[PEN-L:970] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

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BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1998:

Initiating a review of the agency's internal data-security controls, BLS
Commissioner Katharine Abraham says the agency has suspended the loading
of supplemental materials into its Internet Web site until it finds a
way to prevent a repeat of the premature release of some October
employment figures.  Abraham says she will report to the secretary of
labor in about 2 weeks on the agency's initial examination of release
procedures, and that a comprehensive review also will begin at all
information dissemination activities.  "The early post of pre-release
data that occurred on Wednesday (November 4) was accidental and resulted
from inadequate internal control over the handling of supplemental
information," Abraham said. ...  "It was with a certain amount of
trepidation that we decided to forgo the final clearance and move ahead
to release the report, " Deborah Klein, BLS associate commissioner of
publications and special projects told the Bureau of National Affairs
November 6. ...  Klein said that "once we realized that a substantial
number of people had seen the (inadvertently released) data, we felt
that we had no choice but to release all of the report." ...  (Daily
Labor Report, page A-13, Text E-96).
__While BLS has "rigorous, centralized procedures" governing release of
the data included in its news releases, including their posting on the
Web site, "the same procedures have not been applied uniformly to the
handling of supplementary materials," Commissioner Abraham said.  BLS
has allowed the offices in charge of each of its major statistical
programs to design procedures for loading its own supplemental data onto
a computer server that stores and delivers data to the Web site, she
explained.  The BLS employee who loaded the information onto the server
Wednesday thought he had clearance to do so, but didn't know that the
data would then be automatically posted on the Web site as well, she
said. ...  (The Washington Post, Nov. 7, page H3).
__The Labor Department suspended the posting of supplemental employment
numbers on its BLS Internet Web site for at least 2 weeks, following a
premature release of data last week that briefly roiled financial
markets.  The BLS issues a monthly employment report, which contains
information on the nation's jobless rate and a tally of jobs added to
the economy, in the form of a news release.   Additional supplementary
data are released electronically for those who follow the economy
closely .  This includes charts and analytical tables that break down
various changes and trends concerning job creation.  Data that were
prematurely released contained information on payroll, employment, hours
and earnings for October. ...  (The Wall Street Journal, page A2).

The federal government's three major statistical agencies say they are
at or near schedule to ensure their computer systems are year 2000
compliant before the Office of Management and Budget deadline of March
1999.  These agencies - the Labor Department's BLS and the Commerce
Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis and Census Bureau - produce
most of the U.S. statistical releases relied on by policymakers and
business leaders. ...  At a September House hearing, Joel C. Willemssen,
director of civil agencies information systems for the GAO, voiced
concern that BLS deadlines for compliance are a little tight.  BLS has
23 mission-critical systems.  Fifteen are currently Y2K compliant and
eight are not, according to John Sinks, director of survey processing at
BLS.  Of the non-compliant systems, :"some we are replacing, and some we
are putting in patches," Sinks said.  He also said "We expect to meet
the OMB mandated deadline for March 1999 for implementations of all
mission critical systems.  We are adopting what we feel is an
appropriate strategy." ...  (Daily Labor Report, page C-1).

The Wall Street Journal's feature "Tracking the Economy" (page A2) shows
nonfarm productivity for the 3rd quarter of this year, to be released
Tuesday, as predicted to be 2.0 percent above the previous quarter.
Producer prices for October, to be released Friday, are estimated to go
up 0.1 percent.    

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Productivity and Costs -- Third Quarter (Preliminary)


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