> BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2001:
>
> RELEASED TODAY: In April 2001, there were 1,445 mass layoff actions by
> employers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits
> during the month, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
> Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single establishment, and
> the number of workers involved totaled 175,064. In January 2001 through
> April 2001, the total number of events, at 5,995, and initial claims, at
> 719,781, were higher than in January-April 2000 (4,889 and 535,327,
> respectively).
>
> According to data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first
> 22 weeks of 2001, newly bargained contracts in the manufacturing industry
> provide a weighted average first-year increase of 3.3 percent, unchanged
> from the comparable period in 2000, while agreements in the
> nonmanufacturing (excluding construction) sector produce a weighted
> average increase of 4.4 percent, compared with 3.9 percent in 2000. The
> current median manufacturing increase was 3 percent, the same as that
> reported a year ago, and the median nonmanufacturing increase was 3.8
> percent, compared with 3.5 percent last year (Daily Labor Report, page
> D-1).
>
> The wealthiest households had income gains over the last 2 decades that
> far outstripped those of households at the other end of the spectrum, but
> the relative tax burden of people with the highest incomes also increased
> substantially, new government figures show. In a comprehensive look at
> incomes and taxation, the Congressional Budget Office found that during
> the 18 years covered by the study, pretax and after-tax income increased
> for all except the bottom 20 percent of households. Average pretax income
> among the top 1 percent increased 142 percent, to $1.02 million in 1997
> from $420,200 in 1979. Among the top 20 percent of households, average
> pretax income rose 52.9 percent, to $167,500 from $109,500. But pretax
> income for the lowest 20 percent of households declined 3.4 percent, to
> $11,400 in 1997 from $11,800 in 1979. All figures are adjusted for
> inflation. The budget office released its study last week, and its
> findings generally tracked other research into the gap between the rich
> and the poor. "The distribution of income among households grew
> substantially more unequal during the 1979-1997 period," the budget office
> said. An analysis of the budget office study by the Center on Budget and
> Policy Priorities, a liberal research group, reached a similar conclusion.
> The group said that "income gaps between rich and poor and between the
> rich and middle class widened in the 1980's and 1990's alike and reached
> their widest point on record in 1997." (The New York Times, page C4).
>
> DUE OUT TOMORROW: The Employment Situation: May 2001
>
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