BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2002: RELEASED TODAY: Employers reported the separation of 486,406 workers from their jobs for more than 30 days in 2,538 mass layoff actions in the fourth quarter of 2001, according to preliminary figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Both the number of separations and the number of layoff events were sharply higher than in October-December 2000. This marked the fifth consecutive quarter of significant over-the-year increases in extended mass layoff activity. Fourth-quarter 2001 marked the largest number of extended mass layoff events and separations for any fourth quarter since 1995.
Jobless Americans had a much harder time finding work in the fourth quarter of 2001 than they did in the same period a year earlier, a government report shows today. The number of workers laid off from U.S. firms who remained unemployed for more than 30 days jumped to 486,406 in the fourth quarter, compared with 427,070 in the October-December 2000 period, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The near-14 percent rise represents the fifth consecutive quarterly increase in what the Labor Department calls "extended layoffs" -- job cuts leading to unemployment for one month or more (Reuters, http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=businessnews&StoryID=593791). White-collar workers made up almost 60 percent of the workforce in 2000, up from less than 18 percent in 1900, while blue-collar workers comprised less than 25 percent, down from about 41 percent in 1950, according to a new report by the AFL-CIO's Department for Professional Employees. The report, "Current Statistics on White Collar Employees, 2001 edition", also found that the percentage of white-collar employees is expected to increase while the percentage of blue-collar workers will continue to decline. At the same time, the percentage of working women in the workforce has increased with women now accounting for 46.5 percent of the labor force. Women currently comprise the majority of professional, technical, administrative support workers, as well as the majority of sales and service workers, the report said (Daily Labor Report, February 11, page A-6). A drop in car sales, reflecting the waning of free-financing offers, pushed down sales at the nation's retailers by 0.2 percent in January. But consumers didn't close their wallets and pocketbooks last month. They spent on a wide range of items from clothing to building and garden supplies, the Commerce Department said today. Excluding volatile auto sales, overall retail sales rose by a solid 1.2 percent in January (Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press, http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/250716p-2361492c.html). Economists closely watch housing data these days, looking for clues to the health of the market, which has helped to prop up an otherwise wobbly economy. But a report yesterday from the National Association of Realtors on home-price appreciation raised as many questions as it appeared to have answered. The Realtors said that median prices of existing homes rose 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with a year earlier, to $148,000. That was much faster than historical norms. Typically home prices rise between 3 and 5 percent a year, the Realtors' group said. But the bullish report was marred by questions about the accuracy of statistics from one state -- Florida (The Wall Street Journal, page A2; Bloomberg News, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-000011098feb13.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines% 2Dbusiness). The percent of foreign-born residents in the U.S. increased to 10.4 percent form 7.9 percent between 1990 and 2000, with gains coming in all regions. Immigrants tend to initially live in places where other family members have previously settled. But labor shortages during the booming '90s caused newer arrivals to also disperse throughout the country. Rocky Mountain states such as Arizona and Nevada experienced among the sharpest growth as immigrants from Mexico filled jobs in the tourism and agriculture sectors. The Great Plains region doubled its percent of foreign born residents to 4 percent, partly because better-paying jobs in cities lured native-born workers away from farms, creating new opportunity for immigrants. The foreign born population is expected to continue expanding because of U.S. labor shortages (The Wall Street Journal, page B13). DUE OUT TOMORROW: U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes, January 2002
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