BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2002: With a stock market bust, a recession that wiped out almost two million jobs, and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Americans would seem to have plenty of reasons to worry about a diminished future. Instead, they have emerged from the nation's recent turmoil far more optimistic than after any other economic downturn in a generation, writes David Leonhardt in The New York Times (page A1). In a survey by the University of Michigan, for example, half of those polled said that they believe that the next 5 years will bring continuous good times, more than did at any point from 1970 to 1996 and up from a low of 8 percent in 1975.
Persistent cold and rainy weather in many parts of the country last week crimped sales of spring merchandise in U.S. chain stores, leaving overall sales mostly unchanged for the week, two reports showed today. U.S. chain store sales were flat in the week ended May 18 after a 0.5 percent decline in the prior week, the bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UBS Warburg reported in their Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot. "Unfavorable spring weather continued to play havoc with weather dependent merchandise demand, " BTM said. Separately, Instinet Research's weekly Redbook Average of sales slipped 0.3 percent in the first 2 weeks of May compared with the same period last month (Reuters, http://www.usatoday.com/money/retail/2002-05-21-weather-sales.htm). Job openings for college grads are down 20 percent from last year. As a result, many are accepting lower entry-level salaries, according to a graph in Business Week (May 6, page 8). The graph's breakdown of 2002 beginning pay for computer science is $50,352, a change of minus 3.6 percent from 2001; engineering, $48,251, a change of minus 2.0 percent from 2001; accounting, $40,293, an increase of 3.2 percent; business administration, $35,209, a decrease of 7.1 percent; and liberal arts, $28,667, a decrease of 5.6 percent. Source of the data is the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Anxious college seniors are practically begging for work, says Business Week (May 6, page 10). Yet grads at elite universities such as Harvard and Cornell and state schools such as Virginia are taking the Graduation Pledge, promising to enter the workforce bearing in mind social and environmental responsibility. More than 100 colleges and universities now participate, up from only a handful 6 years ago, when the pledge started spreading nationwide. Student organizers and administrators have enlisted at least 10,000 students so far. The days of tightly controlled managed care may be coming to an end, writes Howard Gleckman in Business Week (May 6, page 100). The new world of health care will offer more choice: You'll pick your own doctors and hospitals and have more say over which drugs you get. But you are also going to pay lots more. Call it choice at a price. Already workers are paying more for their medical plans. And with costs projected to rise 12.7 percent this year, 40 percent of large employers expect to shift more expenses to their workers, according to a 2001 survey by the consulting firm Mercer. "I don't think the public understands the extent of health-care inflation. They were shielded from it by a 3.9 percent unemployment rate" that forced employers to swallow cost hikes to attract quality workers, says Jon Gabel, vice president of Health Research & Educational Trust, the research arm of the American Hospital Assn. The index of leading economic indicators dropped 0.4 percent in April, following two months with little change, suggesting slow economic recovery, according to the Conference Board, a New York-based business research organization (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
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