> BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2001:
>
> RELEASED TODAY: From 1998 to 1999, multifactor productivity rose 0.8
> percent in the private business sector and 0.6 percent in the private
> nonfarm business sector, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
> Multifactor productivity is designed to measure the joint influences on
> economic growth of technological change, efficiency improvements, returns
> to scale, reallocation of resources, and other factors. Multifactor
> productivity, therefore, differs from the labor productivity (output per
> hour) measures that are published quarterly by BLS since it requires
> information on capital services and other data that are not available on a
> quarterly basis. Multifactor productivity increased for the eighth
> consecutive year in both the private business and private nonfarm business
> sectors, but at the lowest rates since 1995.
>
> The number of Americans filing new claims for state unemployment insurance
> rose sharply last week to a 5-year high. The report offered fresh
> evidence that employers' demand for workers has waned as the economy
> slowed. The Labor Department reported today that jobless claims went up
> by a bigger than expected 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 421,000 for the
> workweek ended April 28. Many economists were expecting claims to fall.
> The increase kept claims at their highest level since March 23, 1996, when
> they stood at 428,000. Claims hit a 5-year high 2-weeks ago when they
> rose to 412,000, according to revised figures, a bigger increase than the
> government previously thought (The Associated Press,
> http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38417-2001May 3.html;
> hht://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2001-05-03-jobless.htm; Reuters,
> http://www.latimes.com/wires/20010503/tCB00a2866.html).
>
> U.S. economic growth was slow throughout March and early April as
> industrial activity continued to soften and demand for many consumer goods
> was lackluster, the Federal Reserve Board says in its "beige book" report.
> The report finds one of the few bright spots in the economy was an
> increase in home sales and refinancing activity due to lower mortgage
> rates. The Fed also said that although businesses are beginning to feel
> less pressure from rising wages, sharply higher energy costs are
> continuing to spoil profit margins. The manufacturing sector, which
> economists say has been in its own recession since July 2000, showed few
> signs of improving in March and April, the Fed said (Daily Labor Report,
> page D-1; The Wall Street Journal, page A2).
>
> Labor markets, which were tight for most of last year, have loosened
> somewhat in most parts of the country and employers are finding it easier
> to fill vacancies, the Federal Reserve's latest survey of nationwide
> economic conditions shows. Wages are rising very moderately or are
> unchanged in most parts of the country except for the Richmond and San
> Francisco (Federal Reserve Bank) districts where scattered wage increases
> are noted. Retail prices are steady in most districts, except Richmond,
> where retail prices have been rising at a quicker pace in recent weeks
> (The Washington Post, page E3).
>
> According to data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first
> 18 weeks of 2001, newly bargained contracts in the manufacturing industry
> provide a weighted average first-year increase of 3.5 percent, compared
> with 3.3 percent in the comparable period of 2000, while agreements in the
> nonmanufacturing (excluding construction) sector produced a weighted
> average increase of 4.2 percent, compared with 3.9 percent in 2000. The
> current median manufacturing increase was 3 percent, unchanged from 2000,
> and the median nonmanufacturing increase was 3.8 percent, compared with
> 3.2 percent last year (Daily Labor Report, page D-3).
>
> The economy slowed in the last 2 months as retail sales were weak in March
> and manufacturers reported falling orders and production, the Federal
> Reserve said in its latest regional economic report card (Bloomberg News
> in The New York Times, page C4).
>
> The information-technology revolution should keep boosting productivity
> and living standards, writes Laura D'Andrea Tyson, dean of the Haas School
> of Business at the University of California at Berkeley in Business Week
> (April 30, page 26). According to a recent study by the Council of
> Economic Advisers, labor productivity accelerated by 1.6 percentage points
> from 1995 to 2000, compared with its growth from 1974 to 1995. The lion's
> share of this acceleration stemmed from more investment in information
> technology and efficiency improvements made possible by this technology.
> Most of these productivity gains occurred outside the computer sector and
> were highest in large service industries like wholesale and retail trade,
> finance and business services. From 1989 to 1999, those sectors that
> added the most value through information technology enjoyed the largest
> productivity gains, with a 50 percent acceleration after 1995.
>
> Labor Secretary Chao, in her first budget presentation to congressional
> appropriators, outlined on May 2 what she views as highlights in the Bush
> Administration's first budget proposal for the Labor Department. These
> include an $8.1 million funding increase for the Bureau of Labor
> Statistics, which is dedicated to improvements in the consumer price index
> (Daily Labor Report, pages AA-1 and AA-2).
>
> DUE OUT TOMORROW: The Employment Situation: April 2001
>
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