterday, a program that will provide child care, recreation
> programs for teenagers, and book clubs for retirees. The program, which
> grows out of the contract the auto workers signed last year, calls on Ford
> and its autoparts spinoff, the Visteon Corporation, to establish more than
> 30 centers nationwide that will meet a range of workers needs. The
> centers will provide backup child care for times when a baby sitter is
> sick, day trips for retirees, after school programs for teenagers and prep
> courses for college entrance exams. While other large corporations
> certainly offer a range of benefits to their employees, hardly any yet
> reach the scope of services planned by Ford (Steven Greenhouse in The New
> York Times, page C8).
>
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