BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 2002: Labor shortages caused when baby boomers retire will slow economic growth in the United States and "could plunge the fastest-aging countries in Europe and Asia into permanent recession," according to a summary of a report released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Commission on Global aging. Three factors are creating the impending crisis: the shrinking proportion of young people entering the workforce throughout the developed world, the inevitable liquidation of savings by baby boomers in their retirement years, and medical advances that keep people living longer. But labor shortages will "lead labor-intensive work to be outsourced to the developing world, while immigration will help to fill skilled worker bottlenecks. Investment in fast-growing emerging markets will achieve the best stock market returns, these experts predict. The CSIS commission proposed 55 steps that aging countries might take to blunt the impact of the coming boomer economic bust. Among them: boosting labor force participation by women and the elderly, relaxing some immigration and citizenship laws, and providing tax breaks to encourage couples to have children (The Washington Post, page A17).
Wholesalers reduced inventories again in February, the Commerce Department reports. Inventories fell 0.7 percent, a ninth consecutive decline that left suppliers at a 2-year low. Sales at wholesalers rose 0.8 percent in February, setting the stage for a rebound in manufacturing and a sustained economic recovery (Bloomberg News, The New York Times, page C7; http://www.latimes.com/business/la-000025252apr09.story?coll=%2Dheadlines%2D business). Education increases income, says USA Today, in its page 3B box showing median household income, based on education. According to it, households in which there is a professional degree have an income of $100,000; those with a doctorate degree, $97,325; households in which there is a Masters degree have an income of $74,476; those with a bachelor's degree $64,406; households with an associate degree, $49,279; those with some college, no degree, $44,149; households that include a high school graduate, $35,744; households with an education consisting of ninth to 12th grade, $21,737, and households that include someone with below a ninth grade education, $17,261. Income is based on 1999 data from the U.S. Census and the College Board. DUE OUT TOMORROW: Lost-Worktime Injuries and Illnesses: Characteristics and Resulting Time Away from Work, 2000
<<application/ms-tnef>>
