> BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2001:
>
> RELEASED TODAY; Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 114,000 in June, and
> the unemployment rate was little changed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
> of the U.S. Department of Labor reports. Manufacturing experienced
> another large job loss, and wholesale trade employment declined for the
> third consecutive month. Other major industry groups showed no
> significant change in employment over the month.
>
> The nation's unemployment rate rose to 4,.5 percent in June as
> manufacturers continued to suffer heavy job losses and demand for workers
> in service industries fell to the lowest level in 10 months. The Labor
> Department reported Friday that the jobless rate rose 0.1 percentage point
> from a 4.4 percent rate in May. The 4.5 percent level matched the
> unemployment rate in April with both months representing the highest level
> the jobless rate has reached in the yearlong economic slowdown.
> Businesses slashed payroll for the second time in 3 months, cutting
> 114,000 jobs in June after a reduction of 165,000 jobs in April.
> Economists are predicting that final figures will show that the economy
> barely grew in the recently ended April-June quarter. Still, many are
> hopeful that growth will begin to rebound this summer as the Fed's
> credit-easing campaign and Congress' tax-refund checks take hold (Jeannine
> Aversa, Associated Press,
> http://www.boston.com/dailynews/187/economy/Unemployment_rate_rises_to_4_5
> :.shtml;
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,2669,ART-528
> 15,FF.html; http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/38460p-618427c.html).
>
> New claims filed with state agencies for Unemployment Insurance benefits
> increased by 7,000 to a total of 399,000 for the week ended June 30, the
> Employment and Training Administration reports. Analysts say the data
> show the labor market might be stabilizing but is still weak (Daily Labor
> Report, page D-1; The Washington Post, page E2; The Wall Street Journal,
> page A2; USA Today, page 1B).
>
> U.S. corporations in June announced a total of 124,852 workforce
> reductions, bringing the total for the first 6 months of this year to
> 770,000, according to the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas,
> Inc. The layoff total for the first half of this year was nearly three
> and one-half times greater than the total announced in the same period of
> 2000 (223,421), and 27 percent higher than the year-end figure for last
> year. "The good news for displaced workers as well as for the economy is
> that the jobs that are being affected the most by downsizing are still in
> demand," said the chief executive officer of the firm. He added that the
> availability of recently laid-off workers is most likely one of the
> reasons that the nation's unemployment rate has risen only slightly since
> the beginning of the year to 4.4 percent in May. The Challenger report
> tracks layoff announcements each month, without regard to when the cuts
> will take place. Some corporations spread cuts over several months or
> even years, while others make them almost immediately (Daily Labor Report,
> page A-2).
>
> U.S. workers, reeling from earlier rounds of layoffs, took another hit
> last month, with the loss of 124,852 jobs nationwide, up from 80,140 in
> May, according to a new survey on job cuts. The federal government also
> reported that the number of unemployed who stayed on state jobless rolls
> for more than 5 days exceeded 3 million last week for the first time since
> 1992. The telecommunications industry led the downsizing trend by laying
> off more than 27,000 workers in June, bringing the industry's 6 month
> total to 130,442 jobs, according to a monthly report by Challenger, Gray &
> Christmas, a Chicago outplacement firm that tracks job cuts. Together,
> the industrial goods and service sectors accounted for 34,161 of last
> month's cuts (Diane F. Lewis, Boston Globe).
>
> Business activity in the service sector strengthened in June, the
> National Association of Purchasing Management said in releasing the
> results of its latest monthly survey of the nonmanufacturing economy. The
> NAPM's nonmanufacturing business activity index jumped 5.5 percentage
> points to register 52.1 percent in June, a higher reading than economists
> had expected. The reading was at its highest level since December 2000,
> when it stood at 61.1 percent (Daily Labor Report, page A-4).
>
> Business other than manufacturing expanded in June for the first time in 3
> months, an industry survey showed today, adding to evidence that the
> economy may have begun to pull out of a slowdown. The nonmanufacturing
> business index of the National Association of Purchasing Management rose
> to 52.1 last month, from 46.6 in May. The June reading was the highest
> this year and the first since March to reach above 50, which signals
> expansion (Bloomberg News, The New York Times, page C6).
>
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