BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2002: First-quarter layoffs by big employers, affecting 301,200 workers, were at their lowest level since the third quarter of 2000, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Layoffs fell among information and transportation workers and among seasonal workers (The Wall Street Journal, "Work Week" feature, page B14).
The average severance pay package for discharged managers and executives has dropped dramatically from the same period a year ago, according to Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. The Challenger quarterly job market index shows that discharged managers and executives averaged 8 weeks of severance in the first quarter of 2002, down 33 percent from the 12-week average severance of the first quarter of 2001. The reduction in the severance period comes as managers and executives face longer searches for new jobs, increasing to 3.4 months. "We have never seen severance drop this low," says John Challenger, chief executive officer of the outplacement firm. "Even during the 1991 recession, discharged managers and executives were still walking away with 16 weeks of pay" (Daily Labor Report, page A-6). Data released Tuesday from the 2000 census "long form" now brings to 22 the number of states in which the number of children under age 6 with all parents working or looking for a job are detailed, according to Genaro C. Armas, Associated Press http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/business/3312834.htm). According to this data, the percentage of young kids who grew up with all parents at some stage of employment increased in each of the 22 states, except Nevada and California. Demographers suggest this may, in part, be due to the increase in those two states in Hispanic families -- many of whom have mothers at home full time to care for children or may not be able to afford child care. Among the states released Tuesday: In Connecticut, nearly 62 percent of kids under 6 had all parents working, up from 56 percent in 1990. The state is home to many affluent suburbs of New York City. Nearly 70 percent of young Nebraska kids had parents in the labor force. Jerry Deichert, director of the Census for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, says the struggling farm economy may be forcing both parents in many families to work, providing an explanation for such higher percentages in Nebraska and some other rural states.
<<application/ms-tnef>>
