BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2000
RELEASED TODAY: The revised seasonally adjusted annual rates of
productivity growth in the third quarter were 2.8 percent in the business
sector and 3.3 percent in the nonfarm business sector. The increases in
labor productivity for the business and nonfarm business sectors are the
result of increases in output combined with small declines in the hours of
all persons working in the sector. In manufacturing, revised productivity
increases in the third quarter were 7.3 percent in manufacturing, 11.2
percent in durable goods manufacturing, and 1.7 percent in nondurable goods
manufacturing. ...
Although the number of mass layoff events was down over the first 9 months
of this year compared with 1999, the number of workers filing initial claims
for unemployment insurance benefits was somewhat higher, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics. In October alone, BLS tracked 874 mass layoff
events which involved 103,755 persons who filed UI claims. ... (Daily Labor
Report, page D-1).
Nonmanufacturing business activity grew at a slightly faster pace in
November, but weakening demand for new orders has some companies
anticipating a slowdown, the National Association of Purchasing Managers
says, reporting on its monthly survey of more than 370 purchasing
executives. Another change since October is the increase in service sector
employment as firms worked to either fill vacancies or expand their
operations. Nineteen percent of survey respondents said they increased
employment levels in November, compared with 10 percent who said they cut
jobs during the month. The industries reporting the highest rates of growth
in employment during November included legal services, insurance,
construction, mining, business services, and transportation. ... (Daily
Labor Report, page A-10).
Figures released by the Federal Reserve show the U.S. industrial sector
posted an annual average increase of 5.4 percent in total output between
1996 and the third quarter of 2000. The Fed's revision in industrial
production and capacity utilization figures are part of its annual update
that incorporates new information from various sources. Industrial
production figures, for example, are derived from data compiled by the
Commerce Department's Census Bureau, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor
Statistics, and others. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-11).
Financial markets rallied strongly after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan acknowledged that U.S. economic growth has slowed "appreciably,"
convincing many investors that the central bank will begin to cut short-term
interest rates if growth slows too much. ... (Washington Post, page A1; New
York Times, page A1; Wall Street Journal, page A2).
According to TeleCheck Services Inc., same-store sales were up 3.2 percent
over last year's tally during the first 10 holiday shopping days, compared
with the 4.9 percent increase registered last year. But two other reports
suggested a sharp slowdown after the post-Thanksgiving 3-day weekend.
According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, sales from Nov.
27 to Dec. 3 at specialty stores in the nation's malls were 6.9 percent
lower than in the equivalent period last year. And the National Retail
Federation said RCT Systems Inc. reported that mall traffic was down 2.3
percent during that same period, while traffic at department stores was down
4.6 percent. ... Meanwhile, online shopping registered an increase of 140
percent during the week that included Thanksgiving, according to a survey by
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and PC Data Inc. ... Online sales for the season
may double this year, the numbers suggest. ... (Washington Post, page E3).
Americans are buying less jewelry and fewer homes than they did a year ago.
Personal computers are gathering dust on warehouse shelves. Sales of
airplane tickets and minivans have flattened in recent weeks. Just as the
country has entered the most important shopping season of the year,
consumers are holding back, reacting to a lower stock market and higher
energy costs and interest rates. At the moment, the prospects for next year
do not seem much better. The enthusiasm of American consumers for spending
and borrowing, which has sustained the economy whenever it seemed to falter
over the last decade, now appears to be at its lowest point in perhaps 5
years, economists say. Of course, those 5 years have been among the
strongest in history, analysts say, and the economy continues to grow today
at a rate that would have seemed healthy at many other times during the last
3 decades. Most economists still believe the United States is unlikely to
enter a recession in the next 12 months, even if the odds have risen lately.
... (New York Times, December 3, page 1).
These days, committing to a company for life is out of vogue. Job-hoppers
are everywhere. But the faithful colleagues they leave behind may be loyal
to a fault, a study has found. Getzler & Company, a consulting firm in New
York that helps family-owned businesses in crisis, found a link between
employee longevity and declining corporate performance. The study found
that people at distressed companies not only had longer tenure, but also
stayed in the same job category longer than those at healthier companies.
Leading executives of major departments -- finance, manufacturing,
distributions, human resources, operations -- had been in their positions
for 8 years, on average, at distressed companies, compared with 5.2 years at
healthier companies. ... (New York Times, Dec. 3, Money & Business, page
10).
DUE OUT TOMORROW: Employment Experience of Youth: Results from a
Longitudinal Survey
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