BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 2002: About 6.6 percent of U.S. families had at least one unemployed family member last year, compared with 5.7 percent the year before, the Labor Department says (The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" feature, page A1).
The Bureau of Labor Statistics weighs the merits of including medical expenses borne by employers, not just consumers, in the consumer price index. Given current trends, that would likely nudge up measured inflation. Bureau official John Greenlees cautions such a change isn't currently in the works but could eventually be tested in an "experimental index" (The Wall Street Journal "Work Week" feature, page A1). A dwindling proportion of young less educated black men are employed today, compared with 20 years ago. At the same time, employment among similarly educated black women has soared and job rates among comparable whites and Latinos have not changed, according to a major study to be released today by the Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. Paul Offner and Harry Holzer of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute found that employment and labor force participation rates of young black men with no more than a high school diploma currently lag 10 to 25 percentage points behind similarly educated white and Hispanic men. Holzer and Offner examined government data collected between 1979 and 2000 from black, white and Hispanic men and women ages 16 to 24 who were out of school and had a high school education or less. Barely half -- 52 percent -- of the black men were employed in 2000, compared with 62 percent two decades earlier, they found. Employment levels of young white and Hispanic men have held steady over the past two decades, with nearly eight in 10 working. At the same time, the employment rate for young similarly educated black women has increased from 37 to 52 percent (The Washington Post, page A13). Layoff announcements at U.S. firms fell in March to their lowest level in 10 months but remain higher than the monthly average during the last recession, suggesting recovery could be slow and uneven, Challenger Gray & Christmas said today. The outplacement firm said in a monthly report that job cuts announced in March, 102,315, was 20 percent fewer than the 128,115 layoff announcements in February. But Challenger warned that although an economic recovery may be underway, it is still too early to declare a persistent reversal of the rising trend in unemployment (Reuters, http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2002-04-02-layoff-plans.htm). Orders to U.S. factories dipped 0.1 percent in February, as weaker demand for computers and cars eclipsed gains for household appliances and industrial machinery, the Commerce Department reported today. It marked the first drop in overall orders since November and followed a solid 1.1 percent advance in January. The weaker-than-expected performance in orders for a wide variety of manufactured goods comes just one day after a more forward-looking report offered some good news for the nation's struggling manufacturing sector (Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press, http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/338919p-2811397c.html). Retail sales at discount, chain, and department stores fell the first 4 weeks of March, as an expected boost from Easter-related sales failed to materialize, Instinet Research said Tuesday. The Redbook Retail Sales Average slipped 1.1 percent the 4 weeks ended March 30, compared with the same period last month. Sales compared with the same week last year were up 3.7 percent. "This week's performance was seen as disappointing in light of an expected surge in sales into Easter weekend," Redbook said (Reuters, http://www.usatoday.com/money/retail/2002-04-02-redbook.htm; Anne D'Innocenzio, Associated Press, http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/337701p-2804114c.html; The New York Times, page C2). Even with Social Security and 401(k) plans, American aren't saving enough, declares Louis Uchitelle (The New York Times, March 31, "Week in Review" Section 4, page 1). Congress authorized 401(k) accounts in 1978, allowing workers to defer taxes on retirement savings. The intent was to supplement company plans, not displace them, says Uchitelle. But that is what is happening. By 1998, the latest year for which Labor Department figures are available, 27 percent of the more than 100 million privately employed Americans had 401(k) accounts to supplement Social Security in retirement. An additional 15 percent had both 401(k)'s and company-paid pensions. Yet the percentage of workers with only a company-paid pension on top of Social Security plummeted to 7 percent in 1998, from 28 percent in 1979. During this period, no group has had more time to accumulate savings in 401(k)'s than people now in their late 50's and early 60's. Some in this age group have built their accounts into rich nest eggs, but many have not. By 1998, the average amount accumulated by this group in 401(k) accounts was only $57,000. That represents less than 4 years of monthly pension payments paid out in a typical company-paid plan. DUE OUT TOMORROW: Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment, February 2002
<<application/ms-tnef>>
