> BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, AUGUST 29, 2001:
>
> RELEASED TODAY: In July, 208 metropolitan areas recorded unemployment
> rates below the U.S. average (4.7 percent not seasonally adjusted), while
> 117 areas had higher rates, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Five
> metropolitan areas had unemployment rates below 2.0 percent. Of the seven
> areas with jobless rates above 10.0 percent, four were located in
> California and three were along the Mexican border in other states.
>
> The economic slowdown means the labor market isn't as tight as it was a
> year ago, but small business owners are still reporting that a good man
> (or woman) is hard to find. A nationwide survey of businesses that employ
> fewer than 250 workers found during the spring that 71 percent of firms
> that recently recruited new employees said it was "hard" or "very hard" to
> find qualified workers. The survey, conducted by the Gallup Organization
> for the National Federation of Independent Business, found that about 30
> percent of the companies looking for workers still need to outbid other
> employers by offering higher wages or better benefits. Two-thirds of the
> firms said they have gone without needed employees. More than half said
> they have had to cut back work hours, limit production or turn away
> business (The Washington Post, page E3).
>
> The U.S. economy barely moved forward in the spring, growing at an anemic
> rate of just 0.2 percent, the weakest performance in 8 years, the
> government reported today. The Commerce Department's latest reading of
> gross domestic product in the April-June quarter represented a big
> downward revision to the estimate one month ago of a 0.7 percent growth
> rate. GDP is the country's total output of goods and services and is
> considered the broadest measure of the economy's health (Jeannine Aversa,
> Associated Press
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-economy.story?coll=chi%2Dbusine
> ss%2Dhed).
>
> When is a recession a recession?Officially, the Business Cycle Dating
> Committee, a group of eminent economists, determines when a slump has
> turned into a recession. But a rule of thumb is two consecutive quarters
> of economic contraction, and that has proved to be a pretty good
> barometer. So the Commerce Department's report on the initial revision to
> gross domestic product figures for the second quarter could start a
> recession buzz. But in Cambridge, Mass. the dating committee of the
> National Bureau of Economic Research is unlikely to do anything right
> away. The economic pot may be cooling, but it has to be cold before the
> group signs a certificate of recession (The New York Times, page C1).
>
> The economic slowdown leaves immigrant day laborers, who numbered about
> 258,000 in February 2001, according to Census Bureau estimates, high and
> dry, says (The Wall Street Journal,page B1). But the Census number
> wouldn't capture those not seeking jobs that month, and the total probably
> climbs sharply during the construction season. The associate director of
> the Center for the Study of Urban Poverty at the University of California
> at Los Angeles found in a survey of about 480 Los Angeles area day
> laborers that about 40 percent get work from homeowners with odd jobs.
> Another 40 percent get work from plumbers, roofers, landscapers and other
> subcontractors. Many of these businesses are feeling the pinch of a
> slowing economy. Sales of home improvement products are expected to grow
> by only 3.4 percent this year, after increases of 5.9 percent and 10.9
> percent in previous years, says the senior research analyst at the Home
> Improvement Research Institute, Tampa, Fla. Housing remains healthy by
> historic standards, but office space under construction fell to 107.9
> million square feet in the second quarter, the third decline since it
> peaked at about 125 million in last year's third quarter, says a real
> estate services concern in Northbrook, Ill.
>
> The loss of manufacturing jobs that has helped fuel the nation's rising
> unemployment rate should begin to stabilize at the end of the year and new
> hiring could pick up in 2002, the National Association of Manufacturers
> said today. " Recent data has been somewhat favorable, and suggests we are
> nearing a turning point," President Jerry Jasinowski said as the
> association released its annual Labor Day report. Faced with slumping
> demand and excess stocks of unsold goods, manufacturers have cut 837,000
> jobs in the past 12 months and production has fallen 4.8 percent. Since
> 1969, manufacturing has been hit with five downturns that have lasted on
> average 10 months, with output falling an average of 9 percent and
> employment declining 7.5 percent or 1.5 million, the report said. A report
> by the Employment Policy Foundation, a business-supported think tank, says
> 9.1 million jobs have been created in the past 5 years and tight labor
> markets will continue as the baby boom generation retires in the next 30
> years. Retirements are likely to create 61.1 million job vacancies (Leigh
> Strope, Associated Press http://www.nypost.com/apstories/V1116.htm).
>
> Layoffs. Retirements. Attrition. It seems like that's all you hear about
> on the job front these days, writes Ron Scherer, The Christian Science
> Monitor (http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0827/p1s1-usec.html). However,
> scores of industries are hiring: mining firms, mortgage bankers, health
> services, oil companies, insurance providers, and electric utilities, to
> name just a few. One indication that jobs are available: the newly
> unemployed are taking only 2.07 months, on average, to find another job.
> The employment picture reflects a diverse economy in which, even as
> manufacturing has faltered, industries like coal and oil are boosting
> output and other industries like housing see sales stimulated by falling
> interest rates. A significant portion of the layoffs are concentrated in
> manufacturing and temporary services, which together lost 1.2 million jobs
> in the past year. Among dotcoms, for all their woes, demand continues
> strong for technical employees. A year ago, there were about 1 million
> unfilled jobs. Now, computer experts estimate this is down to about
> 400,000 to 500,000 jobs looking for workers.
>
> DUE OUT TOMORROW: Mass Layoffs in July 2001
>
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