> BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2001:
>
> The Labor Department's Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration posted
> a media advisory on the agency's web page providing information to help
> workers facing job loss preserve their health coverage. The department
> issued a fact sheet, Job Loss: Important Information Workers Need to Know
> to Protect their Health Coverage, and a question and answer booklet
> addressing the most commonly asked questions about both pension and health
> benefits at the time of a layoff or loss of a job...(Daily Labor Report,
> page A-5).
>
> President Bush is "open to increasing the minimum wage" as part of a
> broader economic stimulus package that could include tax cuts as well as
> an extension of unemployment insurance, White House spokesman told
> reporters (Daily Labor Report, page A-9). The President's decision to
> support new benefits, coupled with strong bipartisan momentum for new
> infrastructure spending, means the tax-cut component of any stimulus
> package may not be as large as many Republicans and business groups had
> hoped (The Wall Street Journal, page A2).
>
> Declining wages and salaries offset gains from the federal tax rebates in
> August, resulting in no growth in personal income, according to figures
> released by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis.
> Personal consumption expenditures climbed a modest 0.2 percent seasonally
> adjusted in August, the same as in July. At this pace, economists said
> the third quarter spending rate is likely to be below 2 percent....The
> drop in wages shown in the BEA report reflects the loss of 113,000 nonfarm
> payroll jobs in August, analysts said. While the job cuts were
> concentrated in manufacturing, the layoffs were widespread enough in
> August to boost the nation's unemployment rate to 4.9 percent, according
> to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
>
> Consumer spending rose modestly in August as tax rebate checks put more
> money in shoppers' pockets, the government reported today. For the second
> consecutive month, spending rose 0.2 percent (The New York Times, page
> C8).
>
> Analysts said the Fed was all but certain to reduce rates when it
> meets..., in what would be its second rate cut since September 11 and its
> ninth this year. Odds are that this cut, like the last one two weeks ago,
> will be half a percentage point (The New York Times, page C1). The
> Federal Reserve today could reduce interest rates below the inflation rate
> for the first time in almost 8 years (The Wall Street Journal, page A2).
> With the U.S. economy apparently sliding into a recession, Federal Reserve
> policymakers meeting today are expected to cut short-term interest rates
> for the ninth time this year, most likely by half a percentage point (The
> Washington Post, page E1).
>
> Just a few weeks ago, job cuts were largely accepted as a company's
> rational response to changing consumer demand or a measure of its
> commitment to profits. But since the September 11 terrorist attacks,
> layoffs have taken on a new meaning for many Americans: capitulation.
> According to this view, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the
> Pentagon not only toppled two skyscrapers, but also rammed the economic
> pillars of consumer and investor confidence. In this view, companies can
> and should simply stand tall (The Wall Street Journal, page B1).
>
> The nation's battered factory sector showed faint signs of life for the
> second month in a row in September.... A closely watched gauge of
> manufacturing activity slipped back to 47 in September from 47.9 in
> August, according to the National Association of Purchasing Management. A
> reading below 50 signals that most manufacturers are reporting weaker
> business, and that the factory sector is contracting, which it has done
> now for 14 consecutive months (USA Today, page 3B).
>
> Unions facing big job cuts might consider mergers with other unions, says
> Marick F. Masters, a University of Pittsburgh professor. Andrew Stern,
> president of the Service Employees International Union, notes many of the
> job cuts are in industries, such as airlines, likely to bounce back
> someday. A silver lining is that unions and employers both are working
> toward solutions (The Wall Street Journal, page A1).
>
>
> DUE OUT TOMORROW: Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment, August
> 2001
>
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