[PEN-L:10402] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  State unemployment rates were generally unchanged in 
April, as 40 states reported changes of 0.3 percentage point or less 
in either direction from March.  The national jobless rate declined to 
4.9 percent from 5.2 percent in March.  Nonfarm payroll employment 
increased in 31 states over the month 

BLS Commissioner Abraham tells BNA that the agency is prepared to 
start testing a new sampling method for the monthly payroll employment 
survey in July.  BLS is also considering changes in its measure of 
earnings, she says.  Abraham says that, unlike when the bureau changed 
its household employment survey in 1994, this major change in the 
payroll survey should not create comparability problems with data from 
the current survey design.  "It shouldn't really be the same sort of 
issue because the payroll data are benchmarked," Abraham says.  BLS 
will formally announce the details of its plan to switch the payroll 
survey from the current large sample survey to what economists call a 
"probability sample" on June 6 (Daily Labor Report, page AA-1).

Consumer confidence soared nearly 9 percentage points in May to its 
highest level in 28 years, the Conference Board reports.The 
representative sample survey of 5,000 households found that consumers 
are confident about future economic growth.  Nearly 19 percent expect 
business conditions to improve over the next 6 months, up from 16 
percent in April.  Nearly 18 percent predict more jobs will open up, 
compared with 14.5 percent in April (Daily Labor Report, page A11; 
Washington Post, page D7: New York Times, page D2; Wall Street 
Journal, page A2).

The National Association of Business Economists forecast that economic 
growth for the remainder of this year will slow to a modest 2 percent 
rate while inflation remains under 3 percent (Daily Labor Report, 
page A11).

"The Surprising Longevity of Lifetime Employment" was an article in 
Sunday's New York Times (page F11) In 1996, nearly half of all 
American workers aged 45 to 54 had worked for their employer for 10 
years or more, according to BLS.  One-fifth of those in that age group 
had been with the same employer for 20 or more years.  And among those 
55 to 64 years old, nearly one-third had worked 20 or more years for 
the same employer The oft-quoted maxim is that the average worker 
can expect to change employers six or seven times before retiring. 
 But most of that upheaval occurs in the early years of a career, 
according to Jonathan Veum, an economist at BLS.  The agency reported 
that, in 1992, workers held an average of 7.5 jobs between the ages of 
18 and 30.  That average includes all paid work of any duration, like 
summer jobs during college.  Job-hopping, Mr. Veum said, is most 
intense for people in their 20's, when many workers are single, 
childless, and willing to play musical jobs, so they can land one that 
is a perfect fit.  "You slow down as you get older, and you don't have 
quite as much mobility between jobs," Mr. Veum said. "As you age, most 
of your mobility occurs within one company" 

In an op-ed column (Washington Post), Robert J. Samuelson asks "Is 
Inflation Really Dead?"  He says that the reason he suspects there's 
more inflation is a change in the way companies price their products. 
 In a word: discounts.  They mushroomed in the 1980s and 1990s, but 
most are missed by government price statistics The inability of 
the CPI and other price indexes to capture many of the discounts is 
one reason why they generally overstate inflation But in a strong 
economy, companies may quietly trim discounts -- that is, increase 
prices.  Then the price statistics will miss rising inflation.  In the 
past few years, Samuelson thinks, precisely this has happened 

[PEN-L:10207] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:
 CPI -- On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U rose 0.1 percent 
in April, the same as in March.  The food index, which was unchanged 
in March, declined 0.2 percent in April The energy index declined 
for the second consecutive month, down 1.5 percent in April 
Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 0.3 percent, following 
increases of 0.2 percent in each of the two preceding months.  The 
larger advance in April reflects an upturn in the index for apparel 
and upkeep 
 REAL EARNINGS -- Real average weekly earnings decreased by 0.9 
percent from March to April after seasonal adjustment.  This loss was 
due to a 0.9 percent drop in average weekly hours and a 0.1 percent 
decrease in average hourly earnings.  The CPI-W was unchanged Over 
the year, real average weekly earnings grew by 2.2 percent 

__Producer prices for finished goods dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.6 
percent in April, the largest decline since a 0.8 percent decrease in 
August 1993, the BLS reports.  Core prices -- excluding volatile food 
and energy components -- dropped 0.1 percent in April, after rising 
0.4 percent in the previous month.  Core finished goods have risen 0.6 
percent in the year ended in April.  April marked the 
fourth-consecutive decline in the Producer Price Index for Finished 
Goods and the first time the index has fallen for four months in a row 
since the period end August 1993 BLS economist Bill Thomas is 
quoted as saying that, in the year ended in April, the finished goods 
PPI has risen just 0.8 percent, the lowest year-over-year advance 
since a 0.6 percent rise in the 12 months ended in July 1994 
"Usually April is a strong month for gasoline prices," Thomas 
said.  "However, because of the high crude oil inventories, gasoline 
put downward pressure on energy prices" (Daily Labor Report, page 
D-1).
__U.S. producer prices are falling, despite robust national economic 
growth and the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century Declining 
food and energy costs helped push down the index (Washington Post, 
page E1).
__Prices paid to producers fell unexpectedly in April.  The data 
showed that inflation continued to be restrained (New York Times, 
page D1).
__Economists were particularly surprised by the lack of inflationary 
pressure since the economy just completed its most robust quarter in a 
decade (Wall Street Journal, page A2)___On page C1, the Journal 
carries an article by Roger Lowenstein, "Smoking Out the Inflation 
Genie."  Lowenstein says that the "truism isn't that runaway inflation 
ever lurks around the corner, but that inflation at whatever rate 
changes only slowly absent truly unusual shocks "

Business inventories rose 0.3 percent in March, while sales fell 0.3 
percent, the Commerce Department reported (Daily Labor Report, 
page A-11).

[PEN-L:10124] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods declined 
0.6 percent in April, seasonally adjusted.  This followed decreases of 
0.1 percent in March and 0.4 percent in February.  Prices received by 
domestic producers of intermediate goods fell 0.3 percent in April 
after declining 0.6 percent in the previous month.  The Crude Goods 
Price Index dropped 0.9 percent in April following a 6.9 percent 
decrease in March 

The Labor Department has recommended that state unemployment insurance 
agencies broaden the pool of eligible recipients to include part-time 
workers and people who quit their jobs for "good cause."  The 
recommendation, sent as a draft letter, is getting a cold reception 
from business groups and state agencies, many of which argue that the 
proposed expansion of benefits would be too costly, would burden 
corporations unfairly, and could deplete the state unemployment 
compensation trust funds The letter did not directly address how 
much the changes would cost employers, but the department says a 
growing portion of the work force is now employed part time, with the 
figure now up to 18 percent.  The department is making the suggestions 
-- which it has no power to enforce -- to help counter a sharp decline 
in the percentage of workers who are receiving benefits, according to 
the letter.  In the 1950s, about 49 percent of workers who lost their 
jobs were eligible for benefits, but now only about 35 percent are 
(Washington Post, page D9; Wall Street Journal, May 13, page 
A24).

Retail sales fell 0.3 percent in April, marking the first decline in 
five months and the biggest drop in 10 months, the Census Bureau 
reports.  Analysts had expected consumers to moderate their purchases 
after several months of strong spending Much of last month's 
decline was attributed to a drop in durable goods purchases, 
especially autos (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_Consumers 
spent less on cars, clothes, and other items in what could be a key 
sign of slower economic growth (Washington Post, page D9; New York 
Times, page D1)_Consumers took a breather after shopping at a 
breakneck pace earlier this year (Wall Street Journal, page A2).

The director of the Congressional Budget Office defended her agency's 
revision of its revenue estimates during the budget negotiations in an 
interview with the Washington Times (page A3).  June O'Neill says 
agency didn't change its forecast to clinch budget deal.  "There was 
information we thought was sufficiently important that we thought it 
was worth imparting The timing may look odd, but it was strictly a 
coincidence" 

DUE OUT TOMORROW:
 Consumer Price Index -- April 1997
 Real Earnings:  April 1997

[PEN-L:10123] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1997:

The pace of growth for the nation's top black-owned businesses slowed 
considerably from a year ago because of a backlash against affirmative 
action and economic troubles, Black Enterprise magazine reported. 
 Sales of the black-owned companies ranked as the nation's largest by 
the magazine rose 7.75 percent last year -- a fifth straight year of 
growth, but an expansion rate well below the 11.8 percent growth rate 
tallied the previous year (Washington Post, page D2).

Women are more than twice as likely as men to find a job by scouring 
newspaper classified ads, according to a survey of 400 job-changers by 
Cleveland-based outplacement firm Enter-Change.  But men are more 
likely than women to find work by networking (Wall Street Journal, 
"Work Week", page A1).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Producer Price Indexes -- April 1997

[PEN-L:9912] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MAY 5, 1997

__The unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in April, its lowest level 
since 1973, BLS reports.  Although BLS' survey of 50,000 households 
showed that the unemployment rate declined 0.3 percentage point in 
April, the economy created a modest 142,000 new jobs, according to the 
agency's separate payroll survey The drop in the unemployment rate 
was as much a result of a 221,000 decline in the civilian labor force 
as job growth, although the household survey showed a gain of 209,000 
jobs in April.  BLS Commissioner Katharine Abraham said seasonal 
factors did not appear to muddy the household survey numbers in April. 
 But, monthly labor force fluctuations in this series are not uncommon 
(Daily Labor Report, pages D-1,E-8).
__Jobless rate hits a 24-year low).  The remarkable U.S. economic 
expansion entered its seventh year last month in a state that seemed 
to many experts and ordinary Americans almost too good to be true:  an 
economy that had been growing at its highest rate in a decade, wages 
outpacing low inflation, and a jobless rate continuing to fall 
(Washington Post, May 3, page A1).
__The nation's unemployment rate dropped a starting 0.3 percent in 
April to 4.9 percent, a level not seen since 1973, as factories 
recorded a new peak in overtime hours.  Stock market surges, unfazed 
by unemployment of 4.9 percent (New York Times, May 3, page A1). 
__An early look at the second quarter's employment picture indicates 
the economy will relax a bit after a stunning spurt in the first 
quarter.  Of course, it's hard to ignore the fact that the 
unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent of the work force in April -- 
from 5.2 percent in March.  But other labor market measures suggest 
some slowing in the pace of growth (Wall Street Journal, page 
A2).

__The White House and lawmakers from both parties claimed victory May 
2 in stitching together a loosely detailed deal to eliminate the 
deficit by 2002 while also cutting taxes Both parties were given a 
major gift late May 1 when the CBO admitted that it underestimated the 
growth of the economy and the flood of treasury receipts The 
negotiators finessed a disagreement over the government's measure of 
inflation by not legislating a change.  Instead, they agreed to assume 
future adjustments by BLS amounting to 0.15 percent after 1999. 
 Another 0.15 percent would be possible, but would require legislation 
(Daily Labor Report, page A-12).
__Last-minute disputes swept away by $225 billion revenue windfall 
The budget blueprint includes ... Congress will save about $12 
billion by assuming that BLS will shave 0.15 percent off the CPI. 
 Because of the revenue windfall, Republicans could drop a plan to 
seek through legislative mandate an additional 0.15 percent reduction 
(Washington Post, May 3, page A1).
__As part of the balanced-budget deal, Clinton and the Congress agreed 
that they could assume technicians will alter CPI to reduce increase 
by 0.15 percentage points annually (Wall Street Journal, pages 
A3,A20).
__The budget plan assumes BLS will continue to trim the annual 
inflation adjustments used as the basis for cost-of-living increases 
in Social Security and other benefits.  The plan is essentially a 
painless way for lawmakers to pencil in some budget savings.  They can 
place the blame on bureau experts if retirees or anyone else complain 
(USA Today, page 5A).
__Congress and the Clinton Administration backed down yesterday, 
declining to impose on the nation an outsized reduction in the CPI as 
part of their budget agreement.  Instead, they decided simply to 
accept a future change expected to be made in the index by the 
statisticians and economists who calculate it "That [a 0.15 
percentage point reduction in the index starting in 1999] is their 
estimate, not ours," said Brent Moulton, the BLS official heading CPI 
research.  "The only estimate we have given is zero to 0.25, and we 
don't have any more precise estimate at this point" (Louis 
Uchitelle, New York Times, May 3, page 12).

New labor market dynamics make it possible that the unemployment rate 
could fall even further than the April level of 4.9 percent without 
triggering a rise in inflation, suggests University of Massachusetts 
economist Barry Bluestone at a conference.  Bluestone points to growth 
in the number of hours worked by the average participant in the U.S. 
workforce as an explanation for lower unemployment without significant 
inflation pressures.  "Workers are putting more and more hours into 
the labor market to maintain their standard of living," he said. 
 "Employers are getting more labor supply without having to coax 
workers into the labor market with higher wages."  Such a formulation 
-- in which "demand creates its own supply" -- turns the traditional 
law of supply and demand on its head, he remarked (Daily Labor 
Report, page A-10).

The index 

[PEN-L:9927] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1997

The May 1997 issue of the AARP Bulletin contains a profile of 
Commissioner Abraham based on an interview -- "Custodian of the CPI: 
 Low-Profile Bureaucrat Stands Her Ground on Index."

An editorial in the Washington Post, "Ducking the Hard Ones," says 
that budget "negotiators had been prepared to propose a reduction so 
small as barely to be perceptible in the annual cost-of-living 
adjustments that keep inflation from eroding Social Security benefits 
or lifting people into higher income tax brackets.  Tiny though it 
was, it would have set -- or broken -- an important precedent and 
helped to spread the deficit-reduction burden in small amounts across 
the entire society "_On the Post's op-ed page, James K. 
Glassman says, in "The Budget Deal: Kill It," that the CBO "windfall" 
meant that "Social Security cost-of-living adjustments would not have 
to be pared by 0.15 percentage points "

USA Today looks into the motivation for temporary work in its page 1B 
graph.  Factors that part-time and temporary workers say motivated 
them to seek their type of employment include: enhance career 
opportunities (76 percent); learn new skills (73 percent); work 
flexible hours (61 percent); transition to a new career (44 percent); 
and recent job loss (35 percent).  Source is Interim Services.

DUE OUT TOMORROW:
 Productivity and Costs:  First Quarter 1997 (Preliminary)

[PEN-L:9994] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1997

__Nonfarm productivity rose at a seasonaly adjusted annual rate of 2 
percent in the first quarter of 1997, almost twice the 1.1 percent 
annual rate of growth in the last three months of 1996, BLS reports. 
 Surprising many labor market analysts, annual unit labor costs rose a 
larger-than-expected 2.7 percent for the first three months of 1997. 
 Unit labor costs gained 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter and 3.3 
percent in the third quarter of 1996 (Daily Labor Report, page 
D-1).
__The Washington Post included nonfarm productivity figures in several 
articles, saying (page E3) the report indicated that employers' costs 
per hour of pay and benefits for their workers rose at a sharp 4.7 
percent annual rate in the first three months of this year, but that 
productivity gains offset nearly half the increase.  That suggested to 
some analysts that rising wages haven't been putting upward pressure 
on prices so far 
__Productivity of American businesses -- ultimately the main factor 
determining the nation's standard of living -- grew at an annual pace 
of 2 percent in the first quarter, the best performance in more than 
three years.  The rise was less than most analysts expected after last 
week's report of a sizzling pace of economic activity during the 
winter.  Still, such a solid productivity gain for an economy in its 
seventh year of expansion is clearly "good news", said Edwin S. Dean, 
association commissioner for productivity and technology.  On the 
worrisome side, the report contained some unsettling evidence of wage 
pressures (New York Times, page D4).

The U.S. economy advanced at a moderate pace in late April, buoyed by 
continued strength in housing and construction markets, as well as by 
an upswing in manufacturing activity, the Federal Reserve reports. 
 Details of the Fed's latest "beige book," or summary of current 
economic conditions, also revealed ongoing shortages of skilled labor 
and scattered wage pressures, but little evidence of inflation 
(Daily Labor Report, page D-11; Washington Post, page E3; New York 
Times, page D4; Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Senate Republicans backed away from a controversial spending provision 
that would have prohibited the federal government from preparing to 
use statistical sampling in its 2000 census The provision in the 
supplemental spending bill would have prohibited the use of 1997 
census funds to test and otherwise plan for the use of sampling, a 
technique designed to improve the accuracy of the head count.  Census 
officials and many Democrats had fought the ban, saying it would make 
the head count less accurate, particularly for poor and minority 
Americans who are most likely to be missed in the census.  Republicans 
agreed to remove the ban, saying the Census Bureau could plan for 
sampling but should not make any "irreversible" plans because Congress 
could still prohibit the practice before 2000 The Senate fight was 
part of a long-standing controversy over the best way to conduct the 
massive head count, which is used to distribute federal funding and 
draw political boundaries (Washington Post, page A25).

Job layoffs in April fell nearly 70 percent from a month earlier to 
the lowest levels in four years, said outplacement firm Challenger, 
Gray  Christmas Challenger said the job market is improving for 
many workers as the labor market tightens (Washington Post, page E1).

Texas labor is feeling the effect of NAFTA, according to The New York 
Times (page D1).  Job losses to Mexico are accelerating, especially 
among workers already at the bottom in pay and skills, according to 
economists and government statistics.  Since the North American Free 
Trade Agreement took effect at the beginning of 1994, the losses, 
mostly to Mexico but some to Canada, have grown by more than a third 
each year.  The Labor Department total of 124,000 includes a record 
7,600 jobs lost in April alone.  Administration officials say that 
lower trade barriers with Mexico and higher American exports still 
leave Americans with far more new jobs than they are losing.  They say 
the layoffs are more the result of the peso's crash in late 1994 and 
the lowered cost of Mexican labor than of the trade agreement, which 
they say kept Mexico's market open 

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Extended Mass Layoffs in the Fourth Quarter of 
1996

[PEN-L:10070] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MAY 12, 1997

The number of mass layoffs occurring in U.S. firms increased by 83 
percent in the fourth quarter of 1996, to a total of 1,802, compared 
with 985 in the third quarter, the Labor Department reports.  BLS says 
the 1,802 mass layoffs resulted in the separation of 397,643 workers 
from their jobs in the October through December period of 1996.  In 
the third quarter, 222,419 workers lost their jobs due to mass layoffs 
(Daily Labor Report, page D-1).

The Washington Post's "Washington Business" section features articles 
on the topic "Women at Work" and includes such BLS data as:  In 1975, 
44.9 percent of women with children under 18 worked outside the home; 
in 1995, that figure was 70.2 percent.  Women hold 69.7 percent of all 
jobs in retail sales.  The percentage of women who belong to labor 
unions fell from 14.6 percent in 1983 to 12.3 percent in 1995.  About 
755,700 women worked in the hotel industry in 1996, taking 55 percent 
of all jobs in that industry.  Women still earn less than men, taking 
home 76.4 cents for every dollar earned by a man More women in the 
Washington area have climbed into the executive ranks than anywhere 
else in the country, accounting for about 22 percent of executive, 
administrative, and managerial positions here 

U.S. prosperity eludes millions of newcomers, says an article in 
Saturday's Washington Post (page A1) In a time of rapid 
technological change and growing demand for skills and education in 
the work force, large number of newcomers are unskilled and poorly 
educated The good news is that those born abroad tend to improve 
their lot the longer they stay, and those who arrived before 1970 are 
doing as well as or better than natives.  But immigrants, both legal 
and illegal, who have settled here since 1990 are generally faring 
worst of all.  Nationwide, a third live in poverty, nearly three times 
the rate for the U.S. born, and 36 percent failed to finish high 
school, more than double the percentage for natives 

The number of jobs generated by the U.S. tourism industry is 
increasing faster than the nation's overall job growth, with much of 
it occurring in high-paying executive positions, a new study of 
industry employment conducted by the Travel Industry Association of 
America shows In a national economy built largely on 
manufacturing, it's a surprise to many people that tourism and travel 
now rank as the first-, second-, or third-largest employer in 32 
states and the District of Columbia.  Only the health care industry 
consistently does better.  Overall, tourism generated more than 6.6 
million jobs in 1995, a number that has grown 33 percent in the past 
decade, the study shows.  The nation's total nonagricultural 
employment, meanwhile, grew 20 percent during the same time.  Looking 
forward, travel industry employment is expected to grow more than 18 
percent from 1994 to 2005.  During the same time, construction 
employment is forecast to grow nearly 10 percent, mining employment is 
expected to decline by 27 percent, and manufacturing employment is 
expected to drop 7 percent (Washington Post, May 11, page H4).

Start-up businesses remain a good source of new jobs, Dun  Bradstreet 
Corp. says.  The financial research firm found that more than 170, 000 
new businesses created nearly 847,000 jobs last year, up 15 percent 
from the number of jobs created by new firms in 1995.  Dun  
Bradstreet said nearly all big industry sectors had an increase in new 
jobs, with the services, construction, transportation, and public 
utilities sectors enjoying the biggest gains (Washington Post, May 11, 
page H4).

The Wall Street Journal's "Tracking the Economy" feature (page A2) 
shows that the Technical Data Consensus Forecast predicts that 
 producer prices for April will be down 0.1 percent, as they were last 
month, when that figure is announced Wednesday.  Consumer prices for 
April are predicted to go up 0.2 percent, after increasing only 0.1 
percent last month, when the CPI comes out Thursday.

In a Washington Times commentary article, Bruce Bartlett, a senior 
fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, writes that a new 
study from the International Monetary Fund argues that growth in 
service employment is a sign of economic strength, not weakness.  The 
background paper looks at the causes and implications of 
deindustrialization.  It finds that the rise of the service sector is 
a worldwide phenomenon and that service employment has actually grown 
more rapidly in Europe and Japan that in the United States Yet 
manufacturing's share of national output has remained steady.  The 
explanation for this apparent contradiction is that manufacturing 
productivity has grown much more rapidly than productivity in the 
service sector.  Looking at all industrialized countries together, the 
study's estimate is that output per man hour rose 3.6 percent per year 
in 

[PEN-L:10285] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MAY 19, 1997

Looking ahead the next year or two, employers should expect a gradual 
acceleration in health care costs rather than a rapid rise back to the 
double-digit increases of the 1980s and early 1990s, industry experts 
predict in a recent series of interviews by the Daily Labor Report. 
 Projections for this year range from 4 percent, based on an employer 
survey, to more than 6 percent for some types of coverage.  Most of 
the forces currently in play -- especially the squeeze on providers' 
profit margins -- will boost costs, recent studies and surveys 
indicate.  Yet, intense competition in managed care and moderate 
overall inflation will help offset the upward pressures on health care 
costs, analysts say The medical care component of the CPI-U came 
down from a 12.6 percent increase in 1981 to a 3.0 percent advance 
last year.  BLS said that 1996 was the first time since 1980 that 
medical costs rose less than the overall CPI-U.  An improvement in 
methodology for measuring hospital costs, introduced by BLS in January 
of this year, should result in a somewhat slower rise in medical care 
costs from 1997 forward, economist Daniel Ginsburg  of the price 
division of BLS said.  However, the Bureau is not sure how much of a 
difference it will make in the annual change in medical costs, he 
said.  Data from the Employment Cost Index, also compiled by BLS, 
tells the same story, but from the employers' perspective (Daily 
Labor Report, page C-1).

Construction of new homes and apartments rebounded in April, as 
housing starts rise 2.6 percent after a decline of 7.7 percent the 
previous month, the Commerce Department reports The gain was 
fueled by a surge in apartment building (Daily Labor Report, page 
D-1).

Two new economic reports on Friday dealt a blow to the recent 
confidence that the pace of business activity is slowing enough to 
keep inflationary pressures under control.  Bond market interest rates 
rose sharply after the Commerce Department reported that housing 
construction jumped 2.6 percent in April.  A separate report showed 
that consumers' confidence is surpisingly strong (Washington Post, 
May 17, page D1; New York Times, May 17, page 24; Wall Street Journal, 
page A2).

At colleges and universities around the country, the class of '97 is 
graduating this spring into the most auspicious job market in memory, 
a product of today's soaring economy and, in many ways, the 
large-scale layoffs that cut a swath through their parents' generation 
Universities and professional schools are reporting record numbers 
of recruiters on campus, often offering more jobs than they can fill 
The current job market reflects the upswing in the overall economy 
with unemployment now below 5 percent and the go-getter predilections 
of a generation of students who have made junior- or 
sophomore-internships as big a growth area as full-time jobs for 
graduates.  And Internet job searches, now the rule on most campuses, 
have made the process of finding  employment much more efficient. 
 But, the surge also reflects the years of layoffs for which many 
companies are now frantically trying to compensate (New York 
Times, page A1).

Immigration raises the cost of public service in some areas with large 
numbers of immigrants, but the influx of non-American residents 
benefits the U.S. economy overall, a study by the National Research 
Council indicates.  Immigrants -- legal and illegal -- may be adding 
as much as $10 billion to the economy each year and have little 
negative effect on job opportunities for most citizens, according to 
the study The National Research Council is a private, nonprofit 
group that operates the National Academy of Sciences and the National 
Academy of Engineering.  It conducted the study at the request of the 
congressionally appointed U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform 
(Washington Post, May 18, page A11; Wall Street Journal, page A5).

Strong growth with little unemployment and low inflation doesn't have 
to peter out, says Business Week (May 19, page 31).  Why?  The 
productivity push.  The cover story shows how prices can stay stable 
as profits and wages rise Years of squeezing out costs and gearing 
up for the Info Revolution keep paying off -- and with low inflation 
Graphs attributed to the Departments of Labor and Commerce show 
the unemployment rate, real increase in wages, price changes, 
corporate profits, and increase in output per hour for nonfinancial 
corporations.

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Monthly Labor Review Cover Variety of Topics

[PEN-L:10347] FW: Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1997:

Analysts at BLS say the latest figurs show no major varieations from 
their initial finding that the experimental CPI is rising about 0.25 
percentage point less than the official CPI.  Patrick Jackman, BLS 
economist, said it is too soon to interpret what the figures on the 
major components of the experimental CPI (Food, housing, etc.) 
indicate about which types of goods and services will be appropriate 
for the geometric mean method and which will not.  "We are not going 
to have a clue until some of the tests we have put forth are in.  It 
will probably be August or September before we fan say (how different 
components are affected), he said (Daily Labor Report, page D-3).

The Employment and Training Administration reports that new claims for 
unemployment insurance benefits rose by 5,000 during the week of May 
17 to an estimated 322,000, seasonally adjusted (Daily Labor Report, 
page D-1).  __The Washington Post (page G2 and G8) says the Labor 
Department said first-time claims for jobless benefits rose less than 
expected last week, leaving the overall tally in a range that still 
indicates a strong job market. __The New York Times (page C6) carries 
an AP story that says that many analysts had expected an increase of 
about 6,000 last week. __The Wall Street Journal (page A10) reports 
that the 4-week moving average for claims -- a key barometer of 
labor-market conditions -- since it smooths out weekly fluctuations, 
rose 750 to 333,250.  Analysts said this level, though just slightly 
below the 15-week high, is still consistent with a relatively tight 
labor market.

The earnings gap between the rich and the poor has stopped widening, 
says The New York Times (page C1).  Over the last 18 months, wages at 
the low end of the spectrum have picked up.  Today they are rising 
significantly faster than the inflation rate -- faster, percentage 
terms, than the pay of middle-income Americans.  For all their lack of 
skill, low wage workers are in great demand today.  The higher wages, 
in turn, are helping to draw into the labor force more black women, 
older man, immigrants, teenagers, and Hispanic Americans.  In the last 
year, the labor force -- people working or seeking work -- has grown 
by 2.7 million, the largest annual gain in over a decade and more than 
twice the increase in the working-age population.  The surge of new 
workers, particularly at the low end, tends to keep wages from rising 
faster than they already are, and helps to explain why inflation has 
remained at a mild 3 percent a year or less.
Graphs the illustrate the article include in their credits BLS.

The Clinton administration yesterday officially launched FedStats, an 
Internet service that links computer users to statistics from more 
than 70 federal web sites.  The new World Wide Web page -- found at 
www.fedstats.gov -- provides an A to Z listing of topics.  Among the 
information you can find through the Fedstats Web site is "According 
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:  The percentage of wage and salary 
workers belonging to a union declined again in 1996, to 14.5 percent 
(The Washington Post, page A27).

[PEN-L:10305] FW: Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1997:

Prices of goods imported into the United States declined for the 
fourth straight month in April, falling by 0.9 percent on a seasonally 
adjusted basis, BLS reported May 21 (Daily Labor Report, page D-8).

Wage data compiled by BNA for the first 20 weeks of 1997 showed that 
the median first-year wage increase in newly negotiated contracts in 
all industries was 3 percent.  Comparable figures in the same period 
of 1996 were 2.8 percent (Daily Labor Report, page D-10).

New, detailed information on more than 500 unions can be found in the 
recently released 1997 Edition of "The Directory of U.S. Labor 
Organizations," published by BNA Books.  The directory, which has been 
published biennially by BNA since 1982, is now published annually to 
address the acceleration of union mergers and changes in union 
leadership.  Entries include the union's proper name, mailing address, 
e-mail address, Internet Web site address, telephone and fax numbers, 
names of key officers and staff members, publications, and convention 
years.  Three indexes catalog the labor unions by common name, 
abbreviation/acronym, and names of listed officers and staffers. 
 Copies of the directory are available for $55 from BNA Books, P.O. 
Box 7814, Edison, N.J. 08818-7814 (Daily Labor Report, page A-10).

In an article about cable television rates in Montgomery County, the 
Washington Post (page A1) says that with the FCC's liberalization of 
cable regulations in the last 3 years, the cost to consumers by cable 
service has been rising sharply.  According to the Labor Department, 
cable rates outpaced the inflation rate last year by 2 to 1, says The 
Post.

Today The Wall Street Journal includes a section on "Small Business" 
(Section R).  On page R4, a series of charts under the title "Sizing 
Up the Work Force" include a comparison of employees of big and small 
businesses that shows that small firms pay less on average and are 
more likely to employ less-educated workers.  Included among the 
charts are employment by hourly pay, employment by gender, years with 
current employer, employment by status, employment by occupation, 
employment by industry, employment by age of worker, employment by 
race/ethnicity and employment by level of education. The data is 
attributed to the Small Business Administration and Census. __On page 
R6 The Journal compares the percentage of small companies (those with 
fewer than 500 employees) providing each of 16 different benefits, 
compared with the percentage of larger concerns.  The data is 
attributed to BLS. __On page R8 is an article that points out that 
small firm freebies often reflect the passions of the owner -- whether 
workers share them or not.

[PEN-L:10287] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  The U.S. Import Price Index decreased 0.9 percent in 
April.  The monthly decline was the fourth in a row with both 
petroleum and nonpetroleum import prices contributing to the April 
drop.  The U.S. Export Price Index declined 0.6 percent in April, led 
by falling agricultural export prices 

The Wall Street Journal has a front-page article that says the gains 
in productivity and profits curb inflation despite pay increases 
The Fed left interest rates alone because firms are more robust 
and the overall economic climate is benign A look at businesses 
that are raising wages suggests, so far, that there isn't much to 
fear.  Many employers, ranging from computer makers to fast-food 
companies, are boosting efficiency fast enough to afford the higher 
pay.  Others are using hefty profits to pay wage increases.  Few seem 
compelled, or able, to match them with price increases Economy 
wide, wage increases have been modest.  In the past year, the 
government's best gauge of wage and benefit costs, the employment cost 
index, is up just 0.2 percent after inflation.  That compares with a 
0.1 percent decline in the prior 12 months and no change in the 12 
months before that.  (Inflation-adjusted wages alone are up at a 0.6 
percent rate so far this year, compared with 0,3 percent last year). 
 Adjusted by the prices of goods and services they produce -- as 
opposed to those they consume -- workers' compensation rose 0.8 
percent in the past year, the government says.  Over time, economists 
say, workers' wages can't rise faster than their productivity, their 
output per hour worked, without triggering inflation.  According to 
the best estimates, productivity is rising about 1 percent a year. 
 That suggests that, however pay is measured, employers can afford to 
raise wages faster than they have been.  And though statistics on 
productivity don't show an upward trend, anecdotal evidence suggests 
that its growth is beginning to accelerate, increasing employers' 
ability to boost wages without boosting prices.  Moreover, some 
economists say pay growth could safely exceed productivity growth 
temporarily to offset past short-falls 

__The Washington Post (page C13) says stock prices jumped back to 
near-record territory as investors applauded the Fed's decision not to 
raise short-term interest 
__The New York Times (page A1) says the Fed voted to leave interest 
rates unchanged, betting that the economy was slowing sufficiently to 
avert a resurgence of inflation 
__The Wall Street Journal (page A2) reports that the Fed, apparently 
convinced that the economy is likely to slow enough on its own to 
avoid an acceleration of inflation, decided to leave its key 
short-term interest rate unchanged 

It's a riddle wrapped in a mystery.  With U.S. unemployment at a 
24-year low, you might think wages would be taking off.  Yet labor 
costs have remained unusually subdued -- leading experts to speculate 
that some new development is inhibiting wage demands.  While the 
explanation du jour seems to be widespread job insecurity, one trend 
clearly deserves more attention:  an unexpected leap in the labor 
force.  After posting gains of just 1.3 million a year from 1993 to 
1995, the labor force -- people working or seeking work -- has grown 
by 3.7 million in the past 16 months.  That's more than twice as fast 
as the working-age population Labor force participation has been 
rising among nearly all demographic groups It appears that better 
job prospects and widespread wage gains are luring many discouraged 
workers back into the job market (Business Week, May 26, pg. 30).

Christopher Cornwell, University of Georgia, and Peter Rupert, Federal 
Reserve Bank of Cleveland, followed a sample of men from their late 
teens through their mid-30s.  In line with other studies, they found 
that married men earned 6 to 7 percent more than their unmarried peers 
of similar age, education, experience, and background.  When the 
researchers looked at wage trends over time, however, they found that 
married and single men's paths were similar.  That is, married men's 
wages rose no faster than their single peers.  And, when they looked 
at married men's earnings in the years before they tied the knot, they 
found that their wages were already higher than those of the men who 
stayed single.  In short, the study suggests that men who tend to get 
married already possess qualities that are rewarded by employers 
(responsibility, discipline, and loyalty) before they "tie the knot." 
 To the extent that their wages rise a bit, the gain seems to reflect 
a one-time increase in the time devoted to work (Business Week, 
May 26, pg. 30).

Among several factors likely to restrain inflation in the months 
ahead, says a Citibank economist, is the low price of oil.  Since 
early January, he notes, the tab for a barrel has plunged 

[PEN-L:10286] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MAY 20, 1997

An article, "Engine of Economic Change" by Steven Pearlstein in the 
Washington Post (page C1), says that "thriving Milwaukee challenges 
the Fed's assumptions about inflation Despite a tight labor market 
that should give workers the upper hand, base wages are rising 
modestly, the cost of living is holding steady, and the prices charged 
by many companies are going down, not up.  The experience in Milwaukee 
offers a direct challenge to the traditional Fed view that strong 
economic growth and tight labor markets inevitably lead to higher 
wages, and higher wages inevitably lead to higher prices.  And it 
demonstrates how thoroughly inflationary expectations have been wrung 
out of the economic pipeline 

Summer jobs go begging, as unemployment stays very low, says The Wall 
Street Journal in its page A1 "Work Week" column With unemployment 
at 4.9 percent, and companies working hard to fill even good full-time 
jobs, managers are scrambling to fill summer jobs _The same 
feature says that the number of major work stoppages in the U.S. -- 
strikes and lockouts affecting at least 1,000 people -- rose to 37 
last year, up from a record low of 31 in 1995, according to BLS.

In a quiet workplace revolution, many small and midsize businesses are 
leasing their workers from professional employer organizations.  The 
shift is changing the employee-employer relationship Companies 
that lease workers are growing by such bounds that they will employ 37 
million by 2007, up from 3.5 million in 1995, according to the 
article.  Go to work for one, and you will report to the same job at 
the same place and to the same manager.  But you will have to resign 
your present employer.  Your new employer of record -- which keeps 
personnel files and has the ultimate authority to hire and fire -- 
will be Staff Leasing, Administaff, or another of the companies 
scrambling to establish themselves in this new industry.  Although 
it's best known as employee leasing, the industry now calls itself 
professional employer organization (PEOs) in a bid to improve its 
image after a decade of fraud and bankruptcy.  Don't confuse PEOs with 
temporary agencies.  PEOs don't send over a few workers when things 
get busy.  PEOs permanently employ everyone at a small company from 
the president down Why will so many go to work for PEO companies? 
 Because many small company owners are tired of being distracted with 
human resources headaches, such as workers' compensation, family and 
medical leave laws, and discrimination lawsuits (USA Today, page 
1B).

Just 12 percent of facilities managers say their workplace has a 
child-care area, according to a graph in USA Today (page 1B).  Most 
common building and grounds amenities provided employees are shown: 
 68 percent have a cafeteria, 56 percent have a lounge, 52 percent 
have an outside eating area, 47 percent have a smoking area, and 43 
percent have an art collection.

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes -- April 1997

[PEN-L:10057] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  In October through December of 1996, there were 1,802 
mass layoff actions by employers, resulting in the separation of 
397,643 workers from their jobs for more than 30 days.  (Preliminary 
figures may not include all states.)  A year earlier, employers 
reported that they had laid off 320,750 workers in 1,716 extended 
layoff events 

Print media headlined Alan Greenspan's remarks at an awards dinner in 
New York differently_The Washington Post (page G1) said the Fed 
chairman hinted that the Fed will let interest rates stand when its 
policymakers meet May 20 if the very rapid pace of economic growth 
early this year slows as he expects "There is scant evidence of 
any imminent resurgence of inflation at the moment," Greenspan said. 
 But with unemployment now below 5 percent, "there also appears to be 
little slack in our capacity to produce.  Should the expected slowing 
in growth or demand fail to materialize, we would need to address any 
emerging pressures in product and credit markets" Several 
indications of slower growth include flat retail sales in March and 
probably last month as well, smaller increases in payroll employment 
in the past two months compared with earlier months, a decline in 
total hours worked last month, and a very large increase in 
businesses' stocks of unsold goods in the first quarter _The 
Wall Street Journal (page A2) and USA Today (page 1B) say "Greenspan 
is ready to increase rates if the growth in demand doesn't slow" and 
"Greenspan hints at new rate increase," respectively_The New York 
Times (page C1) has the headline, "Greenspan Defends Fed's Rate 
Policy."  Clearly stung by widespread criticism that the Federal 
Reserve had been too quick to raise interest rates six weeks ago," 
Greenspan said that "failure to act would have constituted `a threat 
to the job security and standards of living of too many Americans.' 
 Addressing head-on the argument that the Federal Reserve had put the 
brakes on the economy without clear evidence of accelerating 
inflation, Mr. Greenspan offered what for him was an unusually direct 
rebuttal, saying the quarter-point rate increase on March 25 had been 
a carefully calibrated form of insurance for an economy that has been 
growing steadily for more than six years.

New claims filed for state unemployment insurance benefits remained 
steady at a seasonally adjusted 347,000 during the week ended May 3, 
the Labor Department says But it still hovered at the second 
highest level this year (Daily Labor Report, page D-1; Washington 
Post, page G8; New York Times, page C13; Wall Street Journal, page 
A1).

April showers washed out sales at many of the nation's largest stores 
last month as cold and rainy weather in many parts of the country 
discouraged shoppers from buying spring merchandise April's sales 
figures were also held down by the absence of Easter sales, as Easter 
arrived in March this year.  For many stores, sales have been lagging 
for the past year.  Despite high levels of consumer confidence, many 
shoppers are still watching their spending and placing value above all 
else (AP story, Washington Post, page G3; New York Times, page 
C4).

In an article headlined "Stocks Rebound, but Investors Are Reported to 
Be Nervous," Mickey Levy, economist at NationsBank Capital Markets, is 
quoted as saying, "Everybody's looking for every nuance.  Bozo the 
Clown could come out and say something these days and move the market" 
(Washington Post, page G2).

[PEN-L:9946] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  Preliminary seasonally-adjusted annual rates of 
productivity change in the first quarter were:  2.1 percent in the 
business sector and 2.0 percent in the nonfarm business sector.  In 
both sectors, first-quarter productivity gains were larger than those 
posted in the previous three quarters.  In manufacturing, productivity 
changes in the first quarter were:  3.1 percent in manufacturing; 3.4 
percent in durable goods manufacturing; and 3.5 percent in nondurable 
goods manufacturing 

The robust U.S. economy is poised for even stronger growth the next 
six months The National Association of Purchasing Management says 
they expect the prices of the goods they buy for their corporations to 
rise  0.7 percent this year, a signal that inflation is not likely to 
accelerate sharply.  In the December survey, members predicted no 
change in those costs this year.  The managers also expect the costs 
of labor and fringe benefits to rise a net 2.4 percent this year, 
below the 2.8 percent increase in employment costs that they expected 
in the December survey (Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Factory orders slipped 1.6 percent in March, the largest drop in seven 
months, pulled down by declines in aircraft, motor vehicles, and 
communications equipment, the Commerce Department said (Washington 
Post, page C10; Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Orders placed with factories fell, indicating that the manufacturing 
economy might be cooling.  And inventories increased by 0.2 percent in 
March after having risen in February, suggesting that production may 
have outpaced demand.  But a survey of purchasing managers found that 
they expected corporate revenue to rise 7 percent this year as the 
economy continues to grow solidly with only modest inflation (New 
York Times, page A2).

The government's "leading statistics official" Everett M. Ehrlich, 48, 
will leave his post as Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic 
Affairs at the end of the month to set up a Washington, D.C., 
consulting firm.  He cited financial reasons for being unable to 
commit to another four years at the agency, which would involve the 
2000 Census.  He pointed to two main accomplishments:  Refocusing the 
statistical system to capture rapid economic change and re-engineering 
the Census by, for example, installing sampling methods that are 
expected to be used to count nonrespondents (New York Times, page 
D5; Washington Post, page A19).

[PEN-L:10493] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1997

Looking back on the agency's recent experience, BLS Commissioner 
Abraham says the bureau might establish a permanent academic advisory 
group to study measurement issues related to the CPI Abraham says 
in an interview that she has thought for some time that the agency 
could benefit from an ongoing relationship with academic economists 
who could research specific CPI measurement issues If an academic 
advisory panel had been in place when the current debate began, it 
would have been beneficial to all of those scrutinizing the CPI, she 
suggests.  "The examination of the CPI was carried out in what was 
obviously a highly charged environment," she said Public interest 
in the CPI debate has mounted and is reflected in the increased volume 
of mail to BLS on the often-technical issues, Abraham said.  She said 
that she has been impressed with the "extent to which people seem to 
have a grasp of the issues" In the wide-ranging interview, Abraham 
also said that data users should realize that the new industrial 
classification system that is about to be implemented throughout the 
federal government will mean a break in historical data series for 
several industries In most cases, BLS will be able initially to 
provide the comparisons of the old SIC and the new system so that it 
will be clear where the employment shifts took place (Daily Labor 
Report, page B-1).

__The number of workers filing first-time claims for state 
unemployment insurance benefits was unchanged in the week ended May 
24, at a seasonally adjusted 322,000, the Labor Department's 
Employment and Training Administration reports (Daily Labor 
Report, page D-1).
__The level of applications remained in a range that analysts say 
reflects a strong economy (Washington Post, page G1).
__The Wall Street Journal  (page A20) says that the jobless claims 
figure is similar to the level prior to a one-time runup caused by 
automobile strikes and regional flooding 

The Conference Board announces that its help-wanted advertising index 
was unchanged at 88 percent of its 1987 base in April, but most 
regions continued to show strong hiring prospects (Daily Labor 
Report, page A-3; Wall Street Journal, page A20)

The higher-than-expected revenue streams logged in 1995 and 1996 are 
likely to continue, buoyed by upswings in hours worked, wages, and 
employment, Congressional Budget Office Director June O'Neill said in 
an interview She also predicted that economic output would average 
3 percent during fiscal year 1997 Asked about the CPI, O'Neill 
said the changes in calculating the index currently planned by BLS 
should shave about 0.24 percentage points from the CPI by 2002 CBO 
incorporated only those changes announced by BLS -- or likely to be 
announced by BLS -- in its baseline forecast, she noted (Daily 
Labor Report, page A-9).

[PEN-L:10492] Re: FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

I have both a procedural and a substantive response to Bill's post.  I 
also must apologize for the delay in responding -- I only work on this 
during the week.

On procedure, the Daily Report is not intended simply as a publication 
vehicle for BLS data.  It is rather an internal post with, it seems to 
me, 3 goals: (1) Publish the half dozen or so most important numbers 
we produce every month so that we all will be aware of what other 
divisions are doing, at least at the very highest level; (2) search 
the major U.S. press for references to BLS data and echo them back to 
us; and (3) forward some of the more interesting economics and labor 
news and comment.  I forward the Daily Report to the list as in 
interesting capsule reference to some of the more interesting news for 
us.

The item referred to below seems to fall into the third category. 
 There are no BLS statistics specifically referenced, and I believe 
that the consumption data comes from the Census Bureau Current 
Population Survey.

As to what it means, it was written by a member of the Wash. Post 
Business page staff -- it should not be taken as deep economic 
analysis.  As far as I can tell, the author notes that the Dow or the 
SP or some other stock market average is up by 52% over the relevant 
period.  This factoid is only relevant to consumption inasmuch as some 
of the stock is held by U.S. residents either directly or through 
mutual funds and other financial intermediaries.

I agree with what seems to be Bill's political point, that wealth 
generated by Wall Street is highly concentrated and that most families 
have hardly noticed this purported increase in their wealth.  Indeed, 
I recall reading recently that personal bankruptcies are once again at 
record levels.

As to the economic question posed by the Post writer, i.e., why has 
savings gone up and consumption down, there are several possible 
explanations:
1.  Random noise in the data;
2.  Time lags, the gap between the realization that paper wealth has 
been created and the planning and execution of spending plans;
3.  Demographics -- the U.S. has an aging population and the need for 
retirement planning has recently been much emphasized in the press.

It is because questions like this are characteristically ignored that 
I do not take the Post Business page as serious economic analysis.  I 
forward it to the list, warts and all, in the hope that we may all 
keep up with the U.S. economy a bit better.

Dave

--
Sent:   Friday, May 30, 1997 12:40 PM
Subject:[PEN-L:10436] Re: FW: BLS Daily Report

I have a question on this BLS data:

On Fri, May 30, 1997 at 07:10:37 (-0700) Richardson_D writes:
BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1997
...
Consumer spending has been the driving force behind the U.S. economy 
over the past year, but, ironically, American families haven't been
spending very much of the wealth generated by the soaring U.S. stock 
market.  In the past, when financial wealth increased rapidly, elated 
consumers typically could be counted on to spend so much that the
nation's personal savings rate would fall For some
not-well-understood reason, consumers have boosted their spending 
much
less than expected in response to the 52 percent rise in the value of 
their stock and mutual fund shares over the past two years.  Consumer 
spending hasn't gone up even as fast as disposable personal income, 
so
that the personal savings rate went up instead of down, as it did in 
the past under similar conditions ("Trendlines," Washington Post, 
page E1).

Is it "ironic" that "American families" don't take part quite so much
in the "soaring U.S. stock market" as the very wealthy?  Does the BLS
correct or even notice this?  When they say "financial wealth
increased rapidly", do they refer to 1) gross; 2) average; 3) median?
That is, does the reference to "the 52 percent rise in the value of
their stock and mutual fund shares" refer to a 52 percent rise in the
stock market, or is it *really* a measure of the rise in the stock
prices that "consumers" own?  If the BLS is measuring wealth using 1)
or 2), I don't see how this paragraph is useful at all, though I may
be totally off-base.


Bill

[PEN-L:10503] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, JUNE 2, 1997

Slightly more than half of the largest US. employers now offer work at 
home or job sharing arrangements to their employees, according to a 
survey of 519  companies by the management consulting firm of Watson 
Wyatt Worldwide The survey found that 51 percent of large 
companies and 31 percent of all respondents allow employees to work 
from home, an arrangement that is most popular in communications and 
publishing firms, as well as in electronics, computer, and software 
industries, according to the survey.  Job sharing arrangements in 
which workers split the responsibilities of one position is an option 
at 50 percent of companies with more than 5,000 employees and at 26 
percent of all firms in the survey Large companies reported that, 
over the past five years, the percentage of their workforce sharing 
jobs has risen by 81 percent and the number of employees who work from 
home has risen 70 percent, Watson Wyatt said, adding that the trend is 
likely to accelerate since 90 percent of the large companies expect 
more employees to work from home in the next two to three years and 75 
percent predict more job sharing among their workers (Daily Labor 
Report, page A-6).

After rising briskly for four years, prices for used cars have begun 
to fall and the effects are rippling through the auto industry, 
according to The New York Times (May 31, page A1) Used-car prices 
climbed 4 to 9 percent a year from 1992 through 1995.  Auto industry 
officials attributed the rise to the greater durability of cars, the 
wider availability of used-car warranties, and a growing public 
acceptance of low-mileage, late model used cars as an alternative to 
new cars.  But retail prices for used cars, as measured by part of the 
CPI, have fallen 2 percent in the last 12 months, even as new car 
prices have inched up by nine-tenths of 1 percent 

Stronger exports and more inventory accumulation caused the Commerce 
Department to upwardly revise estimates for GDP to a robust annual 
rate of 5.8 percent in the first quarter of 1997.  The surge in real 
GDP is the highest quarterly increase since a 6 percent gain in the 
fourth quarter of 1987.  Analysts expect a slowdown in the second 
quarter of 1997 as consumer spending slackens from the frantic pace of 
the first quarter and businesses hold back production to sell off 
inventories (Daily Labor Report, page D-3).

__Analysts broadly expect the economy to cool after the steamy pace of 
the first quarter -- when it grew at 5.8 percent -- and the last three 
months of 1996 -- when growth was a robust 3.8 percent.  But beyond 
the certainty growth will cool, it is less clear what the summer will 
hold.  Economists split on whether the economy will be resilient or if 
it could hold some downside risks (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
__The U.S. economy grew in the first three months of this year at a 
faster rate than earlier estimated, but a senior Fed official said 
that since then growth "clearly is starting to slow down".  The 
Commerce Department raised its estimate of first quarter growth 
Coming at a time of low unemployment, the unusually rapid growth 
sparked concerns that it could cause an increase in inflation 
Meanwhile, in a separate report, the Commerce Department provided 
what analysts said is added evidence of slowing.  Sales of new homes 
fell 7.7 percent in April, after rising 2 percent in March.  The April 
figure was close to the selling pace of the final three months of last 
year (Washington Post, May 31, page D1; New York Times, May 31, 
page 23).
__Corporate profit margins climbed to 11.8 percent of output in the 
first quarter from 11.5 percent at the end of last year, the Commerce 
Department said, suggesting that companies have room to absorb some 
cost increases without raising prices (Wall Street Journal, page 
A2).

In an article on internships, The Washington Post (June 1, page H4) 
says that workers gain experience and contacts through them, while 
employers get a chance to try before letting someone fly A 1996 
survey of 434 members of the National Association of Colleges and 
Employers, a professional association of human resources professionals 
who hire college graduates, found that 70 percent of employers require 
new hires to have had internships or other job training.  Work 
experience was second only to "major" on the list of factors used to 
screen students for interviews.  Sixty-one percent of the respondents 
said they offer summer internship programs, and 96 percent of those 
said they use the programs to find permanent employees.  On average, 
nearly half of summer interns were offered full-time positions 

When companies were downsizing and slashing payrolls, many laid off 
executives decided to start their own businesses.  Now, with a booming 
job market, many executives have decided it's easier and more secure 
to work for someone else, 

[PEN-L:12659] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1997

Long-lived economic expansion is unlikely to end soon, thanks to
investment-led productivity growth and a healthy financial sector that
should be able to absorb unexpected shocks, says Janet Yellen, who
chairs the Council of Economic Advisers (Daily Labor Report, page
A-3).

"Trendlines" in the Washington Post (page E1) says that, as a share of
corporate income, profits and net interest paid have reached their
highest level since 1969, leading some to complain that workers aren't
getting their fair share.  But profits tend to go up and down with the
business cycle, and the current level isn't much higher than similar
cyclical peaks in the 1970s and 1980s for domestic nonfinancial firms


Wage data compiled by BNA in the first 38 weeks of 1997 show that the
all-industries median first-year wage increase is 3 percent or 44.7
cents an hour (Daily Labor Report, page D-1). 

[PEN-L:12660] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1997 

Close to 10 million low-paid employees got a raise this year, with the
increase in the federal minimum wage that took effect Sept. 1.  For
millions of other workers, their pay is regulated by state laws and
regulations that vary widely in their approaches to hourly wages, tip
credits, and subminimum training wages for young or unskilled workers.
Five states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than
the federal level.  Twenty-four have minimum wage rates that currently
reflect the federal rate, and 14 states have lower state minimums than
the federal.  Seven states have no state minimum wage.   Employers
generally are required to pay the higher rate A special report with
today's Daily Labor Report examines the state minimum wage laws, as well
as the recent development of campaigns in some jurisdictions to
establish "living wage" rates, which set a higher wage floor for
employees of private-sector firms that perform work under contract with
local governments 

New claims filed with state agencies for unemployment insurance benefits
declined by a modest 2,000 to a total of 306,000 on a seasonally
adjusted basis during the week ended Sept. 20, the Labor Department
reports (Daily Labor Report, page D-1; New York Times, page C6).

The help-wanted advertising index in August fell 3 percentage points to
84 percent of its 1987 base, but is still higher than a year ago, the
Conference Board says (Daily Labor Report, page A-9).

New orders for manufactured durable goods surged 2.7 percent in August,
driven by a rebound in bookings for electronic equipment, data released
by the Census Bureau show This is the third consecutive monthly
increase for new durable goods orders (Daily Labor Report, page D-3;
New York Times, page C6)_Electrical equipment was up for the first
time since May; most of the strength came in orders for electronic
components such as circuit boards and semiconductors (Washington Post,
page G8)_After stripping out the big rise in electronics, orders
slid 1.7 percent (Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Sales of existing homes surged 3.3 percent in August to a record high,
reported the National Association of Realtors.  The data were released
by the group a day ahead of schedule - after news of the strong figure
leaked into financial markets, raising fears the U.S. economy was
growing so quickly that the Federal Reserve would have to raise interest
rates (Washington Post, page G8; Wall Street Journal, page A2).

[PEN-L:11970] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 1997

The pay gap that separates college and high school educated workers
favors only college graduates whose literacy skills are commensurate
with their educational level, according to a report in the July issue of
the BLS "Monthly Labor Review."  The authors -- Frederic L. Pryor, a
professor of economics at Swarthmore College, and David Schaffer, an
assistant professor of economics at Haverford College -- say they have
solved the seeming paradox of why so many university educated workers
are taking high school skill-level jobs, while the wages of college
educated workers are rising.  Those with a university education working
in occupations in which most had less than a university education had
lower functional literacy than employees with a higher education who are
working in jobs commensurate with that education, the authors say
(Daily Labor Report, page A-9; reprint of article, page E-71).

The fourth quarter of 1997 should have the most robust hiring of any
final quarter since 1978, according to the results of a survey by
Manpower, Inc.  The Milwaukee-based temporary help firm found that 28
percent of respondents will be searching for additional workers in the
final quarter of the year, while only 7 percent plan cutbacks.  Sixty
percent expect no change in payrolls, and 5 percent are not yet certain
(Daily Labor Report, page A-7; Washington Post, Aug. 24, page H4).  

The health of the Washington region's economy depends greatly on its
ability to keep churning out more technology jobs, according to a study
by Wefa Inc., an Eddystone, Pa., consulting firm.  Wefa's analysis shows
that across the country, regions with strong technology clusters have
led the way in overall job growth this decade, with only a few
exceptions, including Orlando and Las Vegas, where entertainment and
tourism are booming (Washington Post, Aug. 23, page C2).

An economy that continues to serve up pleasant surprises can add one
more to the menu:  U.S. exports are hitting new highs.  The surprise
part is that exports are setting those records just as the dollar is on
the rise, making U.S. goods and services more expensive for foreign
buyers.  Economies overseas are showing signs of a pickup, and the
demand for U.S.-made capital goods is on the rise (Wall Street
Journal, page A2).  

The cost to employers of retirement benefits for employees has risen
slightly, KPMG Peat Marwick found in its 1997 Retirement Benefits
Survey.  Retirement benefit costs weighed in at 7.06 percent of total
payroll in 1997, compared with a previous high of 6.75 percent found in
the group's 1993 and 1994 surveys The results also show evidence of
the trend in the marketplace toward defined contribution plans In
conducting the survey, KPMG had professional pollsters interview 1,251
employers of 200 or more employees (Daily Labor Report, page A-8).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  State and Metropolitan Area Employment and
Unemployment:  July 1997

[PEN-L:12089] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

(See last item).  Here at the Labor Dept. we are wondering what it is
that we did so well to so disturb Mr. Armey.

--

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, AUGUST  29, 1997:

The government's summertime snapshot of the youth labor force picks up
the tones of a robust economy, with total employment among workers ages
16 to 24 up by 2.4 percent in July, compared with a year ago.  Jobless
rates in virtually all demographic groups were down, compared with the
summer of 1996, according to data released by BLS (Daily Labor
Report, page D-15).  

Demand for labor remained strong in July, as the Conference Board
reports its help-wanted advertising index held steady at 88 percent of
its 1987 base (Daily Labor Report, page A-6; Wall Street Journal,
page A12).

U.S. economic growth in the second quarter was revised up to a strong
3.6 percent at an annual rate, due  chiefly to a better performance by
the trade sector and a larger inventory accumulation than first
estimated, reports the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic
Analysis.  The revised figures for GDP mean the economy barely slowed
after growing at a 4.9 percent pace in the first quarter of this year.
Consumer spending was much weaker than in the first quarter, however,
suggesting to many analysts that the third quarter will see a pickup in
personal outlays (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_The U.S. economy
grew much more strongly this spring than previously thought, raising new
questions for analysts and policymakers about whether inflationary
pressures will build in coming months (Washington Post, page
K1)_Even with the more robust growth, inflation remained subdued
during the second quarter (New York Times, page A1)_The economy
grew much faster than the original estimate.  Meanwhile, prices inched
up just 0.8 percent in the second quarter, and corporate profits jumped
1.9 percent (Wall Street Journal, page A2).   

New claims for unemployment benefits declined by 16,000 to 323,000
during the week ended Aug. 23, the Labor Department's Employment and
Training Administration reports (Daily Labor Report, page D-13;
Washington Post, page K2).

The flow of three-year visas for skilled foreign-born workers has been
temporarily cut off by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the
agency says.  The agency has tentatively reached the limit on the number
of H1-B visas it can issue annually (Daily Labor Report, page A-3).


Despite the best economic conditions in a generation, more than
two-thirds of U.S. workers say their sense of job security is lower and
job stress higher than it used to be, according to a new survey by
Princeton Survey Research Associates (USA Today, pages 1A, 1B).

House Majority Leader Armey (R-Texas) gives the Labor Department the
worst marks in his overall assessment of federal agencies' preliminary
plans for improving the way agency programs are run.  In a letter issued
this month, Armey ranks the Labor Department last in an evaluation of
federal agencies' efforts to comply with the Government Performance and
Results Act (Daily Labor Report, page A-7).

[PEN-L:11968] FW: Error Condition Re: FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1997

The Labor Department announced a schedule for the release of databases
under its new Occupational Information Network (O*NET) -- a system for
collecting, classifying, and disseminating information about
requirements and characteristics of occupations and workers.  The
network is intended as an automated replacement for the Dictionary of
Occupational Titles According to the Labor Department, the database
contains hundreds of "information units" that cover job requirements,
worker attributes, and the content and context of work The first
version of the database is expected out in December 1997 and will be
made available to the general public By early 1998, the agency hopes
to have O*NET products available on the Internet through America's Job
Bank.  The job bank's links to O*NET will include the most important
aspects and requirements of occupations included on the database.  After
completing the test phase, the Labor Department hopes to have in place
by 2000 a new, extended database that includes all occupations in the
proposed new Standard Occupational Classification (Daily Labor
Report, page A-8). 

U.S. trade deficit in goods and services narrowed to a
better-than-expected seasonally adjusted $8.16 billion in June, with
exports climbing to a record high and imports falling for the first time
in eight months, the Commerce Department reported (Daily Labor
Report, page D-1)_The U.S. trade deficit narrowed sharply, but the
politically sensitive deficits with China and Japan both widened
...(Washington Post, page E3; Washington Times, page B9)_The U.S.
trade deficit narrowing indicates that the economy may be growing faster
than analysts had assumed (New York Times, page D1; Wall Street
Journal, page A2).
 
The gap between the rich and the poor in 401(k) plans is growing, says
The Wall Street Journal (page C1).  A study released by KPMG Peat
Marwick shows an enormous difference between participation rates among
highly paid and lower-paid workers:  90 percent of highly paid employees
contribute to their 401(k) plan, compared with only 64 percent of all
workers with such plans The KPMG findings are remarkably consistent
with the latest-available government figures, which show that 90 percent
of people earning $75,000 or more participate in their company plan,
compared with 67 percent of all workers offered such plans There's
also a gap between the high-paid and low-paid when it comes to having a
chance to contribute to a retirement plan in the first place.  The Labor
Department's 1993 Current Population Survey shows that 70 percent of the
2.2 million workers earning more than $75,000 are offered a plan, while
only 10 percent of the 15 million workers earning under $10,000 are
offered a savings plan.  In between these two extremes, accessibility to
retirement plans falls steadily with income  

Forty-two percent of companies of various sizes have telecommuting
arrangements, according to a 1996 study of 305 American business
executives by the Olsten Corporation, a Melville, N.Y., staffing
services company.  That figure is up from 33 percent in the 1995 study.
But the companies surveyed said that only 7 percent of their employees
ever telecommute -- a number that has held steady for four consecutive
annual surveys A sociology professor at Illinois Institute of
Technology and author of "Transition to Telecommuting" says there are
two basic reasons why telecommuting has not taken hold to the extent
anticipated:  Employees have unrealistic expectations, and employers are
afraid of losing control Dr. Charles Grantham, president, Institute
for the Study of Distributed Work in Walnut Creek, Calif., bases his
research on independent studies coupled with market data from BLS,
according to The New York Times (Aug. 17, page F1).  He breaks the
numbers down this way:  Some 9 to 14 million American workers are
telecommuters, defined as those who work from their homes on a regular
basis (at least 2 days a week) for an outside company.  From 10 million
to 12 million are home-based workers, or those who run businesses from
home.  Some 12 million to 16 million are independent contractors who
work for multiple companies 

In an op-ed page column, "The Age of Leisure," George F. Will says that
Robert Fogel, one of the University of Chicago's Nobel Prize-winning
economists, estimates that, "since 1880, the time devoted each week by
the average American male head of household to nonwork activities has
risen from 10.5 hours to 40 hours, while time at work has been cut
nearly in half, from 61.6 to 33.6" 

[PEN-L:11990] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  State unemployment rates were little changed in July,
as 43 states recorded changes of 0.3 percentage point or less from June.
The national jobless rate edged down to 4.8 percent in July.  Nonfarm
payroll employment increased in 30 states and the District of Columbia
over the month 

Welfare reform has triggered a dramatic increase in the number of single
women with children entering the U.S.  labor force, but the actual
impact on the total labor force is small, a Federal Reserve Bank of San
Francisco economist reports.  Mary Daly estimated that about 296,000
women with families who were formerly on welfare entered the labor force
between August 1996 and July 1997 as a result of welfare reform.  Her
study draws on data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  During
the 12-month period before reform, July 1995 to July 1996, the number of
women maintaining families who were in the labor market increased by 2.4
percent.  In contrast, between August 1996 and July 1997, "labor force
growth among these women surged to 7.4 percent at an annual rate," she
said Overall, 2.3 million individuals joined the labor force,
boosting the labor force participation rate by 0.4 percentage point to
67.1 percent over the year ended in July 1997 After restricting BLS
populations of women maintaining families to those most likely to be
affected by welfare reform -- and attributing a portion of the recent
labor force growth among these women to broader economic factors --
"welfare reform would be credited with three-tenths of the total
four-tenths increase in labor force participation since August" 1996,
Daly said.  However, Daly found this assumption that welfare reform
accounted for three-fourths of the rise in the participation rate
"suspect" given that not all of the women maintaining families who were
counted by BLS would be affected by welfare reform.  About one-third of
these women were not likely to be eligible for welfare benefits, and
some fraction of them most likely entered the labor force because of a
strong economy, she said.  Assuming the welfare reform effect was 5.4
percentage points of the total 7.4 percent increase in the labor force
growth of women maintaining families, Daly said "the total effect of
labor force participation is estimated to be about 0.1 percentage point"
(Daily Labor Report, page A-7).  

Small-business hiring heads for the roof.  About 22 percent of about
1,600 responding members of the National Federation of Independent
Business plan to expand employment, a third-quarter record in the NFIB
survey's 25-year history.  Fully 30 percent have "hard to fill"
openings, also a new high, with manufacturing and construction
industries leading the demand (Wall Street Journal, "Work Week," page
A1)_While a strong economy brings many good things to small
businesses, it also creates a problem:  Where do you find enough
qualified employees?  The national unemployment rate of 4.8 percent in
July was the lowest in almost 24 years.  And small businesses,
particularly in rural communities with smaller labor pools, are finding
that their biggest challenge these days isn't bringing in work orders
and jobs.  It is finding someone to do the work Small-business
owners say the competition for workers has caused them to raise salaries
in some cases and benefits in others.  The owners have also become more
flexible with work schedules and advertised the jobs over a much wider
area In July, 29 percent of the employers responding to the NFIB's
monthly survey said they were having trouble filling at least one job
(New York Times, Aug. 24, page F11).  

Computer whizzes with year-2000 conversion skills are in hot demand
In a survey of 128 large companies by Cap Gemini America, New York
computer-services firm, 60 percent said they're boosting their Year-2000
(Y2K) staff.  Most expect pay for Y2K experts to climb by as much as 40
percent in each of the next two years (Wall Street Journal, "Work
Week," page A1). 

We know what to do, but we need skills and authority to do it.  That's
what many of 9,144 workers said in an attitude survey by benefits
consultant Watson Wyatt Worldwide of Bethesda, Md. Well over 80
percent of the polled respondents said they know their employer's goals
and their duties.  But only 38 percent said they get needed information
or regular performance feedback, and only 55 percent hold power to make
decisions to satisfy customers Nearly 80 percent of over 2,000
employees polled by Aon Consulting Inc., Detroit human-resources
adviser, recommend their company as an employer -- but 40 percent would
leave for slightly higher pay (Wall Street Journal, "Work Week," page
A1).

Worker absenteeism fell 16 percent from 1996 in this year's survey of
451 employers by Commerce Clearing House, the first decline since 1992.
Commerce, publisher of human-resources information in Chicago, credits

[PEN-L:12184] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  
   EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- Employment and unemployment were little
changed in August.  The jobless rate was 4.9 percent in August; it had
been 4.8 percent in July and has shown little movement over the past
several months.  Nonfarm payroll employment edged up by 49,000 in
August, to 122.5 million.  This gain would have been closer to the
recent growth trend if not for the effects of strike activity during the
survey reference period.  Workers on strike for the entire reference
period are not counted as employed in the survey of establishments
because they are not being paid by their employers.  In contrast, in the
household survey, striking workers and others with unpaid absences are
counted as employed 
   JEC STATEMENT -- In summary, the large transportation strike held the
over-the-month payroll employment gain to just 49,000.  The unemployment
rate was little changed in August at 4.9 percent.  

Moonlighting isn't just for lunch-bucket-luggers who need to work extra
jobs to make ends meet.  Far from it, according to a study in the Labor
Department's Monthly Labor Review.  Multiple jobholding actually gets
more and more common as you move up the education scale, from high
school dropouts (3.3 percent) to PhDs (9.4 percent) The people with
more education probably work extra jobs because their schedule allows
it, because their expertise is in demand, or because of financial
reasons beyond meeting basic living expenses and paying off debts, says
the study's author Cutting the data another way -- by income level
rather than education -- shows that the rate of multiple jobholding does
decline as income rises.  But the difference is slight -- from 6.4
percent in the lowest-income fifth of the population to 5.9 percent in
the highest (Business Week, Sept. 8, page 26).  

Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits edged up by 2,000 to
a seasonally adjusted 326,000 in the week ended  Aug. 30, the Labor
Department's Employment and Training Administration reports (Daily
Labor Report, page D-1)_The jobless claims data for last week were
distorted by the effects of retooling of auto assembly lines and by the
strike against United Parcel Service, says an economist at MMS
International in Belmont, Calif. (New York Times, page C2).

In response to the results of a survey among 50,000 working women, the
AFL-CIO launches a new initiative aimed at addressing several issues of
concern for these women, says the Daily Labor Report (page A-3)
Earlier this year, the AFL-CIO distributed a survey to both union
and nonunion women through some 900 organizations, two-thirds of which
were union groups and the remainder which were not affiliated with
unions. The survey was returned by 50,000 women To augment the
survey, a scientific telephone survey of 725 working women was conducted
by a public opinion research firm The results released were based on
the telephone survey because the margin of error in the larger survey
was "huge" since the women who returned the survey were motivated to
fill it out Among the specific results:  Ninety-nine percent of
surveyed women said equal pay for equal work is important, and 32
percent say their own job does not provide equal pay for equal work.
Ninety-two percent said job security is important, but only 34 percent
said they are protected from layoffs in their current job.  Sixty-two
percent of working mothers with children under age 6 said child-care is
"very important," but only 13 percent of these mothers said their jobs
provide child care _The New York Times (page A18) says the
telephone survey found that, despite their lower pay, most working women
are important breadwinners for their families.  Almost two-thirds of
working women earn half or more of their family's income Even among
the married women, 52 percent reported that they contributed half or
more of their household's income.  BLS statistics show that working
wives, on average, contribute about one-third of their family' total
income.  But the survey found that two out of every five working women
were the sole heads of households.  Of those women -- single, divorced,
separated, or widowed -- more than one-quarter had dependent children
The survey found an especially bleak picture of the job situations
of women who work part time, a group that accounts for one-quarter of
the working women 

New orders for manufactured goods increased 0.2 percent in July,
following a 1.7 percent June advance, the Commerce Department's Bureau
of the Census reports.  Excluding transportation, new orders rose 0.8
percent in July, following a 0.7 percent June gain.  In the
year-to-date, new orders are 4.9 percent above the same period one year
ago (Daily Labor Report, page D-3)_Orders placed with factories
unexpectedly increased in July to a record level, a sign that
manufacturing could be poised for faster growth 

[PEN-L:12255] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  In June 1997, there were 1,113 mass layoff actions by
employers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits
during the month.  Each action involved at least 50 persons from a
single establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 110,267
persons.  Both layoff events and the number of claimants for
unemployment insurance were higher than in June 1996 

_Productivity in the nation's nonfarm business sector grew by a
brisk 2.7 percent in the second quarter, much more than the 0.6 percent
that was first estimated, reports BLS.  The brisk productivity gain
reflects the recently announced large revision in growth of total U.S.
output.  The robust productivity gain kept unit labor costs subdued
(Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
_The nation's businesses scored a big gain in efficiency in the
April-June period, allowing them to keep a lid on inflation and improve
their profit margins.  The 2.7 percent annual rise was the largest such
gain for a quarter in three years A set of even more robust
productivity figures gets around the measurement problems associated
with financial services by excluding that part of the economy.
Noncorporate businesses, nonprofit organizations, and the portion of
government included in the nonfarm business calculations are also
dropped.  In this nonfinancial corporate sector of the economy -- which
accounts for nearly 55 percent of GDP -- productivity rose at a very
strong 3.2 percent annual rate in the second quarter.  Over the past
year, the sector's gain was 2.4 percent, double that reported for the
larger nonfarm business part of the economy (John M. Berry,
Washington Post, page D9).
_The productivity of American workers was much higher in the second
quarter than originally estimated.  But both sides in a growing debate
over the efficiency of the nation's workforce saw support for their
viewpoints in the new figures Productivity has spurted upward
before, only to die away.  Lasting trends, up or down, become evident
only in hindsight, after several years of accumulated data.  "I don't
see an argument for saying that the last few quarters are markedly
different from the 1980's or 1990's so far," said Edwin Dean, chief ot
the BLS division that compiles the productivity numbers.  "They are just
a shade better." (Louis Uchitelle, New York Times, page D1).
_U.S. workers were more productive than originally thought in the
second quarter, helping explain why the economy grew at a healthy pace
without sparking inflation The fact that one revision completely
changes the productivity picture illustrates just how volatile and
misleading the report can be, some economists said (Christina Duff,
Wall Street Journal, page A2).

The World Bank forecast that growth in developing countries would
accelerate over the next decade and that the five biggest emerging
economies -- China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Russia -- would become
economic powerhouses in the next quarter century (New York Times,
page D7). 

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Average Annual Pay by State and Industry, 1996

[PEN-L:12183] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1997

As the second half of a two-part minimum wage hike took effect Sept. 1,
a look at the latest data from BLS shows that 1.5 million workers were
making the former minimum wage of $4.75 in the second quarter of 1997
Unpublished work tables from BLS show that the vast majority of
minimum wage workers were employed in the service-producing sector.
Nearly 1.2 million Americans working in the service sector earned $4.75
an hour.  Retail trade employed 743,000 minimum wage earners in the
second quarter.  Eating and drinking establishments had 361,000
employees who were paid the minimum wage in effect in the second
quarter. BLS cautioned that the unpublished data, derived from the
Current Population Survey, should not be considered part of a BLS news
release and that the information is not as accurate or reliable as
yearly earning releases, such as BLS' Characteristics of Minimum Wage
Workers.  Also, the data are not adjusted for seasonal variations.
Additionally, BLS economist Steve Haugen said:  "All the standard
caveats that we normally issue with our annual unpublished package of
minimum wage tables apply to these tabulations as well; indeed, data
reliability is obviously more of a concern with quarterly data."  The
number of workers earning below the minimum wage was 2.3 million in the
second quarter of 1997 (Daily Labor Report, page A-9)_Labor Day
took on special significance this year for an estimated 6.8 million
American workers, who get a raise to $5.15 an hour.  Another 2 to 3
million, however, will continue to make less than the $5.15 minimum wage
because of exemptions and employers who don't obey the law After the
federal minimum wage increase last September to $4.75, the number of
workers earning less than the new minimum fell more than 3 million by
the second quarter of this year.  Even so, there were still 2.3 million
workers making less than $4.75 an hour in the second quarter of this
year, according to BLS (USA Today, Sept. 2, page 11B). 

Growth in the manufacturing sector continues in August, but at a slower
pace than in July, reflecting moderation in both production and new
orders, the National Association of Purchasing Management says The
price index rose to 53.8 percent from 53.6 percent, which indicates
higher prices for commodities purchased by manufacturers The
employment index was 1.3 percentage points higher than in July, reaching
52.0 percent, and marking the sixth month in a row that manufacturing
employment has grown (Daily Labor Report, page A-11)_An
important measure of manufacturing activity grew at a slower rate in
August as factories contended with bulging inventories and the strike
against UPS (New York Times, page D2)_Manufacturing growth
cooled off slightly last month, but factories kept humming at a rapid
pace and new signs of price pressures emerged (Wall Street Journal, page
A2)

How Federal raises will vary by locality is discussed on page A17 of The
Washington Post.  Federal workers in the Washington-Baltimore area will
see a net increase in their paychecks of 2.45 percent, less than the pay
hike for federal workers in 29 other metropolitan areas President
Clinton has authorized 1998 pay raises starting in January.  Employees
will receive, on average, a 2.3 percent nationwide increase and a 0.5
percent "locality pay" raise.  

Corporate executives' pay grew faster than corporate revenue and profit
over the past 15 years, according to an Internal Revenue Services
report.  The IRS said executive pay in 1995 was up 182 percent from
1980.  In the same period, corporate revenue rose 128 percent, and
taxable corporate income rose 127 percent.  The executive pay increase
could be even higher because the IRS did not count stock options and
other deferred compensation plans (Washington Post, page C9).

A Congressional Budget Office analysis confirms that the combination of
a strong economy and budget and tax legislation enacted last month will
eliminate the deficit by 2002 and likely lead to an era of surpluses.
Moreover, if all goes well, the federal debt would begin to decline in
2002 for the first time since the early 1970s.  However, the CBO's
summertime economic and budget outlook is forecasting that, after a
robust performance this year, the economy will slow to a more moderate
pace and inflation will begin to rise in 1998 -- developments that could
seriously impede efforts to eliminate the deficit (Washington Post,
page A20; Daily Labor Report, page A-10; Wall Street Journal, page A2).


Blue-collar jobs climbed to a record 32.8 million earlier this year,
reflecting a shift away from the traditionally heavy concentration in
manufacturing and toward blue-collar jobs in services and utilities. Yet
the rebound in blue-collar jobs has captured little attention, largely
because experts have been arguing for a long time that job prospects for
minimally educated workers, without a 

[PEN-L:12275] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  The average annual pay of all workers covered by State
and Federal Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs was $28,945 in 1996, a
3.9 percent increase over the 1995 national average, according to
preliminary data.  The annual pay of private industry workers, who
comprise 84.2 percent of the nation's employment, rose 4.2 percent in
1996, while pay for government workers rose 3.1 percent.  Pay growth in
the private sector outpaced that of government workers for the second
straight year.  In 1995, the increase in pay for private sector
employees was 3.6 percent and for government workers, 2.6 

BLS reports that there were 1,113 mass layoffs in June, as measured by
new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month.
June's layoffs were a little more than the 1,056 recorded in May.  In
June 1996, BLS estimates there were 914 mass layoffs The mass layoff
estimates are drawn from a relatively new data series, which has grown
in fits and starts due to changing funding levels.  BLS receives the raw
data that eventually goes into this release on the 15th day of each
month.  The agency eventually hopes to reduce the turnaround time to
about four weeks from receipt of data to release of the monthly layoff
report (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).  

The strike against United Parcel Services is long over, but the debate
rages on over the widespread use of part-time workers, an increasingly
contentious issue in a variety of workplaces.  Some 22 million U.S.
workers hold part-time jobs, according to BLS statistics, with about 18
percent of them wanting full-time work. Labor advocates contend that
part-time employment is often involuntary, that it allows employers to
save on compensation costs at the expense of workers, and that it can
create an unfair two-tier wage system.  Defenders of part-time jobs
point out that the vast majority of part-time workers are in such
arrangements voluntarily because of the flexibility (Daily Labor
Report, page A-3). 

If the U.S. economy is still growing when Christmas rolls around next
year, the current economic expansion will have stretched for 92 months,
making it the longest episode of peacetime growth in U.S. history, says
John M. Berry, writing in the Washington Post (page E1) The long
economic expansions of the 1960s and 1980s ultimately ended when
inflation rose and the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to bring it
under control again.  With the current expansion now 78 months old and
increases in core inflation falling, many forecasters see no reason to
predict growth will end anytime soon There is a long list of reasons
economists have for the persistence of low inflation, including the
Fed's determination to keep it low; good federal fiscal policy with
falling budget deficits; increased competition in many markets,
particularly from foreign firms; less government regulations; slow
growth in Japan, Europe and many other nations, which has reduced world
demand for many commodities; faster productivity growth; and fear among
workers that, if they seek big pay increases, that they might lose their
jobs 

A new study from the Economic Policy Institute and the Women's Research
 Education Institute offers a look at what the authors call
"nonstandard work arrangements."  The report's most striking statistics
is the prevalence of nonstandard work Thirty-four percent of female
and 25 percent of male workers were not in regular full-time jobs
(Business Week,  Sept. 15, page 28). 

A commentary by Seymour Zucker, senior editor of Business Week (Sept.
15, page 37), says that Alan Greenspan, Fed Chairman, believes that
government statisticians have failed to measure productivity gains in
the service sector.  "The nonfarm productivity data," Greenspan said in
an interview, "are nonsense" _Business Week's editorial (page
138) is "The Government Should Learn To Count."  After criticizing other
figures, including the CPI, it moves on to "the roaring debate over the
productivity figures" The conclusion is that "Congress, for its
part, must invest in statistics This is one area where
penny-pinching is self-destructive  

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Producer Price Indexes -- August 1997

[PEN-L:12287] Re: Slurs

[Richardson_D]

I am a Buddhist, perhaps the only one on this list.  While I thought
that the punch line was a little strange, it was not clear how to
respond to it.  I choose now to resolve this with a few facts.

1.  Compassion is the essential element of human relations.  Without
compassion enlightenment is impossible.  Therefore Buddha can always
spare a dime, even if (s)he doesn't have it.

2.  Confusion is the defining characteristic of the human condition.
Therefore we can never be insulted since any supposed insult arises out
of confusion.

3.  I am very upset about the Gore event.  Before it I could see a
Buddhist U.S. President in my lifetime.  Now I cannot.

The upshot is that it is hard for me to know what to say.  Perhaps Max
was insensitive, although from his apology it seems that he is now
feeling much more guilty than necessary.

As far as Michael and stereotyping, Buddhists have a very positive
image, and it is painful to see it tarnished.  Buddhists tend not to pay
a great deal of attention to political issues.  Perhaps this is a
weakness.  On the other hand, there are other ways in which it is a
great strength.

Doug is right: the Dems took advantage in an outrageous way.  This is
why it is such a problem for Gore.

Dave

--
From:   Doug Henwood[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent:   Thursday, September 11, 1997 2:18 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject:[PEN-L:12258] Re: Slurs

Michael Eisenscher wrote:

I know this apology is sincere, but I am bothered by your choice of
words.
It is not just a matter of offending Buddhists or Asians, it is the
principle of feeding off of racial or ethnic or religious stereotyping
that
is at issue.

Can someone explain to me just how "Buddha can you spare a dime" is a
slur?
Doesn't it point up the incongruence of a worldly creep like Al Gore and
his worthless Dem party using a religious organization as a cash
laundry?
Doesn't it presume the virtue of the religious - quite the opposite of
making fun of them?

Doug

[PEN-L:12512] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1997

Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits decreased by 5,000 to
a seasonally adjusted 306,000 in the week ended Sept. 13, the Labor
Department reports (Daily Labor Report, page D-8)_The number of
Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly
in the latest week, providing more evidence of a persistent tightness in
the labor market (New York Times, page C16).

The recent upswing in employment prospects will gain momentum during the
autumn months, according to projections from 311 respondents to BNA's
latest quarterly employment survey.  Job opportunities -- which have
increased gradually since the spring -- likely will rise substantially
during October, November, and December.  Workforce reduction plans are
down from three months ago.  Just 5 percent of responding employers
expect to eliminate technical/professional or office/clerical jobs
during the last three months of the year (Daily Labor Report, page
D-10).

Union membership figures prepared for the AFL-CIO's upcoming convention
show overall membership levels down by 102,000 since the last
convention.  However, the percentage of decline is also reduced from
declines posted in recent years The membership figures are computed
on the basis of the average of per-capita payments made by affiliated
unions to the federation each month for the previous two-year period
Nineteen unions reported a membership increase in the most recent
two-year period, and six made gains of 10,000 members or more The
number of affiliates that lost member (29) during the latest two-year
period decreased considerably from the prior two-year period when 44
affiliates lost members.  Twenty-two unions reported no membership
change, compared with 20 in 1995 The International Brotherhood of
Teamsters reported 1,276,000 members, making it the largest union in the
federation (Daily Labor Report, page AA-1).

Labor union have had little success organizing workers in recent years,
in part because companies have well-oiled anti-union campaigns
Charts show that workers at nonunion companies are requesting fewer
elections to form unions, and, when elections are held, unions are
winning less often.  Also, strikes involving 1,000 or more workers have
declined sharply.  National Labor Relations Board is given as the source
for the charts (USA Today, page 1B).

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services surged in July, increasing
24.7 percent, as exports fall while imports rose, the Commerce
Department says (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_The U.S. trade
deficit soared as a flood of Japanese cars produced the biggest gap with
Japan in two years.  Imports hit an all-time high while exports shrank
by 1.4 percent.  The politically sensitive deficits with Japan and China
widened considerably, and the trade imbalances with Germany, Italy, and
France surged to records (Washington Post, page G1; New York Times,
page C1; Wall Street Journal, page A2).

[PEN-L:12543] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1997

All States except Alaska and Hawaii registered gains in
inflation-adjusted per capita personal income during 1996, with the
largest increases in the Plains region, according to revised figures
from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce.  Five
Plains states posted the largest gains.  In 1996, Alaska's per capita
income was below the U.S. average for the first time since it became a
state in 1959.  In general, the rankings of the top 10 states in terms
of per capita income changed little between 1995 and 1996.  Connecticut
remained number one (Daily Labor Report, page D-1). 

In the midst of the debate over the proposal to expedite consideration
of trade agreements, the Economic Policy Institute releases analyses
critical of what the institute described as NAFTA's negative impact on
employment in the United States BLS and other data were used in the
analyses (Daily Labor Report, page A-6).

[PEN-L:12564] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1997

Higher job-related death rates and health insurance costs are creating
barriers to hiring older workers, despite widespread labor shortages.
Older workers are more than twice as likely as younger ones to die of
job-related causes, recent BLS studies show.  The trend comes as the
number of older workers is rising and as aging baby boomers plan to
delay retirement More than 15 million people 55 or older held jobs
or were seeking employment in 1996, according to figures from BLS
(USA Today, page 4B).

Overtime persists at near-record levels, and many workers are chafing.
Manufacturing overtime reached a record average 4.9 hours a week in
March and April, slipped, and climbed again -- to 4.8 hours in August,
the Labor Department says.  Many companies want to avoid hiring that
could mean layoffs later.  Others shun training costs ("Work Week,"
Wall Street Journal, page A1).

Economic diversity propels New Jersey in a region stung by recession
New Jersey has recovered all but 3 percent of the jobs lost in the
last recession, the first state in the New York region to reach that
Charts attributed to BLS show the unemployment rate and payroll jobs
in the state (New York Times, page A1).

[PEN-L:12583] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1997

The BLS experimental geometric mean version of the CPI rose 2 percent in
the year ended in August, the agency reports.  The official CPI-U has
risen 2.2 percent in the year ended in August (Daily Labor Report,
page A-4).

In an article about the growing ranks of older workers who have spent
most of their lives as a homemaker, the Wall Street Journal (page A1)
includes:  "No one charts these homemakers turned laborers, incidental
as they are to the economy.  But a continuing study by the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics, called the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature
Women, indicates that 240,000 women age 55 to 69 will take a job this
year after not having worked for at least 20 years.  Thousands more will
look without success "

[PEN-L:12390] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:
   CPI -- On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U rose 0.2 percent in
August, the same as in July.  The food index increased 0.4 percent in
August.  Grocery store food prices, which rose 0.3 percent in July,
increased 0.6 percent in August, reflecting a larger increase in prices
for fresh fruits and vegetables.  The energy index, which had exerted a
moderating effect on the CPI-U throughout most of 1997, increased 1.7
percent in August Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 0.1
percent, following an increase of 0.2 percent in July.  The smaller
advance in August reflects declines in the indexes for apparel and
upkeep and for airline fares  
   REAL EARNINGS -- Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.8
percent from July to August after seasonal adjustment.  This gain was
due to a 0.4 percent increase in average hourly earnings and a 0.6
percent gain in average weekly hours.  These gains were partially offset
by an increase of 0.2 percent in the CPI-W Between August of 1996
and 1997, real average weekly earnings grew by 2.1 percent 

Since 1993, the difference between full-time men's and women's wages and
salaries may have widened somewhat after years of narrowing, but senior
officials at BLS said that the available numbers aren't precise enough
to be sure Philip Rones, a BLS expert in labor force statistics,
cautioned that part of the apparent drop may be due to a revision made
at the beginning of 1994 in the employment questionnaire "You have
to forget the drop between 1993 and 1994," Rones said, because there is
no way to determine how the new questionnaire and the use of hand-held
computers by surveyors affected the responses Rones and other BLS
officials also are skeptical about the decline since 1994 because it is
concentrated among the youngest group of workers, those aged 16 to 24
There is a further complication due to the method BLS uses to
"smooth" the median figures to cope with a problem in the way in which
those questioned give answers about their "usual" weekly pay:  They tend
to think in round numbers "These are tough numbers to work with,"
Rones said.  Because of the revision in the survey, "we really only have
two years on a comparable basis, and given the technical issues with the
data, it would be premature to say for certain that there is a change in
the trend" (John M. Berry, Washington Post, page C3). 

President Clinton plans to nominate BLS Commissioner Katharine Abraham
for a second four-year term, according to the White House.  Abraham told
BNA that she looks forward to serving another term as BLS's top
administrator "I hope that they [members of the Senate] will act
before Oct. 7," Abraham said, citing several major data revision efforts
that are in progress.  Her term expires Oct. 7 Just a few months
after assuming the top position at BLS, Abraham led the agency's effort
to educate the media and the public about the redesign of the household
employment survey During her tenure, the bureau has been at the
center of an often contentious debate over its CPI data, which early in
1995 became the focus of efforts to cut federal spending Abraham
noted that the multi-year project to update and revise the CPI is one of
the bureau's major efforts that is approaching its final stages
Also, Abraham said, the agency has just begun testing a new sampling
procedure for the monthly establishment or payroll survey (Daily
Labor Report, page A-11).

A study of 2,500 workers in America concludes that employees believe
they have contributed to their companies' economic boom but are not
being fully recognized or rewarded.  The survey, sponsored by the
management consulting firm Towers Perrin, found worker satisfaction had
increased since a 1995 study, but that workers have grown more skeptical
of whether they are sharing equitably in the success they helped create
for their employers (Daily Labor Report, page A-6).

Arguing that the benefits of immigration, while still contributing to
California's economic growth, are steadily eroding as poorly educated
immigrants run into "an increasingly upskill labor market," a new RAND
Corp. study calls for a sharp drop in the volume of legal immigration
and expanded criteria for admission eligibility, including proof of
English proficiency In what they termed the first attempt to
quantify the effect of new, low-skilled workers on the job prospects of
similarly skilled natives, the study found that 1 percent to 1.5 percent
of low-skilled natives have been driven out of the California labor
force since 1970, due to the increased competition from immigrants
The study makes clear that California is a unique case among states,
with immigrants younger, less educated, with higher fertility rates and
more likely to be illegal than immigrants elsewhere (Daily Labor
Report, page A-12).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  U.S. Import and 

[PEN-L:12379] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1997

Seven consecutive monthly decreases in wholesale prices, the longest
such string since the government began tracking these costs in 1947,
finally come to an end.  Rising energy costs in August boosted the PPI
for Finished Goods by a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent, BLS reports.
Even with the August upturn, PPI finished goods prices have fallen 0.2
percent since August 1996.  And this low inflation rate has coexisted
with real GDP growing at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the first
quarter of 1997 and a 3.6 percent rate in the second.  Analysts had
anticipated that energy prices would spike in August, so economists and
financial markets greeted the news calmly (Daily Labor Report, page
D-1).

The pace of increase in retail sales eased in August, reflecting slower
growth in auto purchases and a decline in food store sales, according to
the Census Bureau (Daily Labor Report, page D-11).

The U.S. economy continued to hum along last month as consumers stepped
up their spending at the nation's retail outlets, particularly at auto
dealers, while inflation remained under tight control (Washington
Post, Sept. 13, page H1)_Retail sales rose in August, and producer
prices increased for the first time this year.  But the reports were
generally in line with expectations and did little to alter perceptions
that the economy continued to advance with prices in check (New York
Times, Sept. 13, page 27)_Wholesale prices crept up 0.3 percent in
August, after falling seven months in a row.  Meanwhile, retail sales
rose just 0.4 percent after shooting up 0.9 percent in July.  The data
helped ease fears that the economy is gaining too much steam (Wall
Street Journal, page A2).

Business analysts expect the U.S. economy to grow 3.4 percent in 1998,
with low inflation and unemployment around 5 percent, according to a
quarterly forecast by the National Association of Business Economists
(Daily Labor Report, page A-7).

After nearly two decades in which the wage gap between men and women was
steadily narrowing, it is now widening again, piquing confusion and
concern among economists and women's groups alike, says a New York Times
article.  According to BLS, the median weekly earnings of full-time
working women are just under 75 percent of the men's median, down from
77 percent four years ago While some labor economists suggest
tentatively that the gender gap may have something to do with welfare
reform unleashing a flood of unskilled women on the job market, most
warn that it is far too soon to say with any certainty just what, if
anything, the earnings data portend 

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said continued economic growth
of the United States depends on its ability to develop and apply new
technology and to improve the skills and education of its workforce,
speaking at the University of North Caroline-Chapel Hill (Daily
Labor Report, page A-8).

The White House announced President Clinton's intent to nominate
Katharine G. Abraham to serve a second term as Commissioner of Labor
Statistics 

DUE OUT TOMORROW:
   Consumer Price Index -- August 1997
   Real Earnings:  August 1997

[PEN-L:12371] Re: Slurs

[Richardson_D]

--
From:   Ajit Sinha[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent:   Tuesday, September 16, 1997 6:24 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject:[PEN-L:12367] Re: Slurs


2.  Confusion is the defining characteristic of the human condition.
Therefore we can never be insulted since any supposed insult arises out
of confusion.


The second point boggles my mind. Do you think the kind of insults
Nazi's
inflicted on jews resulted out of "confusion"? Cheers, ajit sinha

_

The word confusion in Buddhism refers to our inability to see, or to see
clearly, our own good.  The extreme example is that which you cite, in
which the perpetrators are not only unable to see the good of the
victims, but their own good as well.  Thus they do great harm to
themselves as well as to others.

Dave

[PEN-L:4641] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

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this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.

--_=_NextPart_000_01BE7A17.D6207380

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1999

New claims for UI benefits fell 10,000, to a seasonally adjusted 289,000, in
the week ended March 20, the Employment and Training Administration of the
Department of Labor says. This represents the eighth consecutive week in
which the level of claims has fallen below 300,000, the longest stretch
since 1973, the agency said.  "Almost all indicators of the labor market
suggest strong employment gains in the months ahead," said an economist with
Merrill Lynch. ...  (Daily Report, page D-1; Wall Street Journal, page A2).

The Conference Board's help-wanted index edged down 1 percentage point in
February, but still indicates tight labor markets, the board says.  "There
is no suggestion that demand for labor will slacken," Conference Board
economist Ken Goldstein said. "Tight labor market conditions remain firmly
in place.  Consumer spending will continue to run at the same pace through
the next two quarters.  That will keep gross domestic product growth above
2.5 percent, and potentially close to 3 percent.  That much GDP growth could
easily generate 200,000 new jobs per month or more -- possibly much more --
to further reduce the unemployment rate. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-2;
Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Home resales fell 0.4 percent in February, while job gains, rising incomes,
and high consumer confidence kept sales above a record 5 million-home pace
for a third straight month, the National Association of Realtors said.  The
February resales decline was the first in 5 months. ...  (Washington Post,
page E10).

Higher oil prices won't wake the sleeping forces of inflation, at least not
at these levels.  With prices of benchmark crude up nearly 50 percent since
the fall, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries making a bid
to further strengthen prices with production cuts, it is no wonder that some
people are getting jittery.  Some impact of rising prices already is
evident:  Gasoline refiners and retailers have rushed to pass the crude
price increases to the pump. ...  How could the price of oil, traditionally
the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, not matter much?  The U.S. economy is
very different than it was in 1973, when a quadrupling in oil prices during
the Arab oil embargo brought the U.S. to its knees. The U.S. economy still
runs on oil.  But the fastest growing sectors run on microchips, which are
getting cheaper all the time. ...  But with mathematical certainty, higher
oil prices will have some impact on the nation's inflation gauges. ...  And
higher prices will have some effect on economic growth, even if small. ...
(Wall Street Journal, page A2).  


--_=_NextPart_000_01BE7A17.D6207380

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[PEN-L:4126] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

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this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.

--_=_NextPart_000_01BE6652.7525B6E0

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MARCH  3, 1999

The index of leading economic indicators increased sharply in January,
indicating robust economic growth for the first half of the year, the
Conference Board reports.  After a 0.2 percent December increase, the
composite index of leading indicators shot up 0.5 percent in January to
106.9 percent. ...  The average factory workweek was the only negative
contributor to the index in January. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page
D-1)_Rising stock prices and an increase in orders at the nation's
factories carried a key gauge of future economic activity higher in January,
signaling that the U.S. economy will continue to thrive, at least through
midyear. ...  (Washington Post, page E2).

New home sales fell in January for the second straight month, the Commerce
Department said, but nonetheless were very strong. ...  With mortgage rates
remaining under 7 percent and jobs plentiful, at least so far this year,
most economists expect robust new home sales in 1999, but not quite as
strong as the record 887,000 for all of 1998 (Washington Post, page
E2)_Sales of new homes fell more than expected in January, as harsh
winter weather stalled buying in the Midwest.  Even so, January's pace of
sales was the third strongest ever. ...  (New York Times, page C2).

Most major auto makers reported record sales for February.  Auto makers are
also increasing their  forecasts for this year's vehicle sales. ...  (New
York Times, page C2; Wall Street Journal, page A2)_Surprising industry
watchers and the manufacturers themselves, February turn out to be a
record-setting month for auto sales and set a pace to make 1999 the best
selling year in history.  A strong economy, low vehicle prices, hot new
products, and the popularity of trucks - pickups, sport utility vehicles,
and minivans - fueled February sales. ...  (Washington Post, page E1).

The U.S. economy will grow at 3 percent in 1999 and 2.3 percent in the year
2000, coming in for a "soft landing" from the 3.9 percent growth posted in
1998, according to a survey of 34 professional economic forecasters by the
National Association for Business Economics.  Most of the forecasters
responded to strength in November's economic data by revising upward their
estimates for 1999 economic growth since the association's last outlook in
November. ...  "But half the economists in the survey remain committed to
the view that GDP growth will slow to a 2 to 2.7 percent rate by the year
2000, and all of the GDP growth forecasts for the year 2000 lie in a
slightly wider 1.7 to 3.1 percent range," according to the outlook. ...
NABE linked the stronger forecasts with the small downward revisions in
forecasts for inflation in 1999.  The economists predict that inflation will
rise modestly from 1.6 percent in 1998 to 2 percent in 1999 and 2.3 percent
in 2000.  Unemployment is expected to remain low as well, maintaining in
1999 the 4.5 percent rate recorded in 1998 and rising slightly to 4.7
percent in 2000.  Survey respondents expect exports to rise by 3.7 percent
in 1999, versus the "anemic" 1.5 percent gain in 1998, according to the
outlook. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-2)_The nation's leading
business economists predicted - again - that the U.S. economy will slow in
time to avert an increase in inflation. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page A2).


Many employers now are looking for ways to help their employees find and pay
for day care for their children to improve productivity and reduce turnover.
When employees discuss worklife issues, one of the most common problems they
cite is finding day care for their children. ...  A survey of 400 employers
released by William M. Mercer Inc., a consulting firm based in New York, and
Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a firm based in Cambridge, Mass., that
operates 272 worksite child care centers nationwide, found that 12 percent
of respondents had an on-site facility.  Eight percent offered a center
nearby, while 5 percent were part of a consortium of employers sponsoring a
facility. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page C-1).

Low inflation has sustained America's economic boom, says Robert J.
Samuelson (op-ed page, Washington Post).  But with inflation apparently
tamed, do we now fact the opposite threat:  deflation?  The fact that this
question is being asked reflects a dramatic reversal. ...  Just as inflation
is the persistent rise of most prices - not just some prices going up -
deflation is the persistent fall of most prices.  We don't have that yet in
the United States.  Last year's low inflation blended price increases and
decreases. ...

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Regional and State Employment and Unemployment:  January
1999


--_=_NextPart_000_01BE6652.7525B6E0

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BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:
 EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- Payroll employment rose in February, and the
unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4 percent.  Nonfarm payroll
employment increased by 275,000; large gains occurred in construction and
retail trade, while manufacturing had a substantial decline. ...  
 JEC STATEMENT -- The unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.4
percent in February and has remained within the narrow range of 4.3 to 4.5
percent since last April.  Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 275,000 in
February.  This increase was about in line with the average of the prior 3
months, but was well above the average for the first 10 months of 1998.
Substantial employment gains in construction and retail trade contrasted
with large job losses in manufacturing and mining during February.  All
other major industry groups experienced moderate employment increases. ...


Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 31 states in January, BLS reports.
Alaska, Colorado, and Idaho showed the largest percentage advance at 0.6
percent each. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-6).

New claims for unemployment benefits filed with state agencies fell by 8,000
to a seasonally adjusted 286,000 in the week ended Feb. 27, the Employment
and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor reports.  The
level of claims has been below 300,000 for 5 consecutive weeks, leading some
economists to project that the labor market will remain strong for the next
few weeks. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-4)_The average level of new
applicants for unemployment befits reached a 10-year low during February.
  (Washington Post, page E1).

Given a good push by a 102.7 percent increase in orders for aircraft, new
orders for manufactured goods rose 1.7 percent in January, the Census Bureau
announces.  The January increase followed a 2.3 percent increase in December
and is the seventh increase in the last 8 months.  New orders for January
1999 were 3.9 percent above those for January 1998. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page D-1)_Factory orders rose, despite a drop in orders for
nondurable goods.  But, excluding transportation items, new orders fell 0.3
percent in January, the first drop since October. ...  (New York Times, page
A2).  

Retail sales jumped to better-than-expected levels last month, as the robust
economy and good weather in most of the country encouraged Americans to
spend.  Many Wall Street analysts were so impressed with the strong sales
that they raised their estimates for first-quarter earnings.  Discount
chains fared the best, outpacing all other retail formats.  Also reporting
big gains were specialty clothing chains (Washington Post, page
E1)_Retailers' sales at stores open at least a year rose 7.6 percent in
February, more than expected, as shoppers snapped up basic household goods
at discounters like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and new spring fashions at clothing
chains like Gap Inc. ...  (New York Times, page C2)_A robust economy
continued to drive consumer spending in February, leading to
better-than-expected sales for most retailers and raising expectations for a
strong 1999. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page B2)


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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9-10, 1999

RELEASED TUESDAY:  The revised fourth-quarter productivity increases in both
the business and nonfarm business sectors were the largest in six years.
The increases in business and nonfarm productivity were 4.8 percent and 4.6
percent, respectively.  For the year 1998, productivity increases in both
sectors were larger than those posted for 1997, but slightly less than the
increases that occurred in 1996. ...  Manufacturing productivity rose at a
5.2 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter.  On an annual basis,
manufacturing productivity rose 4.2 percent in 1998, more slowly than it had
in the previous year, when it grew 4.9 percent. ...  

RELEASED WEDNESDAY:  In November 1998, there were 1,278 mass layoff actions
by employers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits
during the month. ...  The number of layoff events and initial claimants for
unemployment insurance were higher in November 1998 than in November 1997.
Also, the total of layoff events from January through November 1998 and the
total number of initial claimants were somewhat higher than in the same
period of 1997. ...   

__Productivity in the nation's nonfarm business sector soared by an upwardly
revised annual rate of 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 1998, the
largest gain in 6 years, BLS reports.  Earlier, BLS had estimated that
productivity grew 3.7 percent in the final quarter of the year.  The robust
fourth quarter brought 1998's annual average productivity gain to 2.2
percent, larger than the increase in 1997, but slightly behind the 1996
advance. ...  (Daily Labor Report, March 10, page D-1).
__The productivity of U.S workers surged in the final quarter of 1998,
easing concerns that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates. ...  In
a separate report, the Commerce Department said U.S. businesses stocked
their shelves at the slowest pace in 8 months in January (Washington Post,
March 10, page E1). 
__Workers' productivity shot up.  The report eased concerns that the Fed
might raise interest rates. ...  (Reuters story in New York Times, March 10,
page C10).
__Productivity in nonfarm businesses in the fourth quarter grew even faster
than the government's initial impressive estimate, adding more evidence that
the nation's disappointing productivity trend finally may be turning around.
  (Alejandro Bodipe-Memba in Wall Street Journal, March 10, page A4).
__There are "no obvious signs of emerging inflation pressures" in the U.S.
economy, partly because of improving productivity, Federal Reserve Chairman
Greenspan said in a speech Tuesday.  Against the backdrop of revised
fourth-quarter productivity numbers that showed the strongest gains in 6
years, bond investors interpreted Greenspan's remarks as a sign the central
bank would hold interest rates steady for now. ...  (Beth Belton and Sara
Nathan in USA Today, March 10, page 2B).

The producer price index correctly captures the changing cost of energy,
according to a study reported in the most recent Monthly Labor Review, which
compared the PPI with two other measures.  BLS economists Katherine A.
Klemmer and Joseph L. Kelley studied energy price changes in the PPI and
compared them with the agency's CPI and data published by the Energy
Information Association. ...  (Daniel J. Roy in Daily Labor Report, March 9,
page A-2).

"Economic Indicators", a feature of USA Today (March 10, page 4B), estimates
that producer prices for February, to be released March 12, will be down 0.1
percent, in comparison with the actual January figure of a 0.5 percent
increase.  The PPI  for February excluding food/energy is predicted to be up
0.1 percent, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent in January.  

The economy's spectacular performance in the past 8 years has largely
bypassed one group of Americans:  young black men looking for work, says The
Wall Street Journal (Glen Burkins,  March 9, page A2).  As the latest
employment report shows, nearly 32 percent of black male teenagers who want
to work remain unemployed, compared with 12.2 percent of white male teens.
These February numbers are only slightly better for young black job seekers
in their early 20s.  Harry Holzer, the Labor Department's chief economist,
called the unemployment figure for young black men "unacceptably high."
"This is the most disadvantaged group in the country," he said last week.
However, he said the picture has been worse.  During the recessions of the
1970s and 1980s, the unemployment rate for black youths looking for work was
close to 50 percent.  Some economists and government officials said they had
hoped young black males would have benefited more from the current recovery,
but, for a number of reasons, the boom has not automatically transferred to
some 

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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  The U.S. Import Price Index decreased 0.1 percent in
February.  The decrease followed a 0.3 percent gain in January and was
attributable to a decline in prices for both petroleum and nonpetroleum
products.  The U.S. Export Price Index was also down 0.1 percent in February
after posting no change, on average, in January. ...  

The three main U.S. data agencies are continuing to examine their security
procedures for placing economic statistics on the Internet in light of the
two inadvertent postings by BLS since November. ...  Although not the
intensive internal and external review of BLS procedures that agency and the
Labor Department have undertaken, officials at the Census Bureau and BEA say
they have reconsidered their procedures.  Officials at both Commerce
Department agencies say they are confident that they have strong enough
protocols in place to guard against the premature release of data on the
Internet. ...  BLS's internal review continues, and the Labor Department
Inspector General has not yet completed an investigation of the two
premature BLS posting.  "I'm very satisfied with the updates from BLS,"
Labor Secretary Herman tells BNA. ...  (Daniel J. Roy in Daily Labor Report,
page C-1).

U.S. employers laid off 138,161 workers in 1,278 mass layoff actions in
November, BLS reports.  The November mass layoff figures and the number of
people laid off were lower than in October, when 1,553 mass layoff actions
affected 160,830 workers.  BLS cautioned against using month-to-month
changes to suggest layoff trends, however,  because the data are not
seasonally adjusted, although there appears to be a seasonal pattern to
layoffs. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).

The very forces propelling growth in the U.S. -- the ever-increasing
prominence of the micro-processor, heightened international competition, and
widening deregulation of the economy -- have also boosted demand for highly
skilled, educated workers at the expense of those with fewer skills.  The
result:  A dramatic widening of the wage gap. ...  In today's economy,
employers continue to place a premium on education and skills.  But this
trend toward higher inequality may have just about run its course -- and
could even be about to reverse -- for three reasons.  First, continued low
unemployment rates mean that companies will have no recourse but to hire and
train less skilled workers.  Second, the supply of skilled workers is
swelling, which will hold down wage growth at the top.  And last,
information technologies are more user-friendly than before, making them
more accessible to the less-educated workers. ...  Credit for chart data is
given to BLS (Business Week, March 15, page 58).  

A $50,000 job in private industry may pay more or less depending on the city
where the job is located, according to a survey by the New York-based human
resource consulting firm William M. Mercer Inc.  Comparing a position that
pays an average of $50,000 nationally with equivalent positions in more than
200 cities, Mercer found that the pay was 20.4 percent higher in San Jose,
Calif. -- the heart of Silicon Valley -- and 16.5 percent lower in
Brownsville, Texas. ...  The higher the salary is, the less sharply it will
vary by geographic locale. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-3).  

Data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 10 weeks of
1999 show that the median first-year wage increase in newly negotiated
contracts equals 3 percent, and the weighted average increase for
settlements reported to date in 1999 was 2.2 percent.  The manufacturing
industry's gain was 3 percent, and its weighted average increase was 2.8
percent.  Nonmanufacturing settlements (excluding construction) show a
median increase of 3 percent, with a weighted average increase of 2.2
percent. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-5).

According to one ambitious ranking of the best occupations on the planet,
Web managers finished first, ahead of actuaries, hospital administrators,
and several other technology categories.  The annual best-to-worst ratings
of 250 occupations, by the "Jobs Rated Almanac," is based on six factors --
workplace environment, income, future prospects, physical demands, job
security, and stress.  The highest ranked tech occupations, including
computer systems analyst, software engineer and computer programmer, all had
high scores in the income prospects, environment, and job security
categories.  But pressure goes along with some tech work, too.  Web site
managers ranked only 52nd on the least-stressed meter.  The analysis draws
on government data on wages, length of workday, and hiring trends; the
authors also crank in their own assessments of what the 250 jobs are like.
  (Washington Post, page E5).   

Will an 

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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:
   CPI -- The CPI-U rose 0.1 percent in February, on a seasonally adjusted
basis, the same as in each of the preceding 2 months.  The food index, which
advanced 0.5 percent in January, increased 0.1 percent in February.  The
index for food at home also rose 0.1 percent in February, following a 0.5
percent rise in January.  The deceleration was largely due to a sharp
downturn in prices for fruits and vegetables. The energy index, which fell
0.2 percent in January, was unchanged in February.  The index for
petroleum-based energy declined 0.5 percent, while the index for energy
services increased 0.4 percent.  Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U
increased 0.1 percent in February, the same as in January. ... REAL
EARNINGS -- Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.7 percent from
January to February after seasonal adjustment.  This growth was due to a 0.6
percent increase in average weekly hours and a 0.1 percent increase in
average hourly earnings.  The CPI-W was flat. ...  After adjustment for
inflation, average weekly earnings grew by 1.9 percent from February 1998 to
February 1999. ...  

U.S. manufacturing productivity growth in 1997 was slower than in six of 11
economies studied, according to revised estimates by BLS.  Productivity grew
at a slower rate than the United States' 4.2 percent in Canada and Italy
(both 2.7 percent), Norway (0.6 percent), and the United Kingdom (0.5
percent). ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-3).

Labor markets continued to tighten in late January and in February, and wage
pressures were building, but prices remained stable, the Federal Reserve
reports in its latest "beige book."  The Fed notes labor markets remained
taut with higher employment levels in nearly all districts. ...  Demand
intensified for temporary help firms in January and February. ...  (Daily
Labor Report, page C-1)_The robust economic growth of 1998 carried into
the new year with strong consumer spending, brisk construction activity, and
increasing demand for labor.  Despite that, prices of most goods remain
little changed, and businesses remain reluctant to press for price
increases.  The exception was construction materials such as lumber,
drywall, and insulation. ...  (Washington Post, page E3)_The economy's
run of strong growth and low inflation shows few signs of changing. ...
(New York Times, page C6; Wall Street Journal, page A2).

"The problem for small retailers is labor," says Louis Uchitelle, writing an
"Economic View" column in The New York Times (March 14,  Money  Business
section, page 6).  The shining characteristic of the 1990s expansion, in
contrast to those of the 1970s and 1980s, is that wages have risen faster
than inflation for most workers.  The raises for people at the low end,
earning $6 to $9 an hour, have been particularly strong. ...  But in many
cases, retailers can't raise prices to offset higher payroll costs -- too
much competition. ...  Big companies, however, can deflect higher labor
costs by moving operations to lower-wage cities, or by automating.  Such
tactics are not really an option for many small retailers. ...  The
experience of small retailers is reflected in surveys of the National
Federation of Independent Business, which has 600,000 members.  Most of the
members have fewer than 40 employees.  A significant percentage report that
their profits are under pressure and that they are having trouble filling
jobs.

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Regional and State Employment and Unemployment:  February
1999


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BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  Regional and state unemployment rates remained relatively
stable in February.  All four regions reported little or no change in their
jobless rates from January, and 42 states and the District of Columbia
recorded shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less.  The national jobless rate
was essentially unchanged at 4.4 percent.  Nonfarm payroll employment rose
in 38 states. ...  

Consumer prices rose a mild 0.1 percent in February, but the core CPI was
quiescent.  February marked the third consecutive month that the CPI-U rose
just 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, the BLS reports.  In the year ended
in February, the CPI-U increased 1.6 percent, the same gain as in all of
1998.  The February CPI shows price stability even in its details.  Among
the eight expenditure categories in the CPI-U and the three special indexes,
the sharpest gain in the month was 2 percent and the most precipitous fall
was 2 percent, BLS economist Patrick Jackman says. ...  The core CPI-U rate
-- excluding food and energy prices, which often have wide monthly
fluctuations -- rose just 0.1 percent and is up 2.1 percent for the year
ended in February.  The core rose 2.4 percent in 1998. ...  (Daniel J. Roy
in Daily Labor Report, page D-1)

Real average weekly earnings were up 0.7 percent in February, after seasonal
adjustment, BLS reports.  February's gain stemmed from a 0.6 percent rise in
average weekly hours and a 0.1 percent increase in average hourly earnings.
  (Daily Labor Report, page D-20).

The trade deficit in goods and services surged 20.6 percent to a record in
January as exports weakened broadly while imports rose, the Commerce
Department says. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-23)_As American
exports continued to fall, the Unites States trade deficit jumped to a
monthly record, fueled by a flood of imports from China  that could stir
further protectionist sentiments in Congress.  Among the imports flowing
into the U.S., Chinese-made steel surged 65 percent from December. ...  (New
York Times, page A1)_Aided by a ballooning deficit with China, the U.S.
trade deficit swelled to the widest gap since the Commerce Department began
compiling the monthly data on good and services in 1992.  With textbook
simplicity, imports are up and exports are down. ...  (Wall Street Journal,
page A2

New claims for unemployment benefits jumped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted
298,000 in the week ended March 13, the Employment and Training
Administration announces. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-21).

The U.S. trade deficit hit a record in January as strong increases in
consumer and business spending boosted imports while continuing economic
woes in much of the rest of the world dragged down exports, the Commerce
Department reported. ...  Meanwhile, consumer prices rose 0.1 percent last
month for the third month in a row, BLS said. ...  And in another sign of
how well the economy is doing, the Labor Department said that initial claims
for unemployment benefits remained below the 300,000 mark for the seventh
consecutive week, the longest such stretch in more than a quarter century.
  (John M. Berry in Washington Post, page E1; Wall Street Journal, page
A4).

Undercounting of minorities, particularly black, Asian-American, Hispanic,
and American Indian groups, is a chronic problem for census takers, says The
New York Times (page A17).  Officials say they fear it could be particularly
acute next year because of the big wave of immigration that has transformed
urban centers like New York City and Los Angeles since the last national
head count in 1990. ...  The census agency has already hired about 300 of
the 600 people it eventually wants to put on the streets nationwide to
promote and explain the census to immigrant groups. The workers are an
eclectic bunch that includes people of Russian, Haitian, Filipino, Korean,
Chinese, Mexican, Vietnamese, and Portuguese backgrounds.  By the time the
census questionnaires are mailed out on April 1, 2000, officials said, an
additional 15,000 people will be hired for temporary part-time work in
census assistance centers, where explanatory material will be available in
32 languages.  The census form itself will be printed in six languages,
although Congressional critics of the Census Bureau's plans want them in
many more languages. ...  

Workers say the ability to balance work and family life is more important
than any other job factor, according to a Work Trends Survey.  The poll of
1,000 adult workers was conducted by the John L. Heldrich Center for
Workforce Development at Rutgers University and the Center for Survey
Research Analysis at the University of Connecticut ...  A reason for this
concern may be that 46 percent of Americans spend more than 40 hours a 

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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  In December 1998, there were 1,608 mass layoff actions by
employers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits
during the month.  Each action involved at last 50 persons from a single
establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 190,070.  The
number of layoff events was about the same as a year earlier, but the number
of initial claimants for unemployment insurance was higher in December 1998
than in December 1997.  The total of layoff events from January through
December 1998 and the total number of initial claimants were higher than in
1997. ...   

The nation's hospitals are experiencing a shortage of registered nurses,
especially the specialized, highly trained nurses who staff operating rooms,
emergency rooms, intensive care units, and pediatric wards for high-risk
babies.  Driven in part by an aging population and the turmoil in managed
care, the shortage began a year ago in California, and this year it has
touched nearly all acute-care hospitals, where patients go with strokes,
heart attacks, and major surgery and that employ nearly two-thirds of all
registered nurses. ...  "This shortage appears to be a new and different
type," said a report last month of a survey of 338 acute-care hospitals.
The report, sponsored by the American Organization of Nurse Executives, a
subsidiary of the American Hospital Association, was conducted in
collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services and the
American Nurses Association.  "Previous shortages," the report said, "have
been about sufficient numbers of nurses, while this shortage appears to be
about an increased demand for nurses with competence, skills, and experience
to meet patient demand for care in a changing health care system." ...  "And
we are at the verge of a very serious shortage related to the aging of the
work force," says a director of nursing for a large health maintenance
organization.  The average age of nurses is 45, about a decade older than
the average for the population.  They will be retiring with the baby
boomers. ...  Not only is the flow of young people into nursing diminishing,
so is the quality of the candidates. ...  Hospitals are seeking women who
have left nursing to rear children, as well as full-time nurses who can be
lured into extra part-time assignments with wages of $30 or more an hour.
  (New York Times, page A14).


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BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, APRIL 5, 1999

__Despite the anemic nonfarm payroll job growth of 46,000 in March, most
analysts expect stronger employment gains in the near future.  But,
economists say, growth will slow from an average monthly gain of 276,000 in
the prior 4 months.  Bad weather dampened March payroll employment growth,
while a separate survey showed a drop in the jobless rate to a seasonally
adjusted 4.2 percent. ...  Weather played a pivotal role in the anemic
payroll job growth in March, BLS Commissioner Katharine Abraham said at a
press briefing.  Inclement conditions during the survey week and unusual
seasonal hiring patterns helped drive down employment. ...  (Daniel J. Roy
in Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
__The nation's unemployment rate dipped to the lowest level in more than 29
years, as joblessness among persons of Hispanic origin and those with less
than a high school education hit record lows. ...  Despite the drop in most
jobless rates, other details of the report were considerably weaker than
many analysts had expected. ...  Abraham told reporters that unusual winter
weather has had a significant impact on the data so far this year and has
made it difficult to read. ...  (John M. Berry in Washington Post, April 3,
page D11).
__The nation's jobless rate dropped to its lowest level in 29 years, in the
latest of many signs that the labor market in the United States remains
remarkably robust.  But in a break from the feverish hiring of the last 3
years, American companies added far fewer new workers to their payrolls last
month than had been typical lately.  After creating nearly 300,000
additional jobs in February, employers expanded payrolls by a mere 46,000 in
March, when a burst of cold weather held down the usual seasonal upswing in
hiring in industries from construction and landscaping to fast food  Still,
hiring was nearly as strong as ever in most of the vast service economy. ...
Tom Nardone, an economist at BLS, said that the seasonal quirks should not
be allowed to obscure the broader picture.  "Outside the sectors that were
affected by the weather," he said, "you had the same pattern of hiring that
you've been seeing for months." ...  (Sylvia Nasar in New York Times, April
3, page 2, B4).
__The economy, which has been expanding at a rapid rate in recent years, may
be slowing somewhat, the government's latest employment report suggests.
The jobless rate fell to its lowest level since 1970.  But other signs
suggest that the economy may finally be leveling off, vindicating the
Federal Reserve's decision last week to leave interest rates alone.  Only
46,000 confirm jobs were created in March, down from 297,000 in February.
  Productivity gains account for some of the weaker numbers.  With better
technology, employers generally need fewer workers to produce more goods and
services.  But technology gains aside, economists say consumers' thirst for
new goods is being fed by a rise in imports.  And instead of boosting
production, companies may have whittled down inventories last quarter to
meet consumer demand. ...  Despite the continuing tight labor market, wage
gains remained moderate. ...  (Glenn Burkins in Wall Street Journal, page
A2).

Workers in approximately one-third of businesses in Washington State have
suffered job-related musculoskeletal injuries, according to an employer
survey by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries. ...  The costs
of such injuries have been steep.  A 1998 survey said "workers and employers
covered by the State Fund experienced more than 24 million lost work days
and $2.7 billion in direct workers compensation costs between 1989-1996."
  (Daily Labor Report, page A-5).

"Tracking the Economy" in The Wall Street Journal (page A6) predicts
producer prices for March, to be released by BLS on Friday, to go up 0.3
percent according to the Technical Data Consensus Forecast, in contrast to
the 0.4 percent decrease in the actual figure in February.


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BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  In October through December of 1998, there were 1,660 mass
layoff actions by employers that resulted in the separation of 342,010
workers from their jobs for more than 30 days.  While layoff events were
essentially unchanged from the fourth quarter of 1997, the number of
separations was higher and the proportion of events with expectations of
worker recall was lower in fourth quarter 1998.  For the 4 quarters of 1998,
the total of extended layoff events, at 5,759, and worker separations, at
1,163,805, were slightly higher than in 1997 (5,645 and 1,112,513
respectively). ...  

__The consumer price index for all urban consumers rose a moderate 0.2
percent, seasonally adjusted, in March, despite a sharp increase in
petroleum costs, BLS reports.  "Based on secondary data from the Department
of Energy, it appears energy prices will go up further in the month of
April," says BLS economist Patrick Jackman.  "The only [inflation] issue is
short-term gasoline prices." ...  Helping hold down the advance in the
CPI-U, core prices -- excluding food and energy prices which often have
sharp monthly increases and decreases -- rose just 0.1 percent in March.
The core index edged up 0.1 percent in each of the prior two months.  The
core rose at a compounded annual rate of 0.9 percent in the first quarter of
1999, the slowest quarterly increase since the third quarter of 1964, when
the index was unchanged. ...  (Daniel J. Roy in Daily Labor Report, page
D-1).

Real average weekly earnings slipped 0.2 percent in March, after adjustments
for seasonal variations, BLS reports. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-21).

After more than a year of robust gains, the pace of wage increases for
American workers is slowing.  Average hourly earnings in March rose just 1.8
percent compared with a year earlier, adjusted for inflation, BLS says.
That was the smallest year-over-year increase since November 1997 and
followed a steady deceleration in wage increases since last spring, when
inflation-adjusted wages were growing each month by nearly 3 percent from
year-earlier levels.  The slowdown comes as a surprise to economists, since
it has occurred while unemployment, already considered low, has fallen. ...
In a separate report, the Labor Department said inflation remained tame last
month. ...  Analysts cautioned against concluding too much from the latest
wage reports.  The pay slowdown is relatively new and could just be a blip
in a data series that can be volatile.  Besides, this wage series, though
widely used, has statistical flaws that could provide a distorted picture of
compensation trends.  For one thing, the figure doesn't
adjust for the fact that workers generally get paid more for working
overtime.  So a rise in overtime hours worked, as happened in 1997 and 1998,
would look like a pay raise, and a drop in overtime work, as has occurred in
recent months, would look like a pay cut.  The wage data also include just
70 percent of the work force -- those labeled nonsupervisory production
workers -- and exclude many salaried workers and all managers.  Still, other
government statistics seem to reinforce the possibility of a wage slowdown.
The Labor Department's quarterly employment cost index, which corrects for
many of the flaws in the wage series, was 2.2 percent higher in December
1998 than a year earlier, adjusted for inflation.  That was down from a 2.7
percent rise in the September report.  The data for the first quarter of
1999 will be released later this month and will help show whether the latest
wage data are a fluke or the start of a trend. ...  (Jacob M. Schlesinger
and Alejandro Bodipo-Memba in Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Retail sales rose 0.2 percent in March, following strong gains in January
and February, the Commerce Department says.  Total sales In March reflected
a 0.6 percent gain in sales of nondurable goods. ...  (Daily Labor Report,
page D-25).

"Ho-hum.  Month after month, the U.S. economic picture never varies:
Consumers spend like mad, the economy grows rapidly, unemployment falls, and
inflation, defying economic gravity, stays low," writes John M. Berry in the
Washington Post (page E3).  So it went again last month, according to
government reports on inflation and consumer spending.  BLS reported that
the consumer price index rose 0.2 percent last month, largely because of a
3.7 percent jump in gasoline prices in the wake of a huge rise in world
crude oil costs.  But gasoline prices aside, few prices were going up. ...
Patrick C. Jackman, a senior CPI analyst, said the March CPI report did not
pick up all of the increases that have occurred in gasoline prices and
airline fares because they took place after last month's survey of prices
was begun. ...  Meanwhile, the 

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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  Median weekly earnings of the nation's 95.6 million
full-time wage and salary workers were $538 in the first quarter of 1999.
This was 3.3 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 1.7
percent in the CPI-U over the same period. ...  

BLS economist Marilyn Manser told an advisory group that expanding the
current establishment survey to include all employee earnings is a feasible
plan the agency might consider somewhere down the road.  But Jack Galvin,
BLS associate commissioner for employment statistics, told the agency's
business research advisory council that BLS currently has no plans to change
the CES in this way.  First, the agency will concentrate on already approved
changes to the CES, he said.  "This is purely research now," Galvin said,
referring to a pilot study to include more employee earnings in the CES. ...
BLS is continuing to refine its future job opening and labor turnover
survey, including limiting the sampling to 16,000 establishments and
defining what constitutes a job opening, said BLS economist Rick Clayton.
BLS has scheduled the first release of the data for late fiscal year 2001.
  (Daniel J. Roy in Daily Labor Report, page A-10).

BLS reports 1,660 mass layoff actions in the fourth quarter of 1998,
involving 342,010 workers.  Although the number of layoff events was
virtually unchanged from 1997's fourth quarter, the number of workers
affected was larger and the proportion of events with expectations of worker
recall was lower in the final quarter of 1998.  In 1998, mass layoff events
totaled 5,759 and worker separations totaled 1.2 million, slightly higher
than in 1997, when BLS recorded 5,645 mass layoff events involving 1.1
million employees. ...  (Daily Report, page D-1).  

Business inventories rose 0.4 percent in February after holding flat in
January, the Commerce Department reports, while sales rose 0.9 percent.  The
rise in inventories was somewhat stronger than analysts were expecting. ...
(Daily Labor Report, page A-8)Too big a buildup in inventories in
relation to sales can signal production cutbacks as businesses work to
reduce the backlog of unsold goods.  But the current inventories level is
lean.  Businesses had enough goods on shelves and back lots during both
February and January to meet demand for 1.37 months. ...  (New York Times,
page C8)_While overall business inventories rose in February, robust
consumer appetites for all types of products helped allay fears that an
inventory buildup would be a drag on economic growth. ...  (Wall Street
Journal, page A2).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Regional and State Employment and Unemployment:  March
1999


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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:
   CPI -- On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U rose 0.2 percent in
March, following increases of 0.1 percent in each of the preceding 3 months.
The food index, which increased 0.1 percent in February, declined 0.2
percent in March.  The index for food at home fell 0.5 percent in March,
largely as a result of a 2.2 percent decline in the index for fruits and
vegetables.  The energy index registered its first increase since last
October -- advancing 1.6 percent in March.  The index for petroleum-based
energy increased 3.5 percent, and the index for energy services increased
0.3 percent.  Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U increased 0.1 percent in
March, the same as in each of the first 2 months of 1999. ...  
   REAL EARNINGS -- Real average weekly earnings decreased by 0.2 percent
from February to March, after seasonal adjustment.  This decline was due to
a 0.3 percent decrease in average weekly hours and a 0.1 percent increase in
the CPI-W that was partially offset by a 0.2 percent increase in average
hourly earnings. ...  From March of 1998 to March of 1999, real average
weekly earnings grew by 1.5 percent. ...  

Finance jobs are booming, even as banks trim, says a Wall Street Journal
article (page B1). ...  A chart credited to BLS shows banking and nonbanking
jobs in Philadelphia and the U.S.

Services will continue to capture an increasing share of U.S. employment at
the expense of manufacturing payrolls, according to a report from the
AFL-CIO.  The study, "The Service Sector:  A Statistical Portrait,"
discusses the rise of the service sector as an increasingly important
contributor to job creation since World War II. ...  "Over the 1996-2006
period, employment in the United States is expected to increase by 18.6
million, from 132.4 million to 151 million," the report said.  "Almost all
of the growth will occur in the service sector industries.  Excluding
private household work, the service sector is projected to increase by 17.6
million jobs from 96.6 million in 1996 to 114.2 million by 2006.  In
contrast, it is anticipated that employment in the goods-producing sector
will decrease by 243,000 during the same period."  The report cited
projections in the 1998 Economic Report of the President. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page A-2).

Some 36 percent of job applicants tested by major U.S. firms in 1998 lacked
sufficient reading and math skills to do the job they sought, according to
the American Management Association's annual survey on workplace testing.
The findings of deficiencies have increased markedly over the past 2 years,
with 19 percent showing skill deficiencies in 1996 testing and 23 percent in
1997.  The survey of 1,054 AMA-member companies revealed that deficiency
rates were greatest in wholesale and retail sectors (56 percent) and among
manufacturers (43 percent).  The lowest rates were found among providers of
financial services (23 percent) and business and professional services (29
percent). ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-2)_The numbers primarily
reflect the tightening of the labor market rather than an abrupt
deterioration in the educational system or general academic ability,
association officials said.  It is a question of rooting around for the few
qualified workers who are unemployed at a time when companies want workers
to perform jobs that require ever-increasing skill levels. ...  (Washington
Post, page E1).

Work-related deaths total about 1.1 million a year, and many of them could
be prevented by better safety measures, the International Labor Organization
said.  Nearly 300,000 of the deaths are due to exposure to hazardous
substances that led to cancer, heart, and respiratory disease, with asbestos
alone causing 100,000 deaths. ...  (Washington Post, page E13).

The wage difference between childless men and women ages 27 to 33 is less
than 2 percent, says the Independent Women's Forum, a conservative
educational organization in Washington, D.C.  (Wall Street Journal, "Work
Week" column, page A1). 

Meeting in February to review interest rate policy, members of the Federal
Reserve fretted, as they always do, about the possible resurgence of
inflation.  But their discussion soon turned to whether the central bank's
system of spotting incipient wage and price pressures might be
malfunctioning.  This early-warning system -- built around
interrelationships between unemployment, growth, and inflation -- assumes
that when joblessness falls below a certain "natural" level, prices will
rise.  As a forecasting and policymaking tool, the framework provided a
reasonably accurate way of knowing when inflation would strike and enabling
the Fed to head it off by adjusting monetary policy.  At least until the
last few years. ...  Although 

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BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1999

__Finished producer prices rose a moderate 0.2 percent in March, despite a
sharp rise in oil prices, BLS reports.  "The 0.2 percent increase surprised
me," says a senior economist with the WEFA Group in Eddystone, Pa.  "I was
expecting more than that because of the increases in oil prices we have been
seeing.  My guess is, we will see an as big or bigger increase next month,"
because of continued upward price pressure from petroleum products. ...  But
he does not expect a sustained upswing in producer inflation.  Although oil
prices will continue to rise for the next 2 months, the increase is not
going to be significant, he says.  Except for oil, inflation as reflected by
the producer price index was well contained in March.  The core PPI rate --
excluding energy and food prices which often have wide monthly fluctuations
-- was unchanged in both February and March.   In the year ended in March,
the core rose 1.7 percent. ...  "The big story [in March] is the
across-the-board increase in petroleum prices," says Joseph Kowal, a BLS
economist.  "Petroleum prices rose at the finished, intermediate, and crude
levels.  Crude petroleum advanced 27.1 percent." ...  Kowal also is quoted
as saying:  "In March, the core intermediate index edged up 0.1 percent, its
first increase since November 1997." ...  (Daniel J. Roy in Daily Labor
Report, page D-1).
__Despite sharp increases in world oil prices, producer prices for finished
goods rose a modest 0.2 percent last month as falling prices for new cars,
light trucks, computers, and other goods offset most of the rise in energy
costs. So-called core producer prices were unchanged and haven't risen in
any month so far this year. ...  Producer prices for finished goods are
those charged by a producer when a completed item is first sold to a
customer.  In many cases, they are the same as wholesale prices, but in
other instances, such as when manufacturers sell directly to individuals or
to distributors that supply wholesalers, they are not. ...  (John M. Berry
in Washington Post, April 10, page E1).
__Producer prices rose less than expected last month as the biggest increase
in oil prices since the Persian Gulf crisis in 1990-91 was offset by falling
prices for computers and a variety of other products. ...  (Bloomberg News
story in New York Times, April 10, page B2).
__Slightly higher oil prices helped to nudge up producer prices in March,
but inflation remained subdued. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page A2).

The struggle the U.S. military has recruiting sailors, soldiers, and pilots
serves as a warning to U.S. business.  The 35,000-person military shortfall
has been blamed on low pay and a job-rich economy that gives young workers
other options. But demographics are at the root of the shortfall and it's
about to engulf  the private sector.  The birth rate dropped in the years
1965-77, causing the number of workers ages 20 to 24 to fall 13 percent
during the 1980s.  The impact was first felt on the industries that depend
on hiring the young, such as retailing, high-tech, and the military.  Most
other industries, though they complain about labor shortages, have been
shielded by a 22 percent growth in workers ages  22-25 from 1980 to 1990 and
a 55 percent growth in workers 35-44.  But from 1990 to 2006, the percentage
of workers 25-34 will shrink 9 percent, and those 30-44 will slip 3 percent.
  (USA Today, page 1B).

Are women earning as much as men when they have similar qualifications and
hold the same job?  It depends on whom you ask, says Michelle Singletary in
The Washington Post feature "The Color of Money" (April 11, page H2). ...
When you factor in differences in age, experience, education, and time off
from the workplace, the wage gap between women and men is far smaller than
commonly reported, the researchers for "Women's Figures:  An Illustrated
Guide to the Economic Progress of Women in America" concluded. ...  But if
women are earning less then men doing the same job, it could be because the
women have chosen to spend more time with their children and as a result are
not working as long or as hard as their male colleagues, one of the authors
says.  But the executive director of the National Committee on Pay Equity
says, "And are they saying that women can't have children and have pay
equity?  That's absurd.  Men have children and get paid fairly.  Why doesn't
that apply to women?  Millions of American women and their families are
being shortchanged every payday, because working women are paid just 74
cents for every dollar men earn." ...  (Washington Post, April 11, page H2).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:
   Consumer Price Index -- March 1999
   Real Earnings:  March 1999


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BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  The PPI for Finished Goods increased 0.2 percent in March,
following a 0.4 percent decline in February and a 0.5 percent increase in
January. ...  The indexes for finished consumer foods, finished energy
goods, and finished consumer goods other than foods and energy turned up,
after falling in February.  Capital equipment prices showed no  change in
March, following a small increase a month ago.  The index for finished goods
other than foods and energy was unchanged for the second consecutive month.
  

The price of goods imported into the United States edged up 0.1 percent in
March, led by the largest hike in oil prices in nearly three years, BLS
reports.  Imported oil prices shot up 7.7 percent in March, after a 0.8
percent February gain. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).

New claims filed with state agencies for UI benefits jumped 11,000 to a
seasonally adjusted 299,000 in the week ended April 3, making this the 10th
week claims have remained below 300,000, ETA says.  The last time this
occurred was 1973. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-3).

It continues to be a consumer's paradise, with jobs plentiful and prices
low. ...  Jobless claims stayed low last week; import prices inched up 0.1
percent in March.  But, excluding a big spike in oil prices, import prices
actually slid 0.4 percent after staying flat in February, according to BLS.
  The deep devaluation of Asian currencies is continuing to hold down the
cost of goods from that region, so American importers are loading up on
them.  Import prices from Asia's newly industrialized countries fell for the
19th month in a row. ...  (Christina Duff in Wall Street Journal, page A2)

Businesses announced in March that they would cut 68,984 jobs, nearly triple
the number of workforce reductions reported a year ago, according to
outplacement firm Challenger Gray  Christmas. ...  Year to date, the
financial sector has seen the most cuts. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page
A-4).

Big retailers said sales jumped to better-than-expected levels in March.  It
was the second month in a row of surprisingly strong sales. ...  Discount
chains did best in March. ...  Most of the softness was in mid-market
department stores. ...  (Washington Post, page E1)_Retail sales surged 9
percent in March, exceeding expectations for the sixth consecutive month as
consumers apparently pushed the economy to grow faster in the first quarter
than earlier estimated.  The increase was paced by discount chains and
specialty chains. ...  (New York Times, page C2)_Most retailers posted
better-than-expected sales amid strong consumer confidence and an early
Easter. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page B4)


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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  The U.S. Import Price Index edged up 0.1 percent in March.
An increase in imported petroleum prices more than offset a decline in
nonpetroleum import prices.  In contrast, the price index for U.S. exports
fell 0.3 percent in March, after posting a 0.2 percent decline in February.
  

The Bureau of Labor Statistics just made an important confession, says James
C. Cooper, writing in Business Week (April 12, page 40). Based on results
from studies released March 30, the government has all but admitted for the
first time something that many economists have argued for many years:  U.S.
productivity growth is understated, especially in hard-to-measure service
industries.  The results offer the latest ammunition for those who believe
that the U.S. economy is in the middle of a technology-driven productivity
revolution that could have significant long-term impacts on growth,
inflation, and economic policy.  The heart of the research is a study by the
bureau's William Gullickson and Michael J. Harper, in which they break down
productivity growth by various industries using a concept called multifactor
productivity. ...  Based on existing data, the contribution of
nonmanufacturing industries -- mainly services -- to productivity growth was
zero from 1979 to 1996. ...  That result strains credibility.  How far off
are the results?  Associate Commissioner Edwin R. Dean will only say, "We
have not shown that the degree of underestimate is large." ...To be
sure, the BLS research leaves many questions unanswered. ...  The best thing
to come out of this research is likely to be better productivity data, since
it identifies the key industries where the BLS will now redouble its
efforts.  In particular, Dean says that work on more accurate banking-sector
data already underway will result in better measurement for that industry by
year end. ...  

Social critics have claimed that workers are putting in far more time on the
job than they used to -- to the detriment of other aspects of their lives.
Others have disputed such claims, noting that worker surveys show that the
average workweek has hardly changed since the early 1970s, staying close to
42 hours for men and 37 hours for women.  A study in the "Review of Social
Economy" by Jerry A. Jacobs of the University of Pennsylvania and Kathleen
Gerson of New York University throws light on the issue.  While confirming
that the average workweek has not changed much in recent decades, the two
sociologists point out that significantly more people are working either
long or short weeks -- often to their dissatisfaction.  Since 1970, for
example, the share of male workers logging at least 50 hours a week on the
job has climbed from 20 percent to 25 percent, while the share of female
workers putting in similar long hours has risen from 5 percent to more than
10 percent.  The ranks of those working fewer than 30 hours a week have also
grown.  Skilled and highly educated Americans are especially likely to work
long hours, note the researchers. ...  As for those most dissatisfied with
long hours, the researchers believe much of the discontent is among
dual-earner couples -- particularly those with children. ...  (Business
Week, April 12, page 26).

Wage data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 14 weeks
of 1999 for all newly negotiated contract settlements show that the median
first-year wage increase was 3 percent, the same as that reported in the
year-ago period, and the weighted average increase was 2.4 percent, compared
with 2.8 percent in 1998. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).

GM reported its U.S. light-vehicle sales were down 2.2 percent in March,
worse than analysts expected but not enough to keep the total industry from
hitting new monthly and quarterly records. ...  (Washington Post, page E1).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Producer Price Indexes -- March 1999


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 BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1999:
 
 The index of leading economic indicators increased in February, indicating
 continued strong growth, the Conference Board reports.  After a sharp 0.5
 percent advance in January, the index rose 0.2 percent in February to
 107.1 percent of its 1992 base.  This is the fifth consecutive increase in
 the leading index, but it shows less breadth than usual, with only four of
 the 10 components rising in February, the director of business cycle
 research at the Conference Board said.  "Nonetheless, the overall trend
 continues to point to strong growth ahead."  The coincident index -- which
 measures current economic conditions -- rose 0.3 percent to 123.3 percent
 of its 1992 base in February.  All three of the available components of
 the coincident index -- employees on nonagricultural payrolls, industrial
 production, and personal income less transfer payments -- increased in
 February.  Data on manufacturing and trade sales are not yet available
 (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 __The index of leading economic indicators posted its fifth consecutive
 monthly increase in February, suggesting that the economy will keep
 growing well into its ninth year of expansion.  The index, which was
 released by the Conference Board, is intended to predict economic growth
 for the following 6 months.  It rose 0.2 percent in February -- as
 expected -- after an unreversed gain of 0.5 percent in January. Declining
 jobless claims and rising consumer confidence led the increase.  The
 number of workers filing for state unemployment benefits was below 300,000
 for all of February and has stayed below that level for 9 consecutive
 weeks, the longest such stretch since an 18-month run that ended in
 December 1973.  The University of Michigan's index of consumer
 expectations -- the gauge used in calculating the leading economic
 indicators -- rose in February to 103.6, the highest level since April.
 "The economy seems to be cruising along well, shrugging off international
 challenges," said the chief economist at LaSalle Bank in Chicago (The New
 York Times, page C2).
 
 The "Economic Indicators" feature of USA Today (page 5B) estimates that
 the Producer Price Index for March, to be announced April 9, is likely to
 be 0.3 percent higher than that for February, although the Producer Price
 index for February was 0.4 percent less than that for January.  The
 Producer Price Index for March, less food and energy, is likely to remain
 unchanged from that of the previous month, which actually occurred in
 February.  The Consumer Price Index for March, to be released April 13, is
 predicted to be 0.3 percent higher than the index figure for February.  In
 February, the CPI was 0.1 percent higher than the January CPI.  The
 Consumer Price Index less food/energy for March is predicted to be 0.2
 percent higher than the index figure for February, although that same
 index item in February was 0.1 percent higher than in January.
 
 "Is the U.S. income gap really a big problem?" asks Sylvia Nasar in the
 column "Economic View" in the "Money  Business" section of The New York
 Times of April 4, page 6.  She indicates that two distinguished empirical
 economists are attempting to decide whether rising inequality is good,
 bad, or indifferent.  One approach, taken by Martin Feldstein, is to
 examine some of the changes that have created an explosion of riches at
 the top of America's income distribution.  The most important, economists
 agree, is the market's increased tendency to heap most of its rewards on
 those with lots of education and sophisticated skills.  In addition,
 opportunities for entrepreneurs have burgeoned wildly. As recently as
 1980, 60 percent of the Forbes 400 had inherited the bulk of their wealth;
 by 1997, the old money had dropped to just 20 percent.  Then there's the
 well-publicized phenomenon of the 70 hour work week for investment
 bankers, lawyers, management consultants and other top professionals, a
 contrast to the past when those who worked the longest were those with the
 lowest wages.  And finally, there's the extraordinary bull market in
 securities, mostly owned by the haves.  All these changes, Feldstein says,
 are in themselves positive, and tend to benefit some individuals without
 making others any worse off.  Finis Welch, a labor economist at Texas A 
 M who gave this year's prestigious Ely Lecture at the American Economics
 Association annual meeting, focuses on inequalities' consequences rather
 than its causes.  He points out that, while the market's uneven rewards
 for skills have cause the wage gap between high-paid and low-paid
 individuals in general to widen dramatically, they have also sharply
 narrowed the far more disturbing wage gaps between blacks and whites 

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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1999

"What you see isn't always what you can get," said an article in Monday's
"Washington Business" section of the Washington Post. ...  The author says
there should options when information is available electronically.  Trouble
is, the formats that Webmasters choose for the data they display rules many
of them out.  Often the user can't do much more than read information on the
screen. ...  Web pages display tables created in hypertext markup language
(HTML) and often that means trouble. ...  However, many agencies, including
the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, make their information
available both in Acrobat format or HTML and in easy-to-manipulate
spreadsheet or database formats.  But others are in effect limiting access
to the data by providing much of it solely in Acrobat.  And some are
scanning in "legacy" documents -- the new  euphemism for paper -- as images
without going on to the further step of optical character recognition.
These documents are electronic, but can only be viewed; neither search nor
capture features are available. ...  

Employer demand for this year's spring college graduates is down a bit from
last year's frenzied scramble, colleges suggest. In the 1997-98 school year,
many talent-hungry companies recruited in fall and spring. But this year,
many recruiters met their staffing goals in the fall and aren't coming back
this spring as they did last year, schools say. ...  Budding graduates are
getting salary offers up to 8.6 percent over September offers, but the
spring increases aren't as "spectacular" as last year's,  according to the
National Association of Colleges and Employers (Wall Street Journal, page
A-1).

Business at U.S. companies outside of manufacturing expanded in March for
the third month in a row, suggesting the economy entered the second quarter
on a strong footing. The National Association of Purchasing Management's
index of nonmanufacturing business rose to 62.5 last month from 57 in
February (USA Today, page 1B).

The overall median salary increase for mid-level administrative-professional
positions at colleges and universities was 3.8 percent in the 1998-99
period, according to a survey of higher education institutions. Conducted by
the College and University Personnel Association, the survey found that the
median salary increase was highest--4.8 percent--at "other" institutions.
This designation includes system offices and specialized institutions. ...
The median salary increase was 4.3 percent at private institutions and 3.7
percent at public institutions, according to the survey. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page A-3).

E-mail is convenient and offers abundant advantages, but the spread of its
use by employees presents employers with both subtle and glaring problems.
Legal issues grab the headlines when e-mail assumed to be private reveals
discriminatory messages or exposes compromises to company trade secrets.
Company theft of a different sort robs employees of precious time when just
dealing with the volume of received e-mail messages crowds out more
important activities. And as e-mail contact with customers grows more
common, employees' messages do not always express a tone that represents
companies well. ...  Employees often don't know who should get copies of
e-mail, how fast they must respond, and what to put in a subject line.
Legal issues are a big reason experts say guidance is needed.  The most
immediate concern for many companies is e-mail taking up too much of the
computer system's space and employees' time. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page
B-1).


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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1999

Seniors are staying on the job -- some for satisfaction, some for survival,
says The Washington Post (page E1). ...  As the number of senior citizens in
the United States grows, the number of older workers is increasing steadily,
too.  About 12 percent of the work force, or about 3.9 million people, were
65 or older in 1997.  By 2006, senior citizens are expected to make up about
15 percent of the work force.  Growing life expectancy explains part of the
increase. ...  The country may be seeing glimmers of the end of the trend
since 1950 of earlier and earlier retirement because of private pensions and
the Social Security system, which encouraged people to enjoy more leisure
time, according to the Washington-based Employee Benefit Research Institute.
The nonprofit research group reported last month that, since 1985, the
proportion of senior citizens holding or seeking jobs -- known as the labor
force participation rate -- has risen slightly, particularly for men.  EBRI
credited the increase of seniors in the work force to the elimination of
mandatory retirement ages and changes in the Social Security system that
allow retirees to earn more money without incurring financial penalties.
Other workers, lacking adequate private pensions and struggling to live on
Social Security alone, simply can't afford to quit working until health
problems force them to stop. ...

New orders for manufactured durable goods fell 5 percent in February, the
largest setback in demand in 7 years, the Commerce Department reports. ...
In the year to date, new orders are 5.5 percent greater than the same period
1 year ago. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_Durable goods orders
fell last month at the fastest rate since late 1991, casting doubt on the
revival of the ailing manufacturing sector.  The plunge reflected weaker
demand for aircraft, electronics, and industrial machinery.  The drop broke
a string of 3 straight months of increases and marked the steepest decrease
since orders fell 6.5 percent in December 1991, when the economy was
emerging from a recession (Washington Post, page E1)_The decline was a
sign that an expected recovery in manufacturing could be a few months away.
  (New York Times, page C5)_The decline in new orders for durable
goods may not be a death blow to manufacturing's recent rebound. ...
Economists were reluctant to read the decline as a pending manufacturing
slump because the monthly report is volatile and is frequently revised. ...
(Wall Street Journal, page A2)

Data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 12 weeks of
1999 show that the median first-year wage increase in newly negotiated
contracts equals 3 percent, and the weighted average increase for
settlements reported to date is 2.2 percent.  The  manufacturing industry's
gain is 3 percent, and its weighted average increase is 2.8 percent.
Nonmanufacturing settlements (excluding construction) show a median increase
of 3 percent, with a weighted average increase of 2.2 percent. ...  (Daily
Report, page D-3).



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BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 1999

U.S. employers laid off 190,070 workers in 1,608 mass layoff actions in
December, BLS reports.  The total number of layoff events from January
through December 1998, at 15,647, was somewhat higher than in the prior year
(14,960), and the total number of initial claimants for unemployment
insurance benefits, at 1.7 million, was greater than 1997's 1.5 million. ...
(Daily Labor Report, page D-1).

President Clinton announced his intent to fill three top positions at the
Labor Department.  He will nominate T. Michael Kerr, currently deputy
assistant secretary of labor in ESA, to head the Wage and Hour Division. ...
Edward B. Montgomery will be named as assistant secretary of labor for
policy.  Currently a senior adviser to Secretary Herman, Montgomery served
as the Labor Department's chief economist from 1997 to January 1999.  Prior
to taking that post, he was an economics professor at the University of
Maryland. ...  The president intends to nominate Irasema Garza as director
of the Women's Bureau.  Garza currently is secretary of the U.S. National
Administrative Office, the agency responsible for monitoring the labor side
accord to NAFTA. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-16).


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BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  In January, 201 metropolitan areas recorded unemployment
rates below the U.S. average (4.8 percent, not seasonally adjusted), while
117 areas had higher rates.  Of the eight metropolitan areas with jobless
rates of 2.0 percent or less, five were in the South and three were in the
Midwest.  Of the 17 areas with rates of at least 10 percent, 9 were in
California and 5 were along the Mexican border in other states. ...  

From Labor Secretary Herman's testimony before the House Appropriations
Subcomittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, reprinted in
Daily Labor Report (page E-1):  "I am requesting $22 million to improve
statistical indicators which are essential to the development of economic
policy and the ability of businesses, labor and governments to make informed
decisions.  This includes resources to augment the Employment Cost Index
(ECI) with an addition of 7,000 establishment units to its sample. ...  To
expand the application of quality adjustment and accelerate the introduction
of new products for rapidly changing industries in the Producer Price Index
(PPI), extend PPI coverage for the first time in the construction sector of
the economy, to enhance the ongoing expansion of PPI coverage of the service
sector, and to improve our productivity measures, I am requesting $5.1
million. ...  These funds also include a request for resources to continue
the multi-year Consumer Price Index (CPI) Improvement Initiative effort
begun in 1998 to improve the timeliness and accuracy of the CPI.  This is
the third year of the expansion effort to speed the process of updating the
expenditure weights in the CPI Market Basket and to expand the amount of
information collected on prices and characteristics of certain goods and
services. ...  "

__The first data release based on the North American Industrial
Classification System (NAICS) confirms anecdotal evidence about the
importance of technology in the U.S. economy, Commerce Undersecretary for
Economic Affairs Robert J. Shapiro says.  While the information from this
first release based on the 1997 economic census is fairly general compared
with more detailed reports Commerce will issue later this year, it does show
that the information sector was responsible for 3.2 million jobs and annual
payrolls of $135 billion, and $642 billion in receipts at 115,000 locations.
This sector includes publishing, motion pictures, broadcasting, and
information services.  The computer/electronic manufacturing sector had 1.7
million jobs in 1997.  Commerce's first take on these data comes from
information gleaned from the department's 1997 economic census, the nation's
most comprehensive economic survey. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-5).
__Until now, when the government measured the economy, haircuts and brain
surgery were categorized under the same heading:  services.  Not anymore.
The Commerce Department unveiled an industry classification system,
scrapping a 60-year-old one that had little relevance to an
information-based economy.  The new system was created to categorize the
results of the 1997 census of business activity at 21 million locations.
Under the government's old system, computers weren't important enough to be
an industry category.  They were grouped with adding machines. ...  There
are 358 new industries in the U.S., including pet care services, casinos,
diet centers, and bed and breakfast inns. ...  As the new system is phased
into monthly and quarterly statistics, the government expects to capture
economic activity that was escaping measurement until now. ...  The system
also is designed to be similar to those in Mexico and Canada, as trade with
these countries continues to grow (USA Today, page 1B).

Industrial production rose 0.2 percent in February, after being flat the
previous month, the Federal Reserve says.  Output in the manufacturing
sector also rose 0.2 percent last month, marking the fifth consecutive
monthly gain. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-10).

Overall housing construction fell 0.6 percent in February, but construction
of new, single-family homes rose to its highest level in 20 years, the
Commerce Department reports. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1; USA Today,
page 1B).

Industrial production unexpectedly rose in February, led by a fifth
consecutive monthly gain in factory output, and construction of new homes
stayed near a 12-year high, the latest signs the economy is surging as it
heads into its ninth year of expansion. ...  (New York Times, page C10;
Washington Post, page E7)_Construction starts of single-family homes
jumped 1.1 percent in February.  But a sharp drop in starts for apartments
pushed overall starts lower last month.  In a separate report, the Federal
Reserve said 

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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1999:

RELEASED TODAY:  Labor productivity in manufacturing increased during 1997
in all of the 11 countries for which comparable data are available, with the
increases ranging from 0.5 percent in the United Kingdom to 6.8 percent in
France.  Labor productivity (output per hour) in U.S. manufacturing
increased 4.2 percent during 1997.  Canada and the U.K. reversed the
productivity declines they had experienced in 1996. ...  

__The fear that price deflation will cut profits has made manufacturers more
pessimistic about the U.S. economy in 1999 than they were a year earlier,
says a National Association of Manufacturers survey.  "Manufacturers are
less buoyant today than they were a year ago, and it is clear we are
starting to feel the effects of the global financial crisis in the form of
falling prices that may eat into profits," says the NAM president. ...
Nearly half (43.4 percent) of respondents expect their profits to decrease
in 1999, the survey finds.  More than one third (34.4 percent) said earnings
will grow by up to 5 percent.  About 10 percent said the rate of earnings
will advance by more than 10 percent, while 8.2 percent predicted they will
increase by 6 to 8 percent.  Yet only 12.7 percent expected to reduce
employment in 1999, while 27 percent predicted they would add full-time
permanent jobs in their companies. ...  "On the more positive side, our
contention that inflation is all but dead in the new economy seems to be
bearing out, with almost two out of three firms (64.2 percent) predicting
inflation of 2 percent or less," the NAM president said.  "Two years ago,
just 30 percent estimated inflation would be that low." ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page A-2).
__Predicting slower economic growth in the U.S. and abroad, the nation's top
manufacturing lobby said more of its members expect prices of their goods to
decline this year, pinching profit margins and "significantly" curtailing
investment in new equipment and workers.  The National Association of
Manufacturers, in a survey of 2,500 of its members, said 44.2 percent of
those polled said prices of their final products are falling, compared with
28 percent in last year's survey. As a result, more members expect their
earnings growth to decrease:  43.4 percent, compared with 38 percent a year
ago.  The survey polled a sample of the NAM's broader member base.  Half of
the respondents were companies with 500 or more employees, half had 500 or
fewer workers. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Longer work hours, fears of downsizing, and a nationwide shift toward more
demanding service jobs are prompting new concerns over workplace stress and
its association with adverse health effects such as heart disease, the
director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says.
  Much of the nation's job growth is occurring in the service industry, a
sector that traditionally has received less attention from the occupational
health community than more hazardous but declining industries such as
mining. ...  Between 1996 and 2006, the fastest growing industries are
expected to create jobs that are among the more stressful in the national
economy:  Computer and data processing jobs are projected to grow 108
percent, and the number of health services jobs is projected to increase 68
percent. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-4).

Hiring prospects for many workers will stagnate or wane during the spring,
according to projections from 198 respondents to the Bureau of National
Affairs' latest quarterly employment survey.  Job opportunities for
technical and professional employees will decline for a third consecutive
quarter, to their lowest levels since early 1997.  Office and clerical
prospects are little changed from 3 months ago, but well below levels
reached in mid-1998.  Also, the job outlook for production and service staff
has shown only modest movement since late 1997.  The risk of job loss still
appears slim, however, as few employers report workers on layoff or imminent
reductions-in-force. ...  Though hiring prospects have diminished somewhat
in recent months, workers' job security is likely to remain solid through
the spring. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).

More than half of teenagers with jobs work in food service or in positions
requiring manual labor, according to a study of 500 teenagers by Merrill
Lynch ("Work Week" feature of Wall Street Journal, page A1).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment, January
1999


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 BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1999:
 
 Falling food costs -- the biggest decline in nearly 17 years -- was
 largely responsible for the 0.4 percent drop in the February producer
 price index for finished goods, data from BLS show.  Analysts expected the
 index to decline in February after a 0.5 percent gain in January, but the
 drop was sharper than most expected.  In the year ending in February, the
 index increased 0.5 percent.  "Food and energy were the downward forces in
 the PPI," BLS economist Joseph Kowal says,  "The opposite was the case
 last month." Slow world demand for commodities should keep producer price
 inflation at a minimum, says a senior economist with the WEFA Group of
 Eddystone, Pa.  Overall, prices -- excluding food and energy -- appear to
 be stable, Kowal said.  "We did have small decreases in passenger cars and
 sanitary paper, and slight rises in furniture and prescription drugs."
 "Oil prices in the last few days have been going up in anticipation that
 OPEC will cut back production" the Eddystone, Pa. economist said. "This
 will probably be reflected in the PPI released next month, but for the
 time being, this is very good news on the inflation front."  The price
 decline in steel product prices at the intermediate stage is quite
 significant," Kowal said.  Falling import prices for steel have pushed
 U.S. steel prices down, analysts said (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 
 Further evidence that inflation is dormant emerged yesterday as the
 government reported a 0.4 percent drop in the producer price index last
 year, the biggest decline in more than a year.  The report cheered
 financial markets, but an early rally in the stock market petered out.
 The fall in the PPI was mostly from mostly from deceases in the volatile
 food and energy categories (The Washington Post,March 13, page E1).
 
 The economy may be sizzling, but inflation is still in the deep freeze,
 says The Wall Street Journal (page A2).
 
 Formulating policy to address temporary workers involves competing
 interests of worker equity advocates and business proponents, who say
 employers need flexibility in hiring, according to a Congressional
 Research Service report. The study:  "Temporary Workers as Members of the
 Contingent Labor Force,"discusses the policy implications of temporary
 work.  Proponents of government intervention in the temporary
 worker-employer relationship say workplace equity requires that employees
 who do the same work receive equivalent hourly wages and benefits, the
 report by Linda Levine, a CRS specialist in labor economics, says.
 Opponents say requiring benefits for temporary workers would slow job
 growth because employers will decide to hire fewer people than they
 otherwise would, Levine told the Bureau of National Affairs.  They argue
 businesses need the staffing flexibility.  Others have suggested requiring
 all employers to offer a minimum benefit package.  Levine said she was
 surprised to discover how little information there is about temporary
 workers who are directly employed by businesses.  Agency temporary workers
 make up about 1 percent of the U.S. employed population, according to the
 report.  The data that exists on temporary workers shows them to be
 disproportionately young, female, and minorities, working in clerical or
 low-skilled blue-collar positions, the CRS report says.  According to BLS
 figures cited in the report, 55.3 percent of agency temporaries are women,
 compared with 47.3 percent or traditional job holders.  Blacks make up
 21.3 percent of temporary workers and 10.9 percent of those with
 traditional jobs.  Hispanics comprise 12.5 percent of temporary workers
 and 9.6 percent of traditional job holders.  Agency temporaries have
 completed somewhat fewer years of schooling than have workers in
 traditional employment, the report says. In 1997, about 22 percent of
 temps 25--64 were college graduates, compared to 30 percent of traditional
 workers (Daily Labor Report, page A-5).
 
 Major oil producers meeting in Amsterdam yesterday reached a preliminary
 agreement to cut world oil production by more than 2 million barrels a
 day, a move that if implemented could lead to significantly higher oil
 prices and slightly slower U.S. economic growth by the end of the year
 (The Washington Post, March 13, page E1; The New York Times, March 13,
 page 1).  After a 13-month downturn in oil prices and squabbling among the
 world's producers, last week's agreement to cut world petroleum supplies
 suffers from a credibility problem (The Wall Street Journal, page A3).
 
 Multinational corporations have been revising the role of headquarters
 operations and shrinking headquarters staff in trying to meet the
 competitive challenges of the current decade, according to a 

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BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods declined 0.4
percent in February, seasonally adjusted.  This decline followed increases
of 0.5 percent in January and 0.4 percent in December. ...  Prices for
finished consumer foods and finished energy goods turned down, following
increases in January.  The index for finished goods other than foods and
energy showed no change, after posting a 0.1 percent decline in the previous
month, as an upturn in the index for capital equipment was offset by a
decline in prices for finished consumer goods other than foods and energy.
  Prices received by producers of intermediate goods decreased 0.5
percent, following a 0.1 percent increase in the prior month.  The crude
goods index dropped 3.4 percent, after registering a 2.6 percent advance a
month earlier.

__The price of goods imported into the United States dipped 0.1 percent in
February, with the cost of both petroleum and nonpetroleum products
declining, BLS announces.  Export prices also declined in February, slipping
0.1 percent. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-6).
__The deficit in the broadest measure of U.S. trade swelled dramatically
last year, as the economy felt the full impact of the global financial
turmoil.  The Commerce Department reported that the current account deficit
widened to a record. ...  The deep devaluation of Asian currencies is
continuing to hold down the value of Asia's shipments to the U.S., but the
volume of those goods has increased.  Reflecting this, the Labor Department
reported that U.S. import prices fell 0.1 percent in February, following a
revised 0.3 percent rise in January. ...  (Helene Cooper in Wall Street
Journal, page A2).

New claims for unemployment benefits increased by 1,000 to a seasonally
adjusted 289,000 in the week ended March 6, the Employment and Training
Administration of the Department of Labor has announced. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page D-4)_The weekly unemployment benefit claims figures have
been under 300,000 for 6 consecutive weeks, indicating plenty of jobs in the
world's largest economy. ...  (New York Times, page C6; Wall Street Journal,
page A2).

Across-the-board increases pushed February retail sales ahead 0.9 percent,
according to data released by the Commerce Department.  Noting that the
report from Commerce showed that retail sales were "strong, strong, strong"
economist David Orr said the upward revision to January's figures was
expected but the degree was not.  The largest part of January's revision was
for auto dealers, he said. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_The Great
American Shopping Spree just keeps charging on.  Retail spending in February
rose a strong 0.9 percent from the month before, the seventh straight month
of increases.  Spending was up 7.3 percent from February 1998.  And the
government also revised upward its estimate of January retail sales, saying
spending that month rose 1 percent, not 0.2 percent as estimated earlier.
  (Washington Post, page E1)_Consumers went on a spending spree in
February, snapping up new cars, clothing, and furniture.  The report showed
a still-vigorous expansion despite a weak global economy.  Some analysts
said robust spending might make Federal Reserve officials uneasy about
potential price rises but only moderately so, since other gauges of activity
show only muted inflation. ...  (New York Times, page C6)_Retail sales
shot up, as balmy weather inspired consumers to spend more time in the mall
and less time in front of the fireplace. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page A2)

Women leaving welfare for work face major obstacles to attaining well-paid
jobs because they lack skill training, two Educational Testing Service
economists have found.  "In an economy where the real job growth, earnings
potential and employer-provided training are in higher skilled occupations,
the missing link between work and economic success is skill," according to
ETS's vice president who co-authored the study.  More time on the job will
not necessarily increase low-skilled workers' earnings -- unless they are
placed in work with employer-provided training, the study concluded. ...
(Daily Labor Report, page A-11).

Even while prices on everything from clothing to computer chips steadily
decline, the cost of getting an education continues to rise, whether the
sought-after institution is a private Ivy League college, a public
university, or a popular preschool.  In recent weeks, private universities
have been announcing tuition for the 1999-2000 academic year, and the
increases -- which range between 3 and 5 percent -- are more than double the
annual rate of inflation.  Private grade schools and preschools are boosting
tuition as much as 7 percent.  Public universities, 

[PEN-L:4250] BLS Daily Report

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BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1999

__The economy again defied predictions of a slowdown, creating a seasonally
adjusted 275,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs in February, BLS reported.  The
jobless rate edged up 0.1 percentage point to 4.4 percent in February.
"Here we have the 20th month that the unemployment rate has been below 5
percent," Labor Secretary Herman says. ...  As long as the nation continues
its "balanced path" between high productivity and low costs, this robust
expansion with low inflation will continue, she says.  The 275,000 payroll
increase "compares favorably to an average of about 235,000 new jobs each
month in 1998, when the economy grew at a 4.3 percent rate," says JEC
Chairman Sen. Mack (R-Fla.). ...  Job growth has actually increased in the
last 3 months, compared with the first 10 months of 1998, BLS Commissioner
Abraham said. ...  (Daniel J. Roy in Daily Labor Report, page D-1; text of
statement, page E-1).
__With long-standing fears of interest-rate increases dashed by a reassuring
government jobs report, investors poured money into blue-chip stocks,
sparking a rally that sent the Dow Jones industrial average to a record
9736.08 and also boosted the bond market. ...  Fears were allayed when the
Labor Department said that the average hourly wage increased just 1 cent in
February, despite the addition of 275,000 jobs, more than expected and well
above the 235,000 monthly average over the last 6 months.  Over the past 12
months, wages rose 3.6 percent -- far lower than the 12-month peak of 4.4
percent in April 1998. ...  (Ianthe Jeanne Dugan in Washington Post, March
6, page E1).
__Another big burst of job growth in February showed that the United States
economy was still on a roll while wage pressures remained remarkably
subdued.  For bond and stock investors yesterday, that combination eased
fears of inflation, setting off a wild celebration. ...  Fueled by a boom in
construction and consumer spending, American employers added 275,000 jobs to
their payrolls.  Since Thanksgiving, the economy has been adding jobs at the
staggering pace of 3.2 million a year. ...  (Sylvia Nasar in New York Times,
March 6, page A1).
__February's lackluster employment report damped hopes of a quick turnaround
in the manufacturing sector, but set Wall Street ablaze with the prospect of
continued low interest rates. ...  (John Simons in Wall Street Journal, page
A2).

The Wall Street Journal forecast for the PPI (page A6), to be released by
BLS on Friday, is for a decline of 0.1 percent in February, compared with an
increase of 0.5 percent in January. 

Milk prices are expected to drop within a month, which could mean a decline
in the cost of milk, cheese, butter, and other dairy products. ...  The drop
comes after a record year in which producers received extremely high prices.
  (Washington Post, page E1)_Raw milk prices are plunging, but, as
was the case with falling hog prices last year, consumers probably won't
benefit for months.  The nationwide drop in milk prices, however, is another
big blow to the battered farm economy. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page A2).


DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Productivity and Costs -- Fourth Quarter 1998 (Revised)


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[PEN-L:4149] BLS Daily Report

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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  Regional and state unemployment rates were stable in
January.  All four regions reported little change over the month, and 45
states and the District of Columbia recorded shifts of 0.3 percentage point
or less.  The national jobless rate remained at 4.3 percent.  Nonfarm
payroll employment rose in 31 states. ...  

A chart attributed to BLS shows that lower import prices are holding down
inflation.  In fact, import prices fell in 1998 by the most since 1983,
thanks to cheap oil and lower-priced Asian imports (Business Week, March 1,
page 8). 

Business activity in the non-manufacturing sector continued to expand in
February, the National Association of Purchasing Management said.  The
NAPM's non-manufacturing business activity index rose to 57 percent, up from
54 percent in January.  NAPM said the expansion reaffirms that December's
index drop was likely due to seasonal factors. ...  Comparing this survey
with the closely watched NAPM manufacturing survey, both non-manufacturing
industries and production in manufacturing industries experienced a growth
in business activity in February.  However, the business activity in
non-manufacturing industries had a slightly higher rate of growth. ...  The
highest rates of employment growth were reported in the legal services,
insurance, agriculture, retail trade, and public administration industries.
The entertainment, real estate, business services, wholesale trade, and
utilities industries reported the highest rates of employment deceases. ...
(Daily Labor Report, page A-5).

"Fill up that gas tank. Quick!" is the advice of The Washington Post (page
E1).  Heavy demand, seasonal downturns in gasoline inventories, shutdowns in
refining for maintenance and as a result of accidents, combined with the
return of spring and summer driving season, mean that gas prices may have
hit bottom.  Experts say prices could be headed up again, if these trends
continue.  The average retail price for unleaded gasoline increased by more
than half a penny this week, after months of decline, according to the
Department of Energy. ...   

Productivity has been better longer than you think, says an editorial in
Business Week (March 8, page 130).  That was the crucial subtext of Fed
Chairman Alan Greenspan's remarks in his recent Humphrey-Hawkins testimony
before Congress.  Recognizing that the conventional ways of measuring
productivity are flawed, the Federal Reserve has been busy constructing its
own new method.  It focuses on the real capacity and profit improvements
generated by new investment in capital.  The Fed's startling finding is that
the rate of return generated by each new dollar's worth of investment began
rising 5 years ago. ...  As a result, productivity growth in nonfinancial
corporations -- one of Greenspan's preferred measures -- has averaged 2.2
percent in this business cycle, compared with only 1.5 percent in the late
1980s.  All this means that the productivity revolution in America began
much earlier and is stronger than the conventional measures have been
showing. ...  

In a study of layoffs over the last 6 years, Challenger, Gray  Christmas,
the outplacement firm in Chicago, has found that the computer industry,
considered a prime source of job growth, is also a leader in job loss.  The
firm says that, from 1993 through 1998, companies in more than 30 industries
announced a combined 3.1 million layoffs; seven industries accounted for
more than half the total.  The computer industry ranked third in downsizing,
outpointed only by aerospace and retailing. ...  (New York Times, Feb. 28,
Money  Business section, page 11).

The Big Three automakers will continue to trim manufacturing workforces in
1999, but Michigan expects to offset the job losses with continued growth in
the automotive parts supply sector, according to a University of Michigan
study. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-6).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  The Employment Situation:  February 1999


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[PEN-L:4128] BLS Daily Report

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BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MARCH 1, 1999

The nation's average unemployment rate in 1998 fell to 4.5 percent, its
lowest level since 1969, BLS says in its report on state and regional
employment and unemployment. ...  All four of the United States' regions
experienced declines in the jobless rate in 1998. ...  (Daily Labor Report,
page D-12).

__A month-end economic review finds analysts are once again raising their
growth forecasts for the economy this year, caught off guard by the surge of
the last quarter and the signs of continuing strength that have turned up in
the January numbers from housing to factory orders.  Before the Commerce
Department raised the GDP estimate for the fourth quarter to 6.1 percent,
stronger than the already booming 5.6 percent reported earlier, analysts
were already pegging growth this year at closer to 3 percent, postponing the
long-heralded slowdown. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
__The U.S. economy exited 1998 in overdrive, powered by the fastest rise in
consumer spending in more than a decade.  The quarterly increase in the GDP,
the measure of the country's total output of goods and services, brought the
economy's year-over-year growth rate to 3.9 percent.  That matched the pace
of 1997 and made it 3 years in a row in which the economy grew at better
than a 3 percent annual rate. ...  The blistering year-end performance and
some recent data showing a robust start in the first months of this year
indicate the U.S. economy has not only shaken off the jitters stemming from
financial crises in Asia and Latin America, but has prospered as falling
demand from those regions helped keep interest rates and inflation low. ...
(Washington Post, Feb. 27, page E1).
__Wearing the rest of the world's woes as lightly as a silk scarf, the
United States economy waltzed merrily into 1999, even faster than previously
thought. ...  Other than the spring quarter of 1996, when growth also
reached 6.1 percent, late 1998 was the most robust 3-month period of the
1990s. ...  At the same time, inflation dipped to an annual rate of 0.7
percent in the fourth quarter, the lowest since the Soviet Union launched
Sputnik more than 40 years ago.  For the year, the inflation rate was 1
percent. ...  (New York Times, Feb. 27, page A1).
__Spurred by an improving trade picture and enthusiastic consumer spending,
the U.S. economy ended 1998 with a flourish. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page
A2).
__The economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly 15 years last quarter,
closing out a year in which Americans enjoyed a combination of rapid growth,
low unemployment, and low inflation. ...  (USA Today, page 1B).

__Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan laid out a stronger case than he has in
the past that the nation's extraordinary combination of strong growth, low
unemployment, and low inflation isn't a fluke, but rather largely the result
of fundamental changes in the economy.  Greenspan told the Senate and House
Banking committees that "recent experience does seem to suggest that the
economy has become less inflation-prone than in the past, so that the
chances of an inflationary breakout arguably are, at least for now, less
than they would have been under similar conditions in earlier [business]
cycles." ...  (Washington Post, Feb. 27, page E1).

A comprehensive, multi-year study concludes that mothers who work outside
the home are not harming their children.  The research, published in the
March issue of the journal "Developmental Psychology," assessed the
behavior, academic achievement, and psychological health of more than 6,000
children and found no permanent negative effects caused by their mother's
absence.  In some cases, the study found, the children may be helped by the
income their mothers brought in.  Experts say the new research supports what
other similar studies increasingly indicate:  That the quality of family
life generally, including the mental stability and maturity of parents, is
vastly more important in determining how children fare in life than the
question of whether their mothers are employed. ...  (Washington Post, page
A1; New York Times, page A17).

Asking for, or just making the most of, compensation such as training
programs, networking opportunities, or even quality of life benefits can
work in your favor at least as well as cash, says the "Career Track" feature
in the Business section of The Washington Post (page 9).  The found of
Rainmaker Thinking - a New Haven, Conn., company that researches the working
lives of Gen Xers - says he has found that the top choices of nonmonetary
rewards among twentysomethings include:  control over their work schedules,
training opportunities, exposure to decision makers, credit for projects,
increased responsibility, and opportunities for creative expression. ...   

Falling 

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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MARCH  2, 1999:

Personal income gained 0.6 percent in January, to post its strongest gain
since  February 1998, and consumer spending advanced 0.3 percent in January.
Private wages and salaries went up $21.3 billion in January, compared with
an increase of $16 billion in December.  The January and December changes
were affected by a number of special factors, the Commerce Department says.
The January change was boosted by cost-of-living adjustments to federal
transfer payment programs, by changes to the Earned Income Credit Program
and the Child Tax Credit Program, by pay raises for federal civilian and
military personnel, and by subsidy payments to farmers (Daily Labor Report,
page D-1).

Vice President Gore announces that employers participating in the Welfare to
Work partnership have exceeded their goal by hiring a total of 410,000
former welfare recipients nationwide in the last year.  He released the
results of the Wirthlin survey, which showed that 48 percent of companies
hiring welfare recipients are turning to nonprofit, community-based
organizations to find job candidates, up from 25 percent in 1998.  The
latest survey also found that 72 percent of companies hiring welfare
recipients offer them health care benefits, 53 percent offer mentoring
services, 23 percent offer transportation subsidies, and 12 percent offer
child care.  Slightly more than a quarter (27 percent) of the employers
surveyed said they were hiring welfare recipients into salaried positions,
with those firms showing an average salary of $15,266 a year.  About 70
percent of the firms said they hired these workers into wage jobs, with an
average starting pay of $6.86 an hour.  Wirthlin said the survey findings
were derived from a random sample of 500 businesses, broken down by size to
represent the partnership's significant small business membership (Daily
Labor Report, page A-6).

Manufacturing activity surged in February, following 8 months of decline,
according to the National Association of Purchasing Management.  The
purchasing managers index increased to 52.4 percent from 49.5 percent in
January, indicating a change in the factory sector from contraction to
expansion.  The sectors with the largest increases in new orders in February
were (from most significant advances):  wood products; tobacco; apparel;
petroleum; chemicals; transportation equipment; and textiles.  "An
employment index above 47 percent, over time, is generally consistent with
an increase in the BLS data on manufacturing employment," the NAPM report
says (Daily Labor Report, page A-1). 

Construction put in place during January rose to a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of $692.3 billion, a 1.6 percent gain from December 1998's
revised figures, the Census Bureau reports.  The January estimate was 9.2
percent higher than in January 1998.  Private construction projects rose to
a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $535.6 billion in January, a 0.5
percent increase from December's rate.  Analysts attributed the gain to a
growing market for housing (Daily Labor Report, page D-7).

The economy showed signs of continued strength in January, as Americans'
personal income rose by a robust 0.6 percent and personal spending rose
modestly, while manufacturers confirmed that a rebound occurred last month
in their troubled sector.  "With consumer balance sheets now more liquid, we
expect spending to pick up in coming months," an National, Association of
Manufacturers economist said.  "For the first quarter, consumer spending
should top 3 percent, and economic growth should post a similar gain."
Particularly telling was the purchasing managers' export index, which broke
50 to climb to the 54 level, the first time it has closed above the crucial
50 mark in 15 months (Tim Smart, writing in The Washington Post, page E3).

Manufacturing expanded in February for the first time in 9 months, adding
fuel to an economy already benefiting from rising incomes and increased
construction spending. The factory index of the National Association of
Purchasing Management rose 52.4 percent last month.  "The signal from this
survey is clear:  The manufacturing slowdown is over," said an economist at
High Frequency Economics, in Valhalla, N.Y.  Another report showed that
consumers' incomes rose 0.6 percent of a percent in January.  Construction
spending was up 1.6 percent in January, the largest gain in 7 months.
Manufacturing was the one weak spot in the United States economy last year,
as housing and consumer spending surged to records (The New York Times, in a
Bloomberg News article, page C9).

Manufacturing finally appears to be pulling itself off the mat, says The
Wall Street Journal, page A2).  Quoting the National Association of
Purchasing Management index, the chairman of the survey 

[PEN-L:7048] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MAY 17, 1999

__Consumer prices charged ahead at the fastest pace since the Persian Gulf
conflict, igniting some fears that the nation's benign inflation environment
may be changing.  Seasonally adjusted data from BLS show that the CPI-U
leapt 0.7 percent in April, the biggest increase since October 1990, when
consumer prices climbed at an identical rate.  In addition, the core CPI --
which excludes the effects of volatile food and energy prices -- advanced a
surprising 0.4 percent during the month, double what most Wall Street
economists had expected. ...  Surging energy costs led the upswing in
April's CPI-U, accounting for about half the month-to-month gain in prices.
Overall energy costs soared 6.1 percent, the largest increase posted since
the government began keeping tabs on energy costs in 1957, BLS economist
Patrick Jackson tells the Bureau of National Affairs. Gasoline prices lunged
ahead a record 17.0 percent during the month. ...  (Susan McInerney in Daily
Labor Report, page D-1).
__Consumer prices rose in April at the fastest monthly pace in nearly 9
years.  The report surprised traders and analysts and sparked a sell-off on
Wall Street amid investor fear that long-dormant inflation may be stirring.
  This all occurred just a day after the Dow reached a record high
following, among other things, a benign report on wholesale inflation.  Such
whipsaw weeks have become typical in the country's unique economic
environment. ...  Recent reports of increased worker productivity argue
against any immediate tightening of interest rates, some said. ...
Accompanying the price news was a separate report that showed the country's
manufacturing output rising 0.6 percent in April.  Combined, the reports
show the economy steamrolling onward in the 9th year of an economic
expansion that shows no signs of abating.  In recent weeks, the government
has also reported that employee wages are rising modestly and that inflation
is not a big threat to an economy that Fed chief Greenspan has called
"phenomenal." ...   (Tim Smart in Washington Post, May 15, page A1)_The
prices that American consumers pay for goods and services rose abruptly in
April from March in a variety of sectors for a whole host of reasons, writes
Stephanie Stoughton in The Washington Post (May l5, page E1). The biggest
story, of course, is gasoline prices. ...  But customers also paid higher
prices for clothing as warmer weather apparel hit the racks at full price.
On many grocery shelves, fruits and vegetables were pricier because of cold
weather in California and droughts in Florida.  Smokers likely noticed the
end of the big tobacco promotion, causing tobacco prices to jump 3.6
percent. ...  A healthy travel industry has contributed to higher hotel
rates and air fares. ...  Prescription prices have been steadily rising as
pharmaceutical companies increase the cost of generic medicine, said Patrick
Jackman, a Labor Department economist.  "There is a huge difference" between
generic and branded medicine prices, Jackman said.  "That has narrowed
some." ...  
__Inflation, driven in part by rising oil and gasoline prices, moved up
sharply at the consumer level in April, leading analysts to say that the
remarkable decline in inflation over the last several years may be over.
But at the same time, economists are not predicting that inflation is taking
off.  It is just that, after the meager 1.6 percent rise in the CPI last
year, which can be attributed largely to plunging oil prices, inflation is
now likely to return to the 2.3 percent pace of 1997. ...  (Jonathan
Fuerbringer in New York Times, May 15, page B1).
__Is the best news on inflation behind the U.S. economy?  Inflation
watchers, who have been lulled by an endless string of tame reports, got a
shock Friday when the Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose
0.7 percent in April, the largest monthly gain in nearly 9 years.  The
increase was driven by a spike in energy prices. Even more alarming:  After
stripping out the volatile food and energy sectors, consumer prices still
jumped 0.4 percent -- the biggest monthly increase in more than 4 years.
The move reflected rising prices for housing, clothing, and medical care.
  (Wall Street Journal, page A2)_"It's been a long time since economy
watchers went through this kind of mood swing," writes Bernard Wysocki Jr.
in The Journal's "The Outlook" column (page A1). ...  Suddenly, the
technology miracle was yesterday's news. ...  But whatever the Fed decides
to do, one thing remains clear:  The information technology revolution
continues.  Companies continue to harness computers and networks to drive
tremendous efficiencies in their businesses. ...  Friday's report is one
terrible number amid a slew of favorable ones.  Wage increases are moderate,
producer prices are benign, and the price of gold, an inflation signal of
sorts, is sinking.  Also, there were some unusual price spikes in the price

[PEN-L:7067] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1999
 
 U.S. employers laid off 80,134 workers in 878 mass layoff events in
 February, BLS reports.  Both the number of mass layoff events and the
 number of workers affected were a little lower than in February 1998. ...
 (Daily Labor Report, page D-5).
 
 A majority of defense workers displaced in the massive downsizing of
 1987-97 now work at jobs that pay less and have fewer skill requirements,
 according to a joint study by the Economic Policy Institute and Rutgers
 University. A "sizable minority" of displaced defense workers experienced
 a decline in earnings of 50 percent or more in their new jobs, according
 to the report, "A Just Transition?  Lessons from Defense Worker Adjustment
 in the 1990s".  Some 1.4 million defense workers lost their jobs during
 the decade ending in 1997, the single largest group displaced from U.S.
 private industry during this period, the report said. ...  The report's
 authors, Rutgers University economists Laura Powers and Ann Markusen,
 concluded that Pentagon efforts to encourage defense mergers, subsidize
 arms exports, and reward contractors for layoffs have undercut efforts to
 place former defense workers (Daily Labor Report, page A-3).
 
 Workplace fatalities in small-scale mines are up to 90 times higher in
 developing countries than in industrialized countries, and a significant
 number of these mines are operating without government authorization,
 according to an ILO report. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-3).
 
 Yesterday, all eyes were on the Federal Reserve's top policymakers as they
 shifted ever so slightly toward raising interest rates should the
 supercharged economy fail to slow and inflation gather more steam.
 Interest costs for millions of Americans have risen from the lows reached
 last fall, and many economists believe the Fed is only catching up with
 the view they hold that borrowing costs and inflation are unlikely to dip
 back down any time soon to the levels reached in late 1998. ...
 (Washington Post, page E1; New York Times, page A1; Wall Street Journal,
 page A2).
 
 New home construction starts fell in April to their lowest levels in a
 year after surging in the first quarter.  Starts fell 10.1 percent last
 month, the Commerce Department says.  The decline came after a 0.1 percent
 drop in March and was widespread, with starts falling in all regions
 except the West. ...  (New York Times, page C12; Daily Labor Report, page
 D-1)_Construction of new homes plummeted 10.1 percent in April, the
 sharpest decline in more than 5 years. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page
 A2).
 
 __In the first sign that the cost of health care insurance could rise 9 to
 11 percent again next year, the nation's second-biggest buyer of health
 benefits said it had agreed to an average increase of 9.7 percent in
 premiums for California's state and local government workers. ...  (New
 York Times, page C12; Wall Street Journal, page A6).
 __Rising rates for health care insurance show that HMOs are no cure-all
 for high costs, says USA Today on its editorial page.  Last year,
 insurance costs rose 6 percent, and they are expected to hit 9 percent his
 year, according to benefit consulting firm William M. Mercer Inc.  Next
 year will likely  be the same, if not worse, analysts interviewed by USA
 Today predict.  All at a time when overall inflation is barely
 registering.  This trend is especially bedeviling for the 87 percent of
 privately insured Americans who get coverage at work.  That's because of
 two strategies employers are pursuing to limit costs.  (1)Workers are
 paying more.  In the past, employees were largely insulated from insurance
 price hikes, since most got their health insurance "free" from work or
 paid next to nothing for it.  No more.  Today, two-thirds of employees pay
 something for insurance.  And their cost burden is climbing -- to about 20
 percent of premiums today compared to 10 percent in 1988. ...  (2)
 Workers are getting less choice. Only 17 percent of those firms providing
 benefits offer workers a selection of plans.  Fewer still offer a choice
 at smaller firms, which are girding for the biggest premium increases. ...
 
 
 DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Mass Layoffs in March 1999 
 
 

 application/ms-tnef

[PEN-L:7101] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  In March 1999, there were 799 mass layoff actions by
employers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits
during the month.  Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single
establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 84,719.  Both the
number of layoff events and the number of initial claimants for unemployment
insurance were somewhat higher in March 1999 than in March 1998. ...  

Treasury Secretary Rubin says he was not alarmed by the April jump in
consumer prices, adding that he believes the "most likely" scenario for the
U.S. economy is still one of "low inflation with solid growth." ...  Rubin
alluded to such developments as recent strong productivity gains, excess
capacity worldwide, and the fact that corporations have little pricing power
as boding well for continued low inflation. ...  In remarks to reporters
after a Congressional hearing, he stressed the importance of a continued
"intense focus" in both the industrial and developing countries on creating
strong domestic demand-led growth because it is an "unhealthy situation" for
the U.S. economy to be the only engine of growth (Daily labor Report, page
A-9).

Data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 20 weeks of
1999 for newly negotiated settlements show that the median first-year wage
increase equals 3 percent, and the weighted average increase for settlements
reported to date is 2.6 percent.  The manufacturing industry's gain is 3
percent, and its weighted average increase is 2.7 percent.  Nonmanufacturing
settlements, excluding construction contracts, show a median increase of 3
percent, with a weighted average increase of 2.3 percent. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page D-1).

Should prisoners work?  It is an explosive question that drags in a host of
others:  At what wage? Who gets the money?  Can they compete with the
private sector?  Don't we criticize nations such as China for using prison
labor?  But it is an issue one is likely to hear a lot more about, says The
Wall Street Journal (page A2).  The prison population is soaring and with it
the costs of the criminal justice system.  Meanwhile, unemployment has
fallen so low that some companies are scrounging for workers and some
serious economists predict widespread labor shortages early next century.
  Thought the prison population has more than doubled in a decade, it is
still a tiny and low-skilled fraction of the nation's work force.  Putting
every one of them to work full time at the minimum wage would have added a
"barely noticeable" maximum of 0.2 percent to 1998's gross domestic product,
say Princeton University labor economists Alan Krueger and Jeffrey Kling, in
a paper to be presented at a conference tomorrow. ... 

The Canadian and U.S. economies are highly integrated and have been subject
to the same forces of globalization, increased competition, and shifting
technology.  Yet pay and income inequality has risen sharply in the U.S. but
has remained relatively subdued in Canada.  What accounts for these
diverging trends?  A study by economists Kevin M. Murphy of the University
of Chicago, W. Craig Riddell of the University of British Columbia, and Paul
M Romer of Stanford University provides a possible answer.  In both
economies, technological change has been raising job skill requirements and
thus putting upward pressure on the wage of well-educated workers -- and
downward pressure on the pay of the less educated.  But whereas in the U.S.
the ratio of the earnings of college graduates to those of high school
graduates rose sharply to 180 percent between 1980 and 1994, it actually
declined slightly to 157 percent in Canada during the same period.  The
explanation is related to Canada's more aggressive efforts to foster
post-secondary school education.  Provincial Canadian governments have not
only kept college tuition much lower than in the United States, says
Riddell, but have also provided extra funding for expanded enrollments.
Thus the share of high school grads who go on to college in Canada has
exceeded that in the U.S. in recent decades.  This has narrowed the pay gap
in two ways:  by increasing the supply of skilled workers relative to demand
and thus tempering their wage premiums -- and by reducing the supply of
less-educated workers and thus easing downward pressure on their pay
(Business Week, May 24, page 22).

A fee-based search engine of federal Web sites will by available for free
while the government decides whether charging for the system conflicts with
federal policy on unrestricted access to public documents.  NTIS has
launched www.fedworld.gov as a joint venture with Northern Light Technology
(Washington Post, page E14).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Regional and State Employment and Unemployment:  April
1999


 application/ms-tnef

[PEN-L:7227] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  In 1998, the proportion of U.S. families with at least one
employed member was 82.6 percent, up 0.5 percentage point from 1997.  Of the
nation's 70.2 million families, 6.4 percent reported having an unemployed
member, a decline of 0.6 percentage point from the previous year. ...  

The time married women with children spend working outside the home for pay
has almost doubled in the past 3 decades, to an average of 1,200 hours per
year, leaving them much less time for other things, including caring for
their children, the Council of Economic Advisers said in a report released
yesterday. The share of families headed by a single parent, usually a woman,
rose to 30 percent of all families from 13 percent, and the number of hours
worked annually by single parents also rose by about 300 hours during the
same period, from 1969 to 1996, the report said.  "The increase in time
mothers spend in paid work, combined with the shift toward single parent
families, has resulted in families on average experiencing a decrease of 22
hours per week in time available outside of paid work that parents could
spend with children," CEA Chairman Janet L. Yellen said at a news
conference.  There is no recent data available to indicate whether parents
have actually reduced the number of hours spent caring for their children or
cut back on other activities. ...  The report, "Families and the Labor
Market, 1969-1999:  Analyzing the 'Time Crunch,'" was prepared to buttress
the administration's desire to find ways in which the government or private
sector can raise the strictures of that "time crunch." ...  (Washington
Post, page E1).

Countries that tax workers at older ages are driving a growing trend toward
early retirement, thereby adding fiscal pressures to international
retirement systems, according to a new study by the employee Benefit
Research Institute. ...  According to the study summary, there is a strong
correlation between early retirement provisions of Social Security systems
and labor force withdrawal rates.  In France, for example, 60 percent of
those working at the early retirement age of 60 leave the workforce at that
age, EBRI said. ...  The U.S. Social Security system offers married workers
an actuarial adjustment for claiming delayed benefits and other features
that avoid financial incentives to leave the workforce at age 62, but single
workers and high-wage earners have a slight disincentive to remain in the
workforce, according to the report.  Once workers reach age 65, the Social
Security earnings limit provides a stronger incentive to stop working, with
implicit tax rates on work of 19 percent for married workers and 33 percent
for single workers.  The earnings limit reduces Social Security benefits for
older workers who earn wages above certain thresholds. ...  The nonprofit
research organization noted that, while populations of all industrialized
nations are aging rapidly and life expectancies are increasing, older
workers are leaving the workforce at younger ages.  In some developed
countries, workforce participation rates of men ages 60 to 64 have fallen by
75 percent over the last 30 years, EBRI said.  The study, written by
Jonathan Gruber, an economist at MIT and an EBRI fellow, and David Wise, an
economist at Harvard, focuses on retirement systems in the U.S., Germany,
and France, but also discusses systems in eight other countries. ...  (Daily
Labor Report, page A-4).

Burnout, work-family conflicts, and a tight labor market probably will
increase unscheduled absences over the next 2 years, say about half the 401
employers surveyed by consulting firm CCH Inc., Riverwoods, Ill.
Absenteeism hit a 7-year high last year, rising 25 percent from 1997.  On
average, employees used 5.5 out of 9.1 allotted sick days for the year. ...
(Wall Street Journal "Work Week" column, page A1).

Responding to increased competition and demands from individual investors
for access to after-hours trading, the New York Stock Exchange will begin
trading stocks in an extended evening session as early as July.  The NYSE
chairman said that the world's largest exchange is accelerating plans for
extended hours in response to similar interest expressed by the rival Nasdaq
Stock Market.  The NYSE doesn't yet have concrete plans. ...  Extended hours
would revolutionize markets even as they cause headaches for brokerages and
news organizations that will have to prepare for longer days. ...  What is
clear is that this is a move driven by the need to compete globally and the
demands of individuals. ...  (Washington Post, page E1; New York Times, page
C6).


 application/ms-tnef

[PEN-L:7290] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 1999:

The "traditional family" in which only the husband worked comprised only
19.2 percent of all married-couple families in 1998.  This was about the
same as in the previous year, but far short of the nearly 50 percent 30
years ago, according to data released by BLS. ...  "The report shows that
more parents are working and, as a result, need more help balancing their
work and family life," Labor Secretary Herman said. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page D-1).  

For nearly 3 decades, in good times and in bad, young black men with little
education and few skills lost ground.  Facing high unemployment, falling
pay, and persistent discrimination, a depressingly large number never really
joined the work force or drifted out of it, getting by on handouts,
hustling, or crime.  But now the nation's job boom is drawing many of these
young men -- perhaps the most economically disadvantaged, socially alienated
group in America -- back into the economic mainstream.  Low unemployment and
tight labor markets have always encouraged upward mobility.  The surprise,
researchers say, is how dramatic the gains have been.  A new study of
low-wage men in 322 metropolitan areas by Richard B. Freeman at Harvard
University and William M. Rodgers 3d. at the College of William and Mary
shows that black men aged 16 to 24 with a high school education or less --
many saddled with prison records -- are working in greater numbers, earning
bigger paychecks, and committing fewer crimes than in the early
1990's. ...  In the 14 areas where unemployment has been below 4 percent in
every year since 1992 -- places like the Raleigh-Durham area in North
Carolina; Rochester, Minn.; and Des Moines -- the percentage of young,
less-educated black men who are working has jumped from 52 to 64 percent.
  (Sylvia Nasar  with Kirsten B. Mitchell in New York Times, May 23, page
A1).

Consumer confidence edged up in May, for a record-breaking seventh
consecutive monthly gain, the Conference Board reports. "Low inflation and a
strong job market are providing a durable foundation for historically high
levels of consumer confidence," a representative of the research
organization says. ...  The consumer confidence survey is based on a
representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. ...  (Daily Labor Report,
page A-3)_The increase came despite recent reports that the Fed may
consider raising interest rates in the future (Washington Post, page E10).

Home resales dropped 3.3 percent last month after hitting an all-time high
in March, the National Association of Realtors reported.  The setback was
blamed on rising mortgage rates and marked the first decline after five
consecutive monthly increases (Washington Post, page E1). 

The rise in consumer confidence suggests that consumers are willing to keep
spending on all sorts of goods and services as long as jobs remain
plentiful, the stock market remains steady, and prices remain low.  Even the
recent acceleration of inflation has failed to keep shoppers away from the
malls. ...  Fewer respondents, however, said they planned to buy a house in
the near future, reflecting the recent rise in mortgage rates. ...  Indeed,
house sales already are beginning to slow, according to a report that showed
that the rate that existing homes changed hands last month was down 3.3
percent from March's record.  When compared with a year ago, April's results
were up 6.3 percent. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page A2)

The National Association of Manufacturers' survey shows small manufacturers
expect a "slight slowdown" in sales, wages, capital spending, exports, and
profitability this year. ...  Wage pressures indicate little risk of
inflation, since only 14 percent of the small manufacturers anticipated
wages rising by more than 5 percent this year, while nearly 19 percent
actually saw increases of 5 percent or more last year. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page A-13).

Economic growth in the non-manufacturing sector of the economy will stay
strong in the second half of the year, as a significant majority of firms
look for their revenues to increase over 1998, the National Association of
Purchasing Management said. ...  The poll found that the leading concerns
for purchasing executives of non-manufacturing firms are labor and benefit
costs, increased costs and inflation, and availability of labor. ...
Purchasing executives reported that employment had increased 2.6 percent
since November and will increase 1.9 percent for the balance of this year.
Industries that anticipate the greatest increases include business services,
finance and banking, entertainment, retail trade, communication, insurance,
and "other" services. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-12).

Nationwide, the percentage of immigrants in the Army is still small:  about
5 percent last year, up from 2 percent a decade ago.  But Army officials say
they believe that the children of immigrants, too, are enlisting in greater
numbers.  Since 

[PEN-L:7211] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  Regional and state unemployment rates were relatively
stable in April.  All four regions reported little change over the month,
and 42 states recorded shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less.  The national
jobless rate was essentially unchanged at 4.3 percent.  Nonfarm payroll
employment rose in 43 states and the District of Columbia. ...  

U.S. employers laid off 84,719 workers in 799 mass layoff actions in March,
BLS reported.  Both the number of mass layoffs and the number of workers
involved were higher than in March 1998, when US. firms laid off 78,210
workers in 762 mass layoff actions. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-10).

The number of seasonally adjusted new claims filed with state agencies for
unemployment insurance benefits was 299,000 in the week ended May 15, a
decline of 12,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department's Employment
and Training Administration announced. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-8;
Wall Street Journal, page A4).

OECD says the United States can sustain a 3 percent growth rate over time
without boosting inflation pressures, largely because of substantial
productivity gains. But it is still too soon to tell whether the exceptional
productivity increases logged in recent years could permanently hike the
nation's trend rate of growth, which traditionally has been in the 2 percent
to 2.5 percent range, OECD and White House officials agreed. ...  (Daily
Labor Report, page A-9).

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened 2.9 percent to a record
in March, the Commerce Department reports.  "In one sense, the trade deficit
is a real problem, but it's not caused by problems in U.S. competitiveness.
It's caused by the strength of the U.S. economy," economist Joel L Naroff
tells BNA.  Economist Michael Niemira says export-related manufacturing
employment is off by 270,000 from April 1998 to April 1999 -- 66 percent of
the factory job loss in that period. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page
D-1)_The U.S. trade deficit hit a record for the third straight month in
March, underscoring the worrisome side of America's role as the main source
of strength in a sluggish world economy. ...  One bit of good news was that
U.S. exports rose in March, for the first time in 4 months.  But imports
rose even faster. ...  (Washington Post, page E1)_The increase in import
revenues was propelled in part by the higher cost of crude oil, which jumped
in recent months after being depressed for a year or so.  But imports surged
in other categories as well -- notably steel, autos, and auto parts, as
foreign producers looked to the United States as the vibrant market for
their products at a time much of the rest of the world was in the economic
doldrums.  Analysts expect the deficit to continue creeping higher in coming
months, although probably at a slower pace than over the last several
months. ...  (New York Times, page C1; Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Rush hour has gotten so bad that employers are giving workers free gas,
meals, and other perks aimed at getting them to share rides and ease
traffic, says USA Today (page 1A). Companies are giving away the incentives
because ride sharing is considered a way to increase productivity, help with
work and family balance, and reduce job-related stress.  The efforts come as
labor markets tighten and studies show the average commute now tops 35
minutes. ...   


 application/ms-tnef

[PEN-L:7210] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MAY 24, 1999
 
 The Midwest in April had the lowest unemployment rate of any region in the
 country at 3.4 percent, while the West had the highest at 5.1 percent.  In
 the South, the April jobless rate was 4.1 percent, and in the Northeast it
 was 4.2 percent, BLS reports. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 
 Although expanding the scope of prison labor could cut recidivism rates,
 it would likely hurt some low-skilled civilian workers at the bottom level
 of the economy, according to economists at a symposium on inmate labor.  A
 much larger proportion of the prison population than the overall U.S.
 labor force lacks a high school diploma and would only be qualified for
 low-skilled jobs, says Alan B. Krueger, a Princeton University professor.
 ...  A large increase in the proportion of prison inmates working for the
 private sector would depress wages for unskilled workers by about 5
 percent, Krueger says, at the Economics of Inmate Labor Force
 Participation symposium held at George Washington University, Washington,
 D.C. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-4).
 
 A region's ability to entice new workers and keep them by offering
 innovative pay incentives could be the key to its sustained growth in the
 face of severe labor scarcity, analysts say in an annual regional outlook
 on labor markets.  Most U.S. regions expect strong job growth without
 undue wage pressures as employers test various new approaches to recruit
 and retain workers. ...  Worker shortages have already cut the rate of
 expansion in the Midwest and New England.   But businesses, unwilling or
 unable to offer wage increases typical in this environment, have developed
 new ways to compensate workers, often with bonuses tied to a firm's
 performance.  Productivity gains also help to offset inflationary factors.
 ...  (Special Report, Daily Labor Report).
 
 Job opportunities should abound in the third quarter, as strong demand for
 workers continues, according to a Manpower Inc. economic outlook survey.
 The survey of more than 15,000 U.S. companies by the staffing services
 firm found that 32 percent have plans for hiring in the third quarter, 6
 percent expect decreases to payrolls, 58 percent foresee no change, and 4
 percent are uncertain. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-3)_The figures
 were almost identical to the year-earlier numbers and up slightly from the
 April-to-June period, when 29 percent of the companies surveyed said they
 planned to increase their staffs. ...  (Washington Post, page
 A2)_Manpower's president says that the U.S. remains "in a protracted
 period of opportunity for workers of nearly all types." ...  (Wall Street
 Journal, page A4).
 
 Forecasters surveyed quarterly by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
 expect the economy to grow faster this year than they did previously, but
 they don't expect inflation to be any worse this year.  The median of the
 37 forecasts is for the U.S. economy to expand at an annual rate of 3.2
 percent in the current quarter, 2.8 percent in the third quarter, and 2.7
 percent in the fourth; 3 months ago, they had predicted inflationary
 adjusted growth rates of 2.7 percent, 1.9 percent, and 2.4 percent,
 respectively.  After a hiccup in consumer prices in the current quarter
 because of higher oil prices, the economists expect consumer price
 inflation to calm to a 2.1 percent pace in 1999 and rise slightly to 2.3
 percent in 2000, the same as they did in a February survey.  Over the next
 decade, the forecasters expect 2.5 percent annual increases in the CPI.
 But the Philadelphia Fed cautioned that two-thirds of the new forecasts
 were received before BLS reported a surprisingly sharp increase in the CPI
 in April. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page A2).
 
 Like many business problems, the labor squeeze has been worse, overall,
 for small companies.  Basically, that's because they long have trailed
 their bigger cousins in pay, benefits, job security, and  other criteria
 that lead workers to choose one company over another. ...  U.S.
 unemployment peaked this decade at 8.1 percent in January 1992, at the end
 of the recession.  As the ensuing economic recovery caught steam,
 joblessness slid rapidly to an average of 5.6 percent for 1995, according
 to BLS.  By 1997, the rate had dropped below 5 percent, the floor that
 economists used to call "full employment."  Last year, unemployment
 continued to nudge down stubbornly, finishing at an average of 4.5 percent
 and this year it has fallen even further, to 4.2 percent. ...  This has
 pulled people into the work force seemingly out of thin air.  Immigrants,
 early retirees, moonlighters, the chronically unemployed -- all of them
 continue to go to work in massive numbers, baffling economists and filling
 a great many of the new jobs. ...  (Wall Street Journal in a special
 supplement on Small Business, page R28).
 
 Less than 4 percent of union workers were uninsured for health care in

[PEN-L:6989] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MAY 18, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  In February 1999, there were 878 mass layoff actions by
employers as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits
during the month.  Each action involved at least 50 persons from a single
establishment, and the number of workers involved totaled 80,134.  Both the
number of layoff events and the number of initial claimants for unemployment
insurance were slightly lower in February 1999 than in February 1998. ...  

A few hours after starting a fee-based search engine for federal government
Internet sites and documents, the Commerce Department put the project off to
review whether it conflicts with the administration's policy on unrestricted
access to government information.  Commerce officials said the
administration wanted to review the joint venture by the National Technical
Information Service and Northern Light Technology Inc. from all policy
angles, not just that of NTIS, which is a for-profit agency.  The
announcement that the project was being delayed came several hours after
NTIS and Northern Light officials held a news briefing to demonstrate the
search engine at the National Press Club and after newspaper articles about
the project had appeared. ...  (New York Times, page C6).

Federal Reserve policymakers meet today to decide whether economic growth is
so strong that an increase in short-term interest rates is needed to cool it
down before it causes the nation's low inflation rate to pick up.  Almost
universally, financial analysts are betting that the officials, led by
Chairman Alan Greenspan, will not raise rates even though booming consumer
spending has been spurring growth well in excess of what Fed forecasters had
expected. The analysts are badly split, however, over whether inflation
worries will cause the policymaking group, the Federal Open Market
Committee, to decide to send a signal to financial markets and the public
that it is leaning in the direction of raising rates at a later date.  Those
expecting such a signal became more convinced on Friday when BLS reported
consumer prices jumped 0.7 last month, the largest monthly  increase in 5
years. But that jump was an anomaly, other analysts stressed. ...
(Washington Post, page E1)_Fueling fears of an eventual rate rise was
Friday's report that consumer prices rose 2.3 percent in the 12 months ended
in April, the first time since October 1987 that prices rose more than 2
percent year to year. ...  (New York Times, page C12)_Until now, a
pleasurable combination of stronger-than-expected economic growth and
weaker-than-expected inflation has made it easy for the hold-steady crowd at
the Federal Reserve.  Suddenly, the Fed's worrywart contingent has something
to talk about.  Last week's government report of an uptick in consumer price
inflation and new signs of vitality in factory output are likely to make
today's meeting of the Fed's policysetting Open Market Committee a lot more
interesting than the past couple of sessions.  The issues the Fed confronts
are clear:  The resolution is not.  Will inflation accelerate unless the Fed
raises interest rates soon to slow the economy, or is the economy about to
slow on its own?  Is the global economy coming back, or about to suffer a
relapse?  Are productivity growth and global competition increasing so much
that the U.S. can safely expand rapidly for a few more quarters? ...  (Wall
Street Journal, page A2).

Employees in the United States and Canada should expect salary increases to
continue hovering around 4 percent, according to a preliminary sample from
the American Compensation Association's 1999-2000 Total Salary Increase
Budget Survey.  Estimates for 1999 U.S. salaries were grouped by employee
category.  Survey respondents estimated that pay increases would be 4
percent for nonexempt hourly workers, 4.1 percent for nonexempt salaried
employees, 4.2 percent for exempt-salaried employees, and 4.5 percent for
officer/executives.  The results are based on a random e-mail survey of
2,000 ACA members in the United States and 800 in Canada. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page A-5).

More employers motivate the rank and file with stock options, according to
the "Work Week" feature of The Wall Street Journal (page A1). ...  In a
survey of 350 companies' 1998 proxy statements, William M. Mercer, a New
York benefits consultant, found 35 percent with stock options for most
employees, more than double the 1993 total. ...  

Three-quarters of full-time employees are offered retirement programs by
their employers, according to results from a survey conducted for the Profit
Sharing/401(k) Council of America by Bruskin/Goldring Research.  The survey
found that 70.4 percent of employees age 18 and older, and 75.7 percent of
those employed full time, are provided a retirement program as part of their
benefits package. ...  Bruskin/Goldring surveyed 1,000 households, which
were telephoned randomly, in the United States for the study 

[PEN-L:6913] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1999
 
 RELEASED TODAY:
   CPI -- The CPI-U rose 0.7 percent in April on a seasonally adjusted
 basis.  This was the largest monthly advance since an increase of the same
 magnitude in October 1990.  About half of the CPI-U advance was
 attributable to a record increase in gasoline prices.  Overall energy
 costs rose 6.l percent; the index for petroleum-based energy increased
 14.0 percent, while the index for energy services decreased 0.1 percent.
 The food index, which declined 0.2 percent in March, increased 0.1 percent
 in April. ...  Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U increased 0.4 percent
 in April, following increases of 0.1 percent in each of the first 3 months
 of 1999.  The acceleration in April reflects sharp upturns in the indexes
 for apparel and for tobacco and smoking products, coupled with a larger
 increase in shelter costs. ...
   REAL EARNINGS -- Real average weekly earnings decreased by 0.2 percent
 from March to April after seasonal adjustment.  A 0.3 percent increase in
 average weekly hours and a 0.2 percent gain in average hourly earnings
 were offset by a 0.7 percent increase in the CPI-W. ...  After adjustment
 for inflation, average weekly earnings grew by 1.0 percent from April 1998
 to April 1999. ...  
 
 A hefty leap in energy prices sent wholesale prices soaring in April, BLS
 data show, but economists saw little cause for immediate concern, noting
 that most other producer prices remained steady during the month.
 Seasonally adjusted data reveal a 0.5 percent jump in the producer price
 index for finished goods, more than double the 0.2 percent gain logged in
 March and well ahead of the 0.4 percent decline posted in February.  But,
 if a near-30 percent surge in gasoline prices is excluded from the mix,
 the PPI actually slipped 0.1 percent during the month. ...  The Fed is not
 worried about the pop-up in energy prices, according to a vice president
 and economist with First Union National Bank in Charlotte, N.C.  He
 predicted that energy prices will soften a bit once the bombing in
 Yugoslavia stops.  Most economists predict that the central bank will hold
 short-term interest rate targets steady at the upcoming policy-setting
 meeting May 18. ...  (Susan McInerney in Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 
 Retail sales were nearly flat in April, edging up just 0.1 percent after
 an equally modest increase in March, the Commerce Department reported.
 The increase was weaker than analysts had expected. ...  (Daily Labor
 Report, page D-9).
 
 __A record spike in gasoline prices reported by BLS masked wholesale
 trends in U.S. inflation and retail sales during April, as the economy
 kept its even keel at the start of the second quarter.  The two reports
 braced financial markets, sending bond and stock prices higher on hopes
 that the Federal Reserve policymakers meeting next Tuesday would see no
 need to raise interest rates to sustain steady, low-inflation growth. ...
 The "core" PPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose just
 0.1 percent in April after a flat reading in the previous month.  Gasoline
 prices shot up last month by 29.1 percent, the largest increase on record,
 but food prices fell. ...  (Glenn Somerville in Washington Post, page E3).
 __The economy continues to grow with few signs of accelerating inflation.
 Retail sales rose 0.1 percent in April, matching March's increase. ...  A
 separate Labor Department report dispelled fears of higher prices by
 showing that producer prices rose only 0.l percent last month when the
 biggest increase in oil prices since the 1990 Persian Gulf crisis was
 excluded.  Retail sales were restrained by a drop in auto and department
 store business and would have actually fallen one-tenth of a percent if it
 were not for a 2.4 percent rise in gasoline sales. ...  (Bloomberg News
 report in New York Times, page C2).
 __The spring shopping season wasn't very rosy for retailers. ...  Sluggish
 sales in March and April -- the 2 worst months for merchants since a drop
 in sales last July -- follow 2 months of exceptionally strong growth. ...
 Separately, the Labor Department issued some rare bad news on the
 inflation front, reporting that the producer price index -- fueled by a 29
 percent jump in gasoline prices -- rose 0.5 percent in April, the highest
 increase since December. ...  Economists have played down the impact of
 higher oil prices on inflation  overall, noting there is little evidence
 of price pressure in other parts of the economy. ...  (Alejandro
 Bodipo-Memba in Wall Street Journal, page A2).   
 
 The number of seasonally adjusted new claims filed with state agencies for
 unemployment insurance benefits was 303,000 in the week ended May 8,
 unchanged from the previous week, the Employment and Training
 Administration announces. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-12; Wall Street
 Journal, page A2).  
 
 The Labor Department is revising income levels used to 

[PEN-L:6334] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1999:
 
 Today's News Release:  "Employment Experience and Other Characteristics of
 Youths:  Results from a New Longitudinal Survey" indicates that more than
 half (57 percent) of youths participate in some type of work activity
 while age 14, and nearly two-thirds (64 percent) work at some point while
 age 15, according to a new survey from BLS.  work, as defined in the
 survey, can include "employee" jobs, in which youths have an on-going
 relationship with a particular employer, such as a restaurant or
 supermarket, and/or "freelance" jobs outside the home, where the youths is
 doing tasks such as babysitting or yard work.  These findings are from the
 first round of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, a
 nationally representative sample of 9,022 young men and women who were 12
 to 16 years of age on December 31, 1996.  The survey provides information
 on employment experiences, schooling, family background, social behavior,
 and other characteristics.  The release focuses on four aspects of the
 lives of these youths, who were ages 12 to 17 when interviewed in 1997:
 overall employment, employment while in school, educational experiences
 and home characteristics.
 
 Private industry compensation costs in the first quarter of 1999 grew at
 the slowest rate since BLS began publishing this seasonally adjusted data
 in 1982, Labor Secretary Herman says.  "The report implies an absence of
 inflationary pressures on employers."  Compensation costs -- wages and
 salaries plus benefits -- as measured by the employment cost index slowed
 in the first quarter after a 0.7 percent gain in the last 3 months of
 1998.  Analysts voice surprise at the mild 0.4 percent increase in
 compensation costs and private industry wages and salaries in the first
 quarter (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 __Despite tight labor markets almost everywhere in the country, labor
 costs are rising so modestly that they are putting virtually no pressure
 on most firms to raise prices, says John M. Berry, writing in The
 Washington Post (page E1). The good news for workers was that even with
 only a 3 percent gain in compensation -- wages and salaries were up 3.3
 percent and the cost of benefits up 2.3 percent -- they stayed well ahead
 of inflation, since consumer prices were up only 1.7 percent over the same
 period.  The report caught many financial analysts off guard.  Most had
 been expecting an increase for the first quarter of twice the size of that
 reported.  
 __Despite declining unemployment and a shortage of workers in some
 industries, wage and benefit increases slowed markedly in the first 3
 months of the year, the government reported today.  Its broadest gauge of
 compensation, the employment cost index, rose just 0.4 percent in the
 first quarter.  The quarterly increase -- the smallest since the index was
 created in 1982 -- was half what economists had been predicting, and
 showed that compensation growth has now slowed for two consecutive
 quarters even as joblessness has declined to a 29-year low of 4.2 percent
 (The New York Times, page C1). 
 __The U.S. economy continues to defy textbook economics as the pace of
 wage growth slows, despite an every-tightening labor market.  The slowdown
 in pay reported by the employment cost index, "is very surprising.  I
 don't think anybody has a good answer," said an economist for Harris
 Bank/Bank of Montreal, who like many economists had been expecting a jump
 of 0.8 percent.  One popular theory is that the U.S. is now fully enjoying
 the cycle of low inflation:  with prices stable for so long, workers' wage
 demands are no longer pumped up by fears that escalating prices will erode
 their paychecks. "We've seen a decline in the measured rate of inflation,
 which may be lowering inflation expectations" (The Wall Street Journal,
 page A2).
 
 New claims filed with state agencies for Unemployment Insurance benefits
 fell by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 294,000 in the week ended April
 24, the Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor
 has announced.  The decline reverses the spike in claims over the prior 2
 weeks and confirms strength in the labor market, according to economists
 at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (Daily Labor Report, page D-15).
 
 Shortages of skilled labor intensified, the demand for goods strengthened,
 and profit margins continued to shrink in the first quarter of 1999,
 according to a survey released by the National Association of Business
 Economists.  "NABE members believe the overall economy will advance
 solidly during the first half of 1999," NABE President Joel Frankken said.
 "Helped by a fledgling turnaround in Asia, even the manufacturing sector
 shows signs of strengthening.  Profit margins, however, remain squeezed
 from above by fiercely competitive pricing and from below by labor costs
 that are rising faster and material costs that are falling slower than 3
 

[PEN-L:6393] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MAY 3, 1999:
 
 More than half (57 percent) of all youths work at some time while age 14,
 mostly in freelance jobs, according to a new survey by BLS.  The findings
 represent the first round of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
 1997, a nationally representative sample of 9,022 young men and women who
 were 12 to 16 years old on December 31, 1996.  The survey provides
 information on employment experiences, schooling, family background, and
 social behavior (Daily Labor Report, page D-13).
 
 The U.S. economy grew at a 4.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter,
 as consumers spending boomed, the Commerce Department reports.  Personal
 consumption surged 6.7 percent (Daily Labor Report, page D-3).
 __As American consumers continued their shopping spree, increasing their
 spending at the fastest pace in more than a decade, the U.S. economy grew
 at a stronger than expected 4.5 percent annual rate in the first 3 months
 of the year, the Commerce Department reported yesterday. Consumers spend
 more than they received in current after-tax income, snapping up new motor
 vehicles, furniture, clothing and a variety of services.  That meant that
 households had to borrow or dip into savings to cover the difference,
 driving the personal savings rate to an all-time low of minus 0.5 percent.
 Consumers appear emboldened by a variety of factors, including plentiful
 jobs, rising wages, low interest rates, low inflation and rising household
 wealth because of the soaring stock market and solid real estate markets.
 Nonetheless, economists and financial analysts keep expecting consumer
 spending gains to drop back so that they are more in line with increases
 in current income (John M.Berry, in The Washington Post, May 1, page 1).
 __America's economic boom -- already the second longest on record -- shows
 no signs of flagging.  Despite a declined in auto production and another
 sharp deterioration in the trade balance, the United States economy grew
 at a surprisingly robust rate during the first quarter of 1999 (Sylvia
 Nasar, in The New York Times, page 1).
 __Consumers were buying up everything in sight in the first quarter of
 1999, keeping the U.S. economy roaring ahead despite a worsening trade
 deficit.  Over the 4 quarters of 1998, the U.S. economy expanded by 4.3
 percent.  The GDP, or the value of all goods and services produced in the
 U.S., shot up at a 4.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 1999,
 following a stunning surge of 6 percent in the fourth quarter or 1998 (The
 Wall Street Journal, page A2).  Throughout April, investor enthusiasm over
 a recovering global economy and firming commodity prices sent the stocks
 of economically sensitive companies through the roof.  Yet this positive
 sign could have its unpleasant flipside.  Could a stronger economy and
 stronger commodity prices feed inflation pressure, drive up interest rates
 and undermine one of the most richly valued stock markets ever? (The Wall
 Street Journal, page C1).
 
 Although analysts have been predicting a moderation in consumer spending
 and overall economic growth for some time, U.S. households have continued
 to defy those forecasts, using net worth, low interest rats, and falling
 import prices to fuel their demand for goods and services.  Yet there are
 some tangible signs, suggesting that consumers are starting to rein in
 their purchases, a notion supported by the upswing in April tax payments,
 higher long-term interest rates, and a decline in weekly saving.
 Generally, economists contacted by the Bureau of National Affairs, say
 consumer spending should slow to about half of its first-quarter pace in
 the April-June period, with outlays forecast to advance to about a 3
 percent annual rate rather than the lofty 6.7 percent pace charted at the
 start of 1999.  With consumer expenditures accounting for two-thirds of
 total U.S. economic activity, that still would yield an overall growth
 rate of about 2.5 to 3.4 percent for the second quarter, analysts say
 (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 
 Real, inflation-adjusted, wages have finally surpassed their 1989 level
 after stagnating or failing through much of this economic expansion, an
 Economic Policy Institute report indicates. Tight labor markets,
 especially during the past year, have helped raise the wages of workers,
 particularly in the last few years, according to the article "Real Median
 Wages Finally Recover 1989 Level," in the inaugural issue of EPI's
 "Quarterly Wage and Employment Series". By the end of 1998, average real
 wages were 1.6 percent higher than in 1989.  Wage growth and low inflation
 have especially helped low-income groups, the report by EPI economist
 Jared Bernstein said.  Unemployment levels fell to a 29-year low of 4.3
 percent in 1998, greatly benefiting low- and middle-wage workers,
 according to the report (Daily Labor Report, page A2).
 
 Coal exports to Europe from West Virginia, Kentucky and 

[PEN-L:6406] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1999:
 
 Today's News Release:  "Productivity by Industry: Service Sector and
 Mining, 1997" reports on labor productivity changes in 1997 for selected
 industries in the service and the mining sectors of the U.S. economy.
 Labor productivity -- defined as output per hour -- rose in 1997 for most
 of the industries measured by BLS in these sectors. In 1997, output per
 hour increased in 74 percent of the service and mining industries, as
 measured at the 3-digit level of the SIC Manual.  Output, which is the
 production of goods and services, rose in 81 percent of the industries at
 the 3-digit level, while hours of labor rose in 72 percent of the
 industries.
 
 A Labor Department survey found that more than half of 14- and
 15-year-olds are employed.  According to the survey, 57 percent of
 14-year-olds work in some capacity, while 64 percent of 15-year-olds a re
 employed (The New York Times, page A12).
 
 The nation's manufacturing sector continued to grow in April, with a
 broader-based gain but slower pace than in March, the National Association
 of Purchasing Management says.  Although the purchasing managers' index
 was slightly lower in April at 52.8 percent, growth was unabated.  Despite
 healthy economic demand, however, factory payrolls continued to shrink in
 April, although at a slower pace than in March.  The employment index
 stood at 49.5 percent, up from 48 percent in March. "The industrial sector
 is firming, but certainly not booming," according to a Merrill Lynch
 economist (Daily Labor Report, page A-2).
 __Manufacturing grew in April for the third consecutive month, and
 personal income and spending and construction spending all rose in March,
 a private industry survey and Government reports showed today.  "The
 economy looks like it still has lots of momentum," said an economist at
 Standard  Poor's DRI in Lexington, Mass.  "Manufacturing looks reasonably
 good.  Consumer spending is rising.  Housing is strong."  The National
 Association of Purchasing Management's factory index was 52.8 last month.
 While that was down from a March reading of 54.3, it was still the third
 consecutive monthly reading above 50, indicating more businesses reported
 improved conditions than showed declines.  On the inflation front, the
 purchasing association reported its index of prices paid rose to 49.9 in
 April from 43.2 during March, an indication that more companies reported
 price increases during the month (Bloomberg News, in an article in The New
 York Times, page C6).
 __The nation's purchasing executives said that manufacturing activity
 continued to grow in April, but at a slower pace than the month before.
 Meanwhile, other sectors of the economy continued to produce positive
 news. The Commerce Department said personal income and consumption both
 rose moderately in March, but the savings rate has remained negative for 4
 consecutive months.  It also said construction spending rose 0.5 percent
 in March (The Wall Street Journal, page A2; The Journal's page 1 chart is
 of the Purchasing Management Index, 1997 to the present).  
 
 Personal income rose 0.4 percent in March, the same pace as spending, the
 Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis reports.  Private
 industry wages and salaries rose 0.2 percent in March, after advancing 0.6
 percent in February.  Manufacturing wages and salaries decreased 0.1
 percent in March after a 0.3 percent February gain. Service industries
 wages and salaries rose 0.6 percent in March, following a 0.8 percent jump
 in February (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 __Personal income and personal spending grew at a slower rate in March
 than in previous months, but both continued to rise at a hefty 5 percent
 annual rate, the Commerce Department reports.  Analysts said the March
 figures indicated the economy entered the second quarter on a somewhat
 less exuberant note, and some forecasters said the economy is likely to
 grow this spring at a 3 to 3.5 percent pace, down from 4.5 percent in the
 first 3 months of the year and a roaring 6 percent rate in the fourth
 quarter of last year. Meanwhile the National Association of Purchasing
 Management's monthly index of conditions in the manufacturing sector of
 the economy slipped to 52.8 last month, from 54.3 in March, indicating
 that conditions are still improving but at a slower rate.  In another
 indication of solid U.S. economic growth, Commerce said the value in March
 of construction work on homes, office buildings, factories, hospitals,
 roads and other structures was up only slightly from February, but was 11
 percent higher than in March 1998 (John M. Berry, writing in The
 Washington Post, page E2).
 
 Both private and public-sector construction reached record levels in
 March, contradicting economists' predictions of a slight decline, the
 Census Bureau reports (Daily Labor Report, page A-4).
 
 Warning that American future retirement security depends on 

[PEN-L:6712] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MAY 11, 1999:
 
 Today's News Release:  "Productivity and Costs:  First Quarter 1999"
 indicates that the annual rates of productivity change -- as measured by
 output per hour of all persons -- for the first quarter of 1999 were 4.7
 percent in the business sector and 4.0 percent in the nonfarm business
 sector.  The data is preliminary.  These productivity gains resulted from
 a combination of strong output growth and modest increases in hours of all
 persons.  In manufacturing, productivity changes in the first quarter
 were:  5.8 percent in manufacturing; 8.2 percent in durable goods
 manufacturing; and 2.4 percent in nondurable goods manufacturing.
 
 The Wall Street Journal's feature "Tracking the Economy" (May 10, page A6)
 shows that the CPI for April, to be released Friday, is predicted to rise
 .2 percent.  It rose .2 percent in March, as well.
 __Falling energy prices, cheap imports, docile workers and the plunging
 price of computer power aren't the only reasons the U.S. inflation rate is
 falling.  Changes in the way the government calculates the CPI also
 account, to a significant degree, for the poky pace of inflation.  As
 measured by the CPI, the inflation rate has fallen from above 3 percent in
 1991 to less than 2 percent in the past 12 months.  Had BLS used the same
 yardstick in each of those years, the inflation rate would be down, but
 the difference wouldn't be so sharp.  In the last 12 months, the prices of
 the basket of goods and services in the CPI rose by 1.9 percent.  But had
 changes to the index not been made over the last 4 years, prices would
 have risen approximately 2.0 percent, according to BLS.  Robert J. Gordon,
 professor of economics at Northwestern University, estimated in a recent
 article that the CPI would have been 0.73 percentage points higher in 1998
 if calculated using 1992 methods.  Thus far, BLS hasn't restated
 historical data, so comparing today's inflation rate to the inflation rate
 reported for 1992 is misleading.  The agency is currently compiling data
 for researchers that will allow them to compare the changes in the CPI
 dating back to 1978
 on an apples to apples basis.  The new data are expected to be available
 this summer (The Wall Street Journal, page A2).
 
 The national retail price for unleaded gasoline increased during the past
 week to $1.140 a gallon, putting the price more than 10 cents above year
 earlier levels, the Department of Energy said.  Based on its survey of 800
 stations, the DOE said the price for gasoline at the pump rose from $1.136
 from May 3 to $1.140 on May 10.  Fuel costs were predicted to rise
 throughout the month, according to a DOE forecast that said summer
 gasoline prices will peak in May at $1.18 a gallon and then average $1.13
 for the season (The Washington Post, page E13).
 
 In Europe, there's no longer much stigma attached to being out of work,
 says The New York Times (May 9, page WK 5).  While America's economy is
 booming, the economies of Japan and Europe are stagnating.  Then some
 other countries have generous unemployment benefits. In Sweden, where the
 unemployment rate has jumped from a minuscule 1.4 percent to 5.6 percent
 in the last decade, unemployed workers can collect nearly 80 percent as
 much as if they were working, compared with about 50 percent in the United
 States and Japan.  In Spain, it's 70 percent (until recently it was 90
 percent) and in France it's nearly 60 percent.  While in the United States
 and Japan, an unemployed worker can collect unemployment benefits for 26
 weeks, in Britain unemployed people can collect practically forever.
 Accompanying charts show the America has one of the world's lowest jobless
 rates, and creates jobs faster than Europe and Japan, especially among
 younger workers and women.  One reason is that there is no incentive to
 remain unemployed for long in the United States. And American companies
 also find it cheaper to hire workers than their European counterparts.
 Among the sources of data is BLS.
 
 Setting up an employee stock ownership plan improves companies financial
 performance, not just staff morale, according to a new study of the plans
 by Hewitt Associates, a consulting firm based in Lincolnshire, Ill.  The
 study examined the performance of all 382 publicly traded companies that
 adopted such plans, known as ESOP's from 1971 through 1995.  The average
 company in the study improved the annual return on its stock by 6.9
 percentage points and the return on assets by 2.7 percentage points after
 establishing its plan.  An ESOP acquires or is granted significant
 holdings of company stock on employees' behalf.  The director of the
 National Center for Employee Ownership says "ESOP's are almost never a
 substitute for compensation," noting that wages at companies with the
 plans are typically 5 to 12 percent higher than industry averages.
 Nevertheless, he says, publicly traded companies were turning away 

[PEN-L:6504] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1999

New orders for manufactured goods bounced back in March, rising 2 percent,
the Commerce Department's Census Bureau reports.  In February, new factory
orders declined 1.8 percent.  March was the fourth advance in the last 5
months.  "Most indicators concerning the manufacturing sector suggest
somewhat better activity in the months ahead," said the senior economist at
Merrill Lynch. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1; Washington Post, page
E10; Wall Street Journal, page A2).

The Federal Reserve's latest "beige book," or summary of current economic
conditions in each of the 12 Federal Reserve districts, reports that
consumer spending in March and April continues to fuel overall economic
growth with purchases of automobiles and other goods.  The report also
reveals generally improved manufacturing growth, high levels of both
residential and commercial construction, strong loan demand, and an upswing
in the nation's energy sector reports. ...  Despite still-tight labor
markets, wage gains remained in check and prices stable.  However, there has
been some pickup in non-wage compensation for higher-level personal, and
employers are using hiring and retention bonuses to attract and hold on to
skilled workers, the central bank notes. ...  Economists dubbed the Fed's
latest report on the economy consistent with government data pointing to
continued growth with no inflationary pressures. ...  (Daily Labor Report,
page D-4; Washington Post, page E10; New York Times, page C7_Tight labor
markets are pressuring many employers to pay bonuses to attract and keep
skilled workers,  but few workers are seeing their wages rise significantly,
according to a Federal Reserve survey. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page A2).

Growth in the nonmanufacturing sector strengthened in April, continuing a
long-term trend, the National Association of Purchasing Management says. ...
Prices paid by nonmanufacturers for materials and services increased in
April for the second month in a row.  Employment also rose for the second
consecutive month. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-10).

Data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 18 weeks of
1999 for newly negotiated settlements show that the median first-year wage
increase equals 3 percent and the weighted average increase for settlements
reported to date is 2.5 percent.  The manufacturing industry's gain is 3
percent, and its weighted average increase is 2.7 percent.  Nonmanufacturing
settlements, excluding construction contracts, show a median increase of 3
percent, with a weighted average increase of 2.3 percent. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page D-6).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  The Employment Situation:  April 1999


 application/ms-tnef

[PEN-L:6572] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1999
 
 RELEASED TODAY:  Employment rose in April, and the unemployment rate was
 essentially unchanged at 4.3 percent.  Nonfarm payroll employment grew by
 234,000.  Job gains occurred throughout the service-producing sector, but
 losses continued in manufacturing and mining. ...  
 
 Top executives of the largest U.S. industrial companies say the U.S.
 economy is experiencing "the best of times" as businesses continue to
 improve their operations while offering an increasing number of employees
 a chance to share in profits,  Labor market tightness affects all of their
 industries -- from finance to shipping -- but it has not restrained sales
 or threatened to add to inflation, the executives say. ...  To a large
 extent, the chief executive officers' view of labor market conditions
 explains their optimism on noninflationary growth.  Productivity gains
 have offset any compensation increases because of worker shortages,
 especially in jobs demanding high skills, the business leaders say.
 Members of the Business Council, meeting in Williamsburg, Va., believe
 that the worst is over in the major Asian economies, a development they
 believe will result in sustained growth with little inflation. ...  (Daily
 Report, page AA-1)_The executives believe the global economic crisis
 is over and about half of them think business in the United States will be
 better this year than in 1998. ...  Few company chiefs reported problems
 with tight labor markets, but a large majority said they still had little
 ability to raise prices, a trend they expect to continue for the next 6
 months (Washington Post, page E3; Wall Street Journal, page A10).
 
 __Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan tells bankers that the recent growth
 in labor productivity, fueled by innovations in information technology, is
 largely responsible for the current subdued rate of inflation and 7 years
 of strong economic performance. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page AA-1).
 __Greenspan says that an unexpected leap in technology is primarily
 responsible for the nation's "phenomenal" economic performance and the
 current extraordinary combination of strong growth, low unemployment, low
 inflation, high corporate growth, and soaring stock prices. Previously, he
 had emphasized some temporary factors, such as falling oil prices and a
 strong dollar, that had benefited the economy.  But he had only speculated
 about whether more long-term forces were at work.  But, in a speech in
 Chicago, he declared that the economy's performance "is not just a
 cyclical phenomenon or a statistical aberration" and instead "reflects --
 at least in part -- a more deep-seated, still developing shift in our
 economic landscape."  His sweeping assessment indicated that he believes
 the U.S. economy can continue to grow, within some limits, more rapidly
 than in the past without causing inflation to increase. ...  (Washington
 Post, page A1).
 __Despite a remarkable run of prosperity that he credited in large part to
 new technology, Greenspan delivered his bluntest warning in months __ the
 economy could still be derailed by its old nemesis, inflation. ...  At the
 top of his list was declining unemployment, which he said would eventually
 push wages and perhaps prices higher in an inflationary spiral. ...  (New
 York Times, page C1).
 __"At some point," Greenspan said, "labor market conditions can become so
 tight that the rise in nominal wages will start increasingly outpacing the
 gains in labor productivity and prices inevitably will begin to
 accelerate."  He warned that inflationary pressures could re-emerge
 possibly faster than some currently perceive. ...  (Wall Street Journal,
 page A2).
 
 New unemployment insurance benefits claims filed with state agencies rose
 by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 301, in the week ended May 1, the
 Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor has
 announced. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_Initial United States
 jobless claims rose by a larger-than-expected 6,000 in the latest week,
 the government said in a report that nevertheless suggested that
 employment prospects for workers remained strong. ...  (New York Times,
 page C8).
 
 Businesses announced in April that they would cut 54,399 jobs, the lowest
 level in 6 months, according to a report by Challenger, Gray  Christmas.
 The number of job cuts declined 21 percent compared with March's total of
 68,984.  This made April the lowest job-cut month since November. ...
 (Daily Labor Report, page A2).
 
 Retailers' same-store sales rose 4.2 percent in April, beating forecasts
 for the seventh month in a row, as shoppers snapped up spring fashions at
 clothing chains and department stores. ...  (Washington Post, page
 E3)_For growth in consumption to accelerate after 8 years of economic
 expansion is a surprise -- the torrid pace had been expected to slow.
 Retail analysts and economists now point 

[PEN-L:6632] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MAY 10, 1999:
 
 Nonfarm payroll employment grew by a healthy 234,000, seasonally adjusted,
 in April, as hourly earnings continue to increase, but at a reduced rate.
 The nation's jobless rate edged up a statistically insignificant 0.1
 percentage point to 4.3 percent, according to BLS' separate survey of
 50,000 households.  Even with this strong job growth and low unemployment,
 however, average hourly earnings rose just 3.2 percent in the year ending
 in April, the lowest year-over-year increase since BLS logged a 3 percent
 gain in March 1996.  "We have the lowest increase in average hourly
 earnings in 3 years at the same time the unemployment rate has fallen
 substantially," says the chief economist at the Federal National Mortgage
 Association.  "While the service sector depends largely on labor for
 economic growth," according to the president of the National Association
 of Manufacturers, manufacturing provides more productivity for growth.
 ...manufacturing provides about 18 percent of the total hours Americans
 work,  but accounts for nearly 60 percent of our technological advances"
 (Daily Labor Report, page D-1; BLS Commissioner Katharine Abraham's
 Statement on Release of the April Employment Report, page E-1).
 __The nation's unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3 percent last month, as
 the pool of available labor grew faster than the number of jobs.  But
 joblessness among blacks dipped to 7.7 percent, the lowest level sine
 1972, when such separate figures were first kept.  For just over a year,
 the unemployment rate has bounced between 4.2 percent and 4.5 percent as
 the economy has grown  rapidly.  A combination of labor force growth and
 large productivity gains have kept the strong growth from causing a sharp
 decline in joblessness that might have sparked a round of inflationary
 wage increases.  Last month, average hourly earnings rose only 3 cents to
 $13.11, which was just 3.2 percent higher than in April 1998.  That hourly
 figure does not include either bonuses or non-cash compensation such as
 employer paid health insurance premiums.  Nevertheless, workers' pay was
 rising faster than consumer prices, which rose less than 2 percent over
 the same period (John M. Berry, writing in The Washington Post, May 8,
 page E1).
 __America's jobs boom is increasingly pulling many of the nation's most
 vulnerable citizens out of poverty and unemployment, Sylvia Nasar writes
 in The New York Times (May 8, page B1).  The unemployment rate has now
 been at or below 4.5 percent for slightly more than a year, and at or
 below 5 percent for a full 2 years.  Investors, who were a bit rattled on
 Thursday by a warning from Fed Chairman Greenspan that the tight labor
 market still posed an inflationary threat, generally took the strong April
 job growth in stride.  That was mostly because the report showed no signs
 that wages were accelerating.  The most striking feature of yesterday's
 report was how broadly the benefits of economic growth are being spread.
 Joblessness among workers who have long suffered the highest unemployment
 rates continued to decline.
 __Despite continued job growth and almost record-low unemployment in April
 wage pressures remain remarkably dormant.  Economists continue to marvel
 at how employers, despite an ever-tightening labor pool, continue to be
 able to avoid raising wages to both recruit and retain workers. In many
 cases, businesses are offering stock and stock options instead, according
 to a Federal Reserve survey.  On the one hand, a lack of wage pressure is
 a good thing for the economy.  On the other hand, "Since this is the most
 favorable labor market that workers are likely to see for some time...the
 current rate of wage growth does not bode well for future living
 standards," says Dean Baker, an economist with the Preamble Center for
 Public Policy, a Washington think tank (The Wall Street Journal, page A2.
 The Journal's page 1 graph is of the unemployment rate, 1997 to the
 present).
 
 The Wall Street Journal's feature "Tracking the Economy" (page A6) shows
 that the Technical Data Consensus Forecast for nonfarm productivity for
 the first quarter, to be released by BLS tomorrow, at 2.9 percent,
 compared to the previous actual figure of 4.2 percent.  Producer prices
 for April, to be released Thursday, are predicted to be at 0.2 percent,
 the same increase in March.  Consumer prices for April to be released
 Friday are predicted to rise 0.1 percent, in contrast to the increase of
 0.4 percent for March.
 
 Business executives who run some of the largest U.S. companies are
 counting on future productivity gains linked to technological innovations
 to keep the U.S. economy on its path of stable expansion.  Members of the
 Business Council met in Williamsburg, Va.  The official forecast of the
 council's advisors, who are chief economists of the corporations, pegged
 inflation-adjusted gross domestic product at a growth 

[PEN-L:6468] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 1999

The composite index of leading economic indicators edged ahead 0.1 percent
in March, buoyed by slower delivery times and still rising stock prices, the
Conference Board, a private research group, reports.  The March increase
points to continued healthy growth in the United States economy for the next
6 months. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_Rising stock prices and
signs of a backlog in the delivery of orders by vendors pushed a principal
gauge of future economic activity higher for the 6th consecutive month in
March, signaling continued strength in the economy. ...  (New York Times,
page C2; Wall Street Journal, page A2).

With the summer driving season approaching, the price of gasoline across the
country has jumped sharply from historically low levels as major oil
producing countries cut supplies of crude oil.  The supply of crude remains
the most crucial factor affecting gasoline, but many experts warn that a
shortage of anther kind may push prices at the pump higher in the months
ahead:  tight supplies of refined gasoline in the United States.  Demand for
gasoline has been increasing steadily, spurred by the economic boom of the
1990s, by the growing popularity of big sport vehicles that have relatively
poor gas efficiency -- and by the low price of fuel.  In February, gas was
as low, on an inflation-adjusted basis, as it had been since the 1920s.
Even with price rises since then -- almost 20 percent -- energy prices
remain relatively modest in most parts of the country. ...  (New York Times,
page C8).

Nonfarm payrolls are expected to have increased by 212,000 in April, after
March's slim 46,000 gain.  The jobless rate is projected to have held steady
at 4.2 percent, and hourly earnings likely grew 0.3 percent.  The Employment
Situation will be released on Friday, May 7 (Business Week, May 10, page
135). 


 application/ms-tnef

FW: BLS Daily Reportboundary=---- =_NextPart_000_01BCE44C.C89DBF40

[Richardson_D]

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-- =_NextPart_000_01BCE44C.C89DBF40
charset="iso-8859-1"

FYI Marvin Kosters (Item 2) was Bush's 1992 nomination for Comm. of
Labor Stats.  The nomination wasn't acted on since the office has a
fixed term of 4 years.  Whew!

Dave

--
From:   Hoyle_K
Sent:   Tuesday, October 28, 1997 5:45 PM
To: DailyReport
Subject:BLS Daily Report

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1997

RELEASED TODAY:  The Employment Cost Index for September 1997 was 134.1,
an increase of 3.0 percent from September 1996 On a seasonally
adjusted basis, compensation costs for civilian workers rose 0.8 percent
during the June-September 1997 period, the same as the March-June 1997
increase 

Contrary to popular belief, average pay has steadily risen in the last
25 years, according to a report by American Enterprise Institute
economist Marvin H. Kosters.  Kosters said incomplete and in some cases
inaccurate data have given the false impression that average American
workers are falling more and more behind.  AEI is a nonprofit research
organization, supported by businesses and foundations Kosters said a
major mistake analysts have made in charting wages over this 25-year
period is using average hourly wages from the BLS payroll survey.  Using
this measure, average real earnings appear to have deteriorated during
the past quarter century Compensation - including benefits and
bonuses as well as wages - is a more accurate and complete measure of
how workers are faring, he said.  The average earning series covers only
production and nonsupervisory workers.  Other government data series
measure changes in hourly compensation, which includes benefits as well
as wages.  The Employment Cost Index is also a better data series,
Kosters said.  The average hourly earnings series leaves out more
skilled, highest paid employees Adding to the misconception of
falling real wages, Kosters said, analysts often deflate the average
hourly earnings by a rise in the CPI-U.  Instead, Kosters adjusted the
compensation data by the CPI-U minus 0.5 percentage point  each year
.He justified this reduction of 0.5 percentage point by pointing to
the opinion of many economists that the CPI-U overstates inflation
.Kosters said he chose this reduction because this is about the
extent of reduction in the CPI-U caused by a series of improvements BLS
made and will make in the data series.  Also, Kosters said he wanted to
avoid controversial opinions of the CPI advisory panel, which led the
group to say the inflation measure overstates inflation by 1.1 percent.
With these suppositions, Koster said inflation-adjusted wages have risen
by 10 percent in the last 25 years and compensation has advanced by 15
percent While Kosters believes wage inequality has widened in the
last 25 years, he added the broadening has been caused by an increased
premium on education (Daily Labor Report, page A-6).  

Retailers are keeping expectations low for the Christmas season, even
when all the consumer surveys and economic indicators suggest that
Americans have plenty of money to spend for the holidays.  That is
because Christmas is slowly shedding its role as the annual rescuer of
American retailers, the sure-thing season that makes up for a year's
worth of mistakes.  Indeed, sales of general merchandise, apparel, and
furniture in November and December fell to 23.9 percent of annual sales
in 1996 from 25.4 percent in 1988 A chart credited to BLS shows that
consumers are spending less as a percentage of annual household
consumption on home furnishings and clothing and more on cars, eating
out, and entertainment (New York Times, page D1).

Business economists report that demand for their firms' products and
services continued to grow in the third quarter but at a slower rate
than in the previous three months (Daily Labor Report, page A-7).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  State and Metropolitan Area Employment and
Unemployment: September 1997


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RE: price indexes

[Richardson_D]

Besides the index for the elderly, which Max mentioned, there is also
the index for wage  salary workers.  "The" CPI which you read about is
for all urban workers.  The difference between the two is a slightly
different weighting, and the two indices track each other very closely.
In order for an index for one group to differ from the overall index by
very much using current methods the consumption patterns of the two
groups would have to differ substantially, and the inflation rate on the
items with different weights would have to be much different.

It may be that the main difference for the poor is that certain
services, e.g., public transportation, are evaporating, thereby making
the auto a necessity.  As more and more products become necessities for
cultural reasons the cost of living can rise substantially, but this
rise would never be shown in a price index.  This is all cribbed from
Dean Baker of EPI who has done some of the groundwork.

Dave

--
Sent:   Sunday, October 26, 1997 10:45 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject:price indexes

Does anyone know of any work on different price indexes for different
income classes in the U.S. A book I'm reading, Williamson  Lindert's
American Inequality: A Macroeconomic History, says that such price
indexes
tended to magnify changes in nominal income inequality, from the
mid-19th
century to the mid-20th. But the book was published in 1980, and their
data
stops around 1973 - so the book is sprinkled with assertions that the
post-WW II income revolution seemed to have stabilized, with no trend
back
towards 1920s levels of inequality. Has anything worthwhile been done
since
the early 1970s? Does the trend towards increasing inequality of the
last
25-30 years match the previous century's precedent?

Doug

FW: BLS Daily Reportboundary=---- =_NextPart_000_01BCE069.EA55F120

[Richardson_D]

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charset="iso-8859-1"



--
From:   Hoyle_K
Sent:   Thursday, October 23, 1997 5:25 PM
To: DailyReport
Subject:BLS Daily Report

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1997

The inflation adjusted median weekly earnings of the 95.8 million
full-time wage and salary workers were 0.2 percent higher in the third
quarter of 1997, compared with one year earlier, BLS reports.  Median
weekly earnings rose 2.3 percent to $499 in the third quarter, compared
with the third quarter 1996.  In the same time period, the CPI-U gained
2.1 percent.  The BLS data indicate the gender gap in wages continued.
Women who usually worked full time had median earnings of $429 a week,
or 74.9 percent of the $573 median for men (Daily Labor Report, page
D-1).  

U.S. companies have slowed their pace of workforce reductions and have
shifted the nature of those layoffs in recent months, according to an
American Management Association survey.  The survey showed the lowest
levels so far this decade in job elimination and downsizing.  Downsizing
is defined by the group as a net decrease in the workforce.  Most U.S.
firms have adopted a mode of "constant tinkering" with their workforces,
with cuts in some types of jobs occurring at the same time that other
jobs are being created  (Daily Labor Report, page A-12).  

Minority women are underrepresented in the upper ranks of corporate
America, and those who have made it to the top are paid less than their
white male counterparts, a report by Catalyst, a New York research
organization that works to advance women in the workplace, says.  Asian,
Hispanic, and African American women account for 10 percent of the total
U.S. work force, but they hold only 5.6 percent of management jobs in
the private sector.  This leaves them worse off than white women, who
account for about 33 percent of the 7.5 million U.S. managerial
positions.  The study was based on an analysis of Census Bureau data for
1994-95 (Washington Post, page C6).

A federal judge held that the head of the National Archives ignored his
duties and acted illegally in issuing a regulation that authorizes all
government agencies to wipe out their electronic mail and other
computerized records regardless of content The two-year-old
regulation, known in bureaucratic jargon as "GRS [General Records
Schedule]-20," permitted all agencies, from the Executive Office of the
President on down, to destroy e-mail and word-processing records once
they have been copied on paper or some other format and deemed "no
longer needed for updating and revision."  Historians, researchers, and
journalists represented by the nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen
denounced the provision as an "electronic shredder" and filed suit,
accusing the National Archives head of abdicating his responsibilities
to appraise the value of the records on an agency-by-agency basis
.(Washington Post, page A21). 

The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee approved nominees to fill
four positions at the Labor Department: Charles Jeffress as assistant
secretary of labor for occupational safety and health; Al Borrego to
head the Veterans' Employment and Training Service; Patricia Lattimore
as assistant secretary for administration and management; and Susan King
as head of public affairs (Daily Labor Report, page A-2).


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[Richardson_D]

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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, OCTOBER  21, 1997:

RELEASED TODAY:  In March 1997, employer costs for employee compensation
for civilian workers (private industry and state and local government)
in the United States averaged $19.22 per hour worked.  Straight-time
wages and salaries, which averaged $13.85, accounted for 72 percent of
these costs, while benefits, which averaged $5.37, accounted for the
remaining 28 percent  

The Employment Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, estimates that
the United States has lost a net of 2.4 million jobs due to free-trade
policies between 1979 and 1994.  An EPI report says that, between those
two years, the $99.5 billion inflation-adjusted increase in the U.S.
goods and services deficit eliminated 2.4 million job opportunities.
Most of the net jobs lost - 2.2 million - were in manufacturing The
report looks at 183 industries and examines how trade flows have
affected demographic and income groups and the wages of workers in
import and export industry jobs.  Free trade policies have caused every
economic group to lose job opportunities, even the college educated, the
study says The report found that industries facing rapidly growing
imports pay wages that are about 4.5 percent higher than sectors in
which exports are growing rapidly (Daily Labor Report, page A-2).

A Business Roundtable report says a shortage of skilled craft labor in
the construction industry is causing "significant problems in staffing
construction projects," increasing costs and delaying schedules.  The
clear message in the report was that business owners "should do business
only with contractors who invest in training and maintain the skills of
their workforce" The Business Roundtable is an association comprised
of the chief executives of more than 200 of the nation's largest
corporations (Daily Labor Report, page A-9).

The National Coalition on Health Care says the quality of health care is
eroding at a crisis rate while the cost of insurance coverage is rising.
In addition, the number of uninsured people is increasing, despite a
growing economy, challenging the myth that economic growth alone will
cure the problem, according to the president of the coalition (Daily
Labor Report, page A-6)_One in five, or about 47 million, Americans
under age 65 will have no health insurance in the year 2005 if current
trends continue and society takes no action, a coalition of 100
businesses and health industry and consumer groups said.  Most of the
uninsured will have jobs. Driving the trend, said the National Coalition
on Health Care, are rising insurance costs for small businesses, the
growth of service industry jobs, and an increasing number of part-time
and contractual workers (USA Today, page 3A).  

After four years of near stability brought about by the spread of
managed care, the premiums that most Americans pay for their health
insurance are poised to rise significantly next year, industry groups
and health care consultants report.  Many say the average charge for
health benefits, deducted from paychecks, will go up at least 5 percent,
or more than twice as much as wages and inflation have been rising.  For
very large employers with great negotiating clout, the increases could
be smaller, they say But across the nation, at some small companies
with older and illness-prone employees, analysts say, the premiums might
rise as much as 30 percent (New York Times, Oct. 19, page A1).  

Needing 40,000 more technicians and machine operators by 2002, 10 makers
of the microchips that store or process data in computers and other
devices are looking for people to staff 38 new plants nationwide.  Their
Sematech coalition has persuaded 18 more community and technical
colleges to offer courses in semiconductor-manufacturing technology, or
SMT (The Wall Street Journal, "Work Week" column, page A1).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers:
Third Quarter 1997


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FW: Moving Abrahamboundary=---- =_NextPart_000_01BCD97F.C94CD160

[Richardson_D]

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As far as I know she did move out -- at least this is what the Wash.
Post said and no one contradicted it.  From the point of view of
conservation of energy this was quite stupid.  However, as a means of
exerting political pressure it may have been very effective.  I think
you were looking at the situation more broadly, i.e.., this is the kind
of waste that we usually do not consider when we critique the current
system.

Dave

--
Sent:   Wednesday, October 15, 1997 12:50 PM
To: Richardson_D
Subject:Moving Abraham

The Senate confirms Katharine Abraham to a second four-year term as
commissioner of BLS, two days after her initial appointment expired.
During the two days, Abraham had to vacate her office since there are no
holdover provisions in the law prescribing her tenure. The Senate
confirms Abraham under its unanimous consent rules 

is this stupid or what? did she have to move all her personal effects
out
and then in again?


Jim Devine   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html
"A society is rich when material goods, including capital, are cheap,
and
human beings dear."  -- R.H. Tawney.



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-- =_NextPart_000_01BCD97F.C94CD160--

RE: kathrine abraham

[Richardson_D]

She was renominated.  It was just that the nomination was late, toward
the end of August.  No reason that I know of was ever given for the
delay.  Nor is it clear that there is any real opposition -- the Repubs
haven't been focusing on this either.  In a way it IS very mysterious.
I just do not know.

Dave

--
Sent:   Thursday, October 09, 1997 11:22 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject:kathrine abraham

Why did Clinton not renominate K.A.?  Was it because she had more of a
spine about the CPI than he did?
-- 
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 916-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]

BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2000:
 
 RELEASED TODAY:  "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment:  April
 2000" indicates that regional and state unemployment rates were relatively
 stable in April.  All four regions registered little change over the
 month, and 41 states and the District of Columbia recorded shifts of 0.3
 percentage point or less, BLS reports. The national jobless rate edged
 down to 3.9 percent.  Nonfarm employment incrased in 38 states in April.
 
 New claims filed with state agencies for unemployment insurance benefits
 declined by 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 276,000 during the
 week ended May 13, according to figures from the Employment and Training
 Administration of the Department of Labor.  This latest report was widely
 interpreted as confirmation that the strong demand for workers helps newly
 laid-off workers to find new jobs in a relatively short time.  With the
 exception of a week in late April, the level of initial claims has been
 below the 300,000 mark since mid-February (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 __New claims for unemployment benefits fell last week for the second
 consecutive week, leaving claims at a level suggesting that businesses are
 scrambling to find workers The decline was sharper than many analysts were
 expecting.  They were forecasting that claims would fall to 295,000 (The
 Associated Press in The New York Times, page C2).
 __The Labor Department said that new claims for jobless benefits fell
 again last week, though a longer-term measure rose to one of its highest
 levels of the year.  The 4-week moving average of claims, which many
 analysts prefer because it smoothes out short-term fluctuations, inched up
 to 289,750 last week, its highest level mid-January.  The gauge has been
 below 300,000 since October (The Wall Street Journal, page A6).
 
 The Federal Government is taking steps to improve training for its
 employees, but more strategic planning is needed to keep up with the best
 practices of the private sector, witnesses tell the Senate Governmental
 Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring,
 and the District of Columbia.  Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), chairman
 of the subcommittee, said he was surprised to discover that most federal
 agencies do not have formal training budgets.  Instead, he said, training
 money is dispersed throughout agency budgets in "operations" or
 "administration" accounts.  "It takes a great deal of effort on behalf of
 an agency to pull this information together from the different parts of
 the budget to present a complete picture of training activities," he said.
 Almost all of the agencies said their employee training budgets were
 inadequate and that they could use additional training funds (Daily Labor
 Report, page A-8).
 
 A growing pool of high-technology Philippine talent that is attractive to
 employers in Europe and the United States, and is increasingly drawing
 multinationals like Trend Micro, America Online, and Motorola to move some
 of their operations to the Philippine Islands.  That same
 computer-literate population is now feeding a surprisingly lively Internet
 start-up scene, in a country where many annual incomes are typically
 around $1,000 and less than 1 percent of the population use Internet.
 "The Philippines may be a poor country, but part of it is English-speaking
 and educated," said Fernando d. Contreras, vice president-elect of the
 Philippine Internet Service Organization.  "That' what we're trying to
 emphasize for the Internet."  Nearly 50 years of United States rule, from
 the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898 until World War II, gave the
 Philippines an American-style educational system in which English is
 taught to almost all of the country's 76 million people -- 95 percent of
 which are literate.  An accompanying table  lists the fastest growing
 importers of U.S.high-tech parts for manufacturers, and the
 fastest-growing exporters of high-tech goods to the U.S.  Source of the
 data is the American Electronics Association (The New York Times, page
 C1).
 
 The Census Bureau has begun the controversial statistical sampling that
 will estimate the number and characteristics of people who might have been
 missed in the traditional head count, Director Kenneth Prewitt says.  The
 agency has interviewed by telephone 56,000 of the 314,000 households in
 the sample. The Census Bureau says that sampling is a scientifically sound
 way to correct the disproportionate undercount of minorities -- groups
 that tend Democratic.  Because two sets of population census counts will
 be available, states will have to decide which one to use when they begin
 redrawing political districts next year (USA Today, page 10A).
 
 Syndicated columnist Julianne Malveaux, appearing in USA Today (page 15)
 says that on equal pay matters, the data are daunting.  Despite their
 gains, women on average earn about 75 cents for every dollar men 

BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2000:
 
 College enrollment rates for the 1999 graduating class declined compared
 with the class of 1998, according to BLS. The college enrollment of young
 women (64.4 percent) continued to outpace that of young men (61.4
 percent).  Among races and ethnic groups, 59.2 percent of blacks, 42.2
 percent of Hispanics, and 62.8 percent of whites who graduated from high
 school in 1999 were enrolled in college the following fall (Daily Labor
 Report, page D-10).
 
 The booming U.S. economy brought about a 4.8 percent gain in per capita
 personal income in 1999, reflecting higher pay across most industries,
 according to figures released by the Department of Commerce's Bureau of
 Economic Analysis.  The gain brought per capita income to $28,518 in 1999.
 BEA said the per capital income ranged from $39,167 in Connecticut to
 $20,506 in Mississippi.  The 1999 percent rise in per capita income marked
 the third consecutive year that this key measure of prosperity climbed by
 about 5 percent.  Per capita income increased by 4.9 percent in 1998, and
 by 5.2 percent in 1997, according to BEA figures.  Taking inflation into
 account, the latest report showed the "real" per capita income rose 3.2
 percent in 1999, somewhat less than the 4 percent gain for 1998.  BEA used
 as an inflation measure its own quarterly index for personal consumption
 expenditures, which is part of the gross domestic product series. That
 price index rose 1.6 percent in 1999. "Personal income growth accelerated
 in five regions -- Plains, Rocky Mountain, Southeast, Southwest, and Great
 Lakes -- and decelerated in three regions -- New England, Far West and
 Midwest" during the fourth quarter, BEA found (Daily Labor Report, page
 D-1). 
 
 U.S. high-technology companies have added 1.2 million jobs to the economy
 since 1993, according to a survey released by the American Electronics
 Association.  The increase brings the total of high-tech jobs to about 5
 million by 1999, the report -- "Cyberstates 4.0:  A State-by-State
 Overview of the High-Technology Industry" -- indicates.  AEA uses 45 SIC
 codes to define high-technology industries, according to the report..
 They fall into three broad categories -- high tech manufacturing,
 communications services, and software and computer-related services.
 ...these 45 SIC codes do not comprehensively cover the entire high-tech
 industry, as the structure of the SIC industry is limited.  In an effort
 to produce solid statistics, AEA does not include broad categories if the
 high-tech portion does not represent a clear majority. Wages were greater
 in the high-tech industry than in the economy as a whole.  Among high tech
 workers, the average annual salary in 1998 was $58,000, compared with the
 average private sector wage of $32,000 (Daily Labor Report, page A-11).
 
 Data computed by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first 20 week of
 2000 show a weighted average first-year increase of 3.5 percent in newly
 negotiated contracts, compared with 2.6 percent in the same period in
 1999.  Manufacturing contracts provided a weighted average increase of 3.3
 percent, compared with 2.7 percent in 1999.  Excluding construction
 contracts, the nonmanufacturing industry weighted average increase was 3.6
 percent, compared with an average of 2.3 percent one year earlier (Daily
 Labor Report, page D-13).  
 
 The U.S. has lost the distinction of having a college graduation rate
 higher than those of other industrialized countries, an international
 survey shows.  At the beginning of the 1990s, 30 percent of the U.S.
 population graduated from college.  As of 1998, the last year for which
 figures are available for all countries, it was 33 percent, but Norway (37
 percent), the United Kingdom (35 percent) and the Netherlands (34.6
 percent) had pulled ahead.  "The 1990s witnessed rapidly growing demand
 for education," says Andreas Schleicher of the Organization for Economic
 Cooperation and Development (OECD), which issued the "Education at a
 Glance" report.  "Every government understands education is key to
 economic and social success today" (USA Today, page 9D).
 

 application/ms-tnef

FW: Greenspan drops the Bomb

[Richardson_D]

 Hi Dennis --
 What you give us is a forecast of just the sort of geographical shift
 in the capitalist center that we have seen several times in the past.
 I have mentioned to you my reservations WRT to the Japanese banking
 system and its capability to play the role envisioned, reservations
 which you choose to disregard.  There is also the problem that
 knowledge that a security is over- (or under-) valued is not in itself
 grounds to predict a correction within any particular time frame.
 Nevertheless I agree with your main thrust.
 
 For me I guess the real question is whether a geographical shift is
 possible at this time.  The Japanese seem altogether too irresponsible
 and too willing to put up with opaque accounting (their banks have
 hidden losses, not on their books, of over $500b) to be reliable
 custodians of the world economy.  Also, while their export sectors are
 ahead of ours, especially with the artificially low valuation of the
 yen, the purely domestic sectors of their economy are actually quite
 primitive.
 
 While the euro may well be the innovation that makes Europe the
 capitalist center once again, the experiment has yet to begin.  In
 addition, Britain is not joining the monetary union and cities like
 Paris and Frankfurt do not compare with London as financial centers.
 New York is first and Tokyo is a poor third worldwide.  The strength
 of both Europe and Japan is in manufacturing, and manufacturing by
 itself does not lead to any particular advantage in the world
 competition to be the capitalist center, a point made by the devotion
 of Venice to manufacturing after its period of dominance had ended and
 the more recent failure of Germany to make its manufacturing
 excellence count.  The center has always been pre-eminant in finance.
 
 So there are doubts as to the ability of the capitalist center to move
 at this time.  However, these may just be my prejudices from the point
 of view of the old relative to the new.  If the center cannot move,
 does it mean that the system will finally collapse this time?  If so,
 will this involve a political shift to the left or to the right?
 There are lots of open questions.
 
 In solidarity
 Dave
 
 --
 From: Dennis R Redmond[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
 Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 1998 4:28 PM
 To:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject:  Greenspan drops the Bomb
 
 On Wed, 25 Feb 1998, Doug Henwood cross-posted Greenspan's
 Humphrey-Hawkins 
 testimony:
 
  But we must be concerned about becoming too complacent about
 evaluating
  repayment risks. All too often at this stage of the business cycle,
 the
  loans that banks extend later make up a disproportionate share of
 total
  nonperforming loans. In addition, quite possibly, twelve or
 eighteen
  months hence, some of the securities purchased on the market could
 be
  looked upon with some regret by investors.
 
 Jesus creeping shit -- this is pretty amazing, coming from Greenspan,
 whose speeches are usually extended exercises in localized
 anaesthesia.
 Well, he *ought* to be mourning the Pacific canary in the global mine
 --
 given the sluggishness of inflation and falling producer prices, real
 interest rates are the highest they've been in years, at the same time
 that the entire US economy is one vast gigantic betting pool that the
 Dow
 will zoom to 49 million. Things could get really ugly really quickly,
 what
 with multiple credit crashes, Pacific deflation, credit card bust-ups,
 Indonesian defaults, etc., unless the Fed decides to lower interest
 rates
 in a hurry. Of course, if they do, it's sayonara to the US dollar
 bubble,
 hello to the euro-yen hegemony. Our ruling class is getting very
 nervous
 indeed.
 
 -- Dennis
 
 
 
 

 application/ms-tnef

BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1998
 
 Wage data compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs in the first
 eight weeks of 1998 show that the median first year wage increase in
 newly negotiated labor contracts is 3 percent, the same increase as
 reported for the year-ago period.  The weighted average increase for
 settlements reported to date is 2.7 percent, compared with 4.6 percent
 in 1997.  Major settlements reported in the current biweekly period
 include those of Honeywell Inc. with the International Brotherhood of
 Teamsters and Johnstown America Corp. with the United Steelworkers
 ….(Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 
 Private forecasters expect the U.S. economy will grow 2.6 percent this
 year, moderating from 1997's robust 3.8 percent pace, and slow further
 to 2.2 percent in 1999, the National Association of Business
 Economists says.  The "chief culprit" is the Asian financial crisis,
 which NABE members think will reduce growth by one-half to a full
 percentage point this year, the NABE president noted ….At the same
 time, despite their increased pessimism about the trade deficit, the
 NABE panelists are more optimistic overall ….That is because the U.S.
 economy has outperformed expectations and also has benefited from
 lower interest rates due in part to the Asian crisis, which has pulled
 money into U.S. Treasury securities and contributed to the view that
 inflation will remain low ….Inflation, as measured by the CPI, should
 be stable, holding at 2 percent this year, then rising to 2.5 percent
 in 1999.  The unemployment rate is forecast at 4.8 percent, rising to
 5.0 percent next year.  And most of the panelists said they do not
 expect a recession before the year 2000, at the earliest ….(Daily
 Labor Report, page A-8).
   
 Though most of the nation's biggest companies have felt only a slight
 bump from the Asian crisis, some powerful chief executives are worried
 that the damage will get a lot worse.   A survey conducted in recent
 weeks of 101 members of the Business Council, a Washington-based
 organization of blue-chip company leaders, shows 74 percent saying
 they currently expect Asia's financial crisis to have only a "small
 negative effect" on "growth and earnings prospects for 1998" ….(Wall
 Street Journal, page A2).
 
 The nearly 5 million retired federal and military personnel and
 survivors may get slightly smaller cost-of-living adjustments in the
 future, thanks to a just-updated consumer price index, said Mike
 Causey in his The Federal Diary column (Washington Post, Feb. 25, page
 B2).  Federal and military personnel work for the nation's only major
 employer whose pension payments keep pace with inflation ….After a
 long study … the BLS revamped the "market basket" ….Critics … have
 long contended that the CPI overstated inflation ….But the BLS, which
 has a long-standing reputation for its just-the-fact-approach, has
 been reluctant to tamper with the CPI, especially when changes were
 demanded by groups with a political or fiscal agenda … said Causey ….
 
 DUE OUT TOMORROW: State and Regional Unemployment, 1997 Annual
 Averages  
 

 application/ms-tnef

FW: Red Green

[Richardson_D]

At one point I was attracted to the Greens for just the reason given by
LP, that they challenge the two party system.  However, having gotten to
know them, it is clear that their challenge is not a class-based
challenge, and that they view a class-based challenge with antipathy.
Thus, in my opinion, they are ripe for a capitalist takeover any time
the capitalists find it to their advantage.

WRT DSA (why this is relevant I do not know) I have never found any
warmth or enthusiasm for Clinton, especially lately.  The DSAers who
like realignment currently note the great damage Clinton has done to the
Dem. Party in Congress, the state governorships, and state legislatures.
They them spit him out.

Dave

PS.  Sorry about posting the original to the list several times.  I kept
getting back messages that it had been rejected as too long.

 --
 From: Louis Proyect[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
 Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 1998 11:47 AM
 To:   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 Subject:  Re: Red  Green
 
 D_Richardson wrote:
 Before we assume that the environmentalists present a viable arena,
 we
 should be aware that, at least in the leadership, they have been
 acquainted with socialism and have found it distasteful.  The
 following
 is from Sam Smith, local DC curmudgeon, national Green Party figure,
 and
 (I had thought) one of the more important local progressive
 naysayers.
 I am forwarding this piece because it is so reprehensible: it says a
 lot
 of what is wrong with Smith and the Greens.
 
 The value of the Green Party is that it represents a challenge to the
 2-party system. Recent successes in New Mexico indicate that the
 stranglehold might be broken for the first time in decades. 
 
 DSA'ers might resent the Green Party challenge because it goes against
 their strategy of realignment, in other words making the Democratic
 Party a
 social democratic institution like the British Labor Party or the NDP.
 The
 defense of this strategy is often couched in Marxist orthodoxy.
 
 The Greens might just decide that such Marxist orthodoxy deployed on
 behalf
 of Bill Clinton is nothing but hot air. In any case, the Green Party
 is one
 of the more hopeful signs in the American electoral arena despite the
 mixed
 bag of the Nader candidacy.
 
 Louis Proyect
 
 
 

 application/ms-tnef

BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1998
 
 ___Declining energy prices kept inflation at bay in January as
 measured by the CPI-U, which was unchanged for the month, seasonally
 adjusted, BLS reports.  The monthly CPI rate was unchanged for the
 first time in four years, according to the report, the first based on
 a revised marketbasket of goods and services that more accurately
 reflects changing consumer buying habits over the last decade ….El
 Nino's impact on California's agriculture helped offset the drop in
 energy prices.  This, in part, caused a sharp increase of 0.4 percent
 in grocery food prices, mostly due to a 2.9 percent rise in fruit and
 vegetable prices, BLS economist Patrick C. Jackman told the Bureau of
 National Affairs ….(Steve Teske in Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 ___The government's report that prices in January did not rise for the
 first time in four years contains more than meets the eye.  Behind
 inflation's vanishing act is the Labor Department's once-in-a-decade
 revamping of the CPI.  A new formula that gives more weight to
 high-tech goods whose prices are dropping -- such as computers and
 cellular phones -- shaved about 0.2 percent from the index [sic], the
 department said ….(Patrice Hill in Washington Times, page A12).
 
 Longer hours and higher pay caused the real weekly earnings of the
 average U.S. worker to rise a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent in
 January, BLS reports.  The increase was due to a 0.6 percent rise in
 average weekly hours and a 0.3 percent increase in average hourly
 earnings ….(Daily Labor Report, page D-25).
 
 Consumer confidence in February reached a 30-year high, the Conference
 Board reports.  The Consumer Confidence Index for the month rose 10
 points to 138.3 percent of its 1985 base ….(Daily Labor Report, page
 A-4).
 
 Federal Reserve Board Chairman Greenspan cheers the nation's 1997
 economic performance, but he warns that prospective fallout from the
 Asian currency crisis makes this year's economic outlook uncertain.
 In fact, during his semi-annual report to Congress on the state of the
 U.S. economy and monetary policy, Greenspan said the Fed's latest
 forecast is "more tentative than usual" despite its call for moderate
 growth and continued low inflation ….(Daily Labor Report, page
 A-14)_Greenspan said the Fed is on hold until it determines if the
 "storm clouds massing over the western Pacific and heading our way"
 will damp the momentum of a U.S. economy on the verge of running out
 of available workers ….(Wall Street Journal, page A2). 
 
 ___Fed Chairman Greenspan said that the Fed isn't currently
 contemplating any changes in interest rates and for the moment will
 let "countervailing forces" in the U.S. economy keep its
 noninflationary growth path in balance.  Strongly rising demand for
 goods and services by confident consumers whose wealth and wages are
 rising are spurring growth.  But a growing drag from the economic and
 financial upheavals in Asia is expected to slow it down, Greenspan
 told a House banking subcommittee …."A portrait of continued progress
 toward price stability" was certainly the message from the CPI, which
 was unchanged last month after rising 0.1 percent in December ….Two
 new categories were the result of the introduction of an updated
 market basket of goods and services based on consumers' spending
 habits in the 1993-95 period instead of those from 1982-84.  However,
 before seasonal adjustment, the change in the index last month was the
 same under both methods.  Meanwhile, Greenspan's comments were
 underscored by the soaring of the consumer confidence index to a
 30-year high ….(John M. Berry, in The Washington Post, page C9).
 ___Greenspan warned investors and lenders against assuming that
 economic good times would last forever and suggested they could be
 underestimating the risks confronting the economy's powerful
 seven-year-old expansion ….His remarks had a dampening influence on
 the financial markets, partly countering the effects of the latest
 evidence of the economy's healthy performance, which showed no overall
 inflation in January and a surging level of consumer confidence ….The
 January figures were the first calculated by BLS using a revised
 market basket that takes into account changing consumer behavior and
 changes in technology ….(Richard Stevenson in The New York Times, page
 D1). 
 ___Consumer confidence is soaring while consumer prices aren't
 budging, indicating that Asia's financial crisis is doing more good
 than harm to the U.S. economy -- at least for now ….The consumer price
 report contains some changes in the formula used to calculate the
 index "to reflect how people spend their money in the 1990s rather
 than how they spent it in the 1980s," said BLS economist Patrick
 Jackman ….(Jacob M. Schlesinger in The Wall Street Journal, page A2).
 
 

 application/ms-tnef

BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1998

RELEASED TODAY:
   CPI - The CPI-U was unchanged in January (seasonally adjusted),
following increases of 0.1 percent in each of the preceding two months.
The food index advanced 0.3 percent in January ….The energy index
declined 2.4 percent ….Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 0.2
percent, the same as in December ….
   REAL EARNINGS - Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.9 percent
from December to January after seasonal adjustment.  This gain was due
to a 0.6 percent increase in average weekly hours and a 0.3 percent
increase in average hourly earnings.  The gain was not affected by the
CPI-W ….Over the year, real average weekly earnings grew by 3.4 percent
…. 

"What's in the New CPI; A Restocked Market Basket; BLS's Changes Likely
To Lower Federal COLAs" are the headlines on an article by John M. Berry
on page B1 of The Washington Post.  The article says that "For the first
time in more than a decade, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has
updated, reorganized and refined the 'market basket' of goods and
services its checkers price each month to create the CPI" …._Besides
the articles cited yesterday, clippings on the CPI revision also were
received from: Associated Press, "Government Updating Inflation Gauge";
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Consumer Price Index to increase Atlanta
reports" ;Christian Science Monitor, "Inflation's Spring Makeover";
Oakland Tribune, "U.S. planning to update CPI; Inflation measure
expected to drop"; Reuters, "Revisions cloud U.S. January CPI; tiny gain
predicted"; and St. Petersburg, Fla., Times, "Overhaul pushes CPI into
the '90s."   

The "Office Economy," broadly defined to include managers, lawyers,
CEOs, janitors, and brokers, has 41 percent of all workers, pays the
highest salaries - and its jobs will grow by five million by the year
2005, a study by the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N.J.,
shows.  As production jobs move overseas, for example, lots of people
are needed to manage the business, ETS says.  In temporary work,
professional jobs like marketers are the fastest growing, says Jean Ban,
executive vice president of Paladin, a Chicago temp firm.  But the
biggest increases at Texas Instruments, Inc., a Dallas electronics
company, will be in engineering, not sales staff, says a staffing
official (Wall Street Journal, "Work Week", page A1).

Union membership fell again in 1997, to 14.1 percent of employment from
14.5 percent in 1996, the Labor Department said (Wall Street Journal,
"Work Week," page A1).


 application/ms-tnef

Red Green

[Richardson_D]

Before we assume that the environmentalists present a viable arena, we
should be aware that, at least in the leadership, they have been
acquainted with socialism and have found it distasteful.  The following
is from Sam Smith, local DC curmudgeon, national Green Party figure, and
(I had thought) one of the more important local progressive naysayers.
I am forwarding this piece because it is so reprehensible: it says a lot
of what is wrong with Smith and the Greens.

Examples --

"a stolid, unyielding, suspicious, passive-aggressive leftist and
liberal establishment right in the middle of the path leading to a new
America -- sitting, as Disraeli once said of the opposition bench, like
a range of exhausted volcanoes.

"an unappealing blend of Marx and tofu.

"The very idea of left vs. right is challenged by green thought as is
the
need to choose, say, between capitalism and socialism. 

"If the problem were only the major media,  it would be bad enough. But
you find many of these issues only rarely treated in Mother Jones or The
Nation, either. After all, who has time to discuss alternative economics
when you have a book on the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to review?  Or
lengthy defenses of Noam Chomsky for his views over the years on
Cambodia? 

"It has collaborated with, defended, and covered up for, the most
reactionary and anti-democratic president of modern history, one who in
less than two terms has laid waste to constitutional protections,
un-raveled decades of liberal and left reforms, and created a culture of
immune corruption never before seen in Washington. 

"The president has taken the country deep into places from which it will
be hard to return and the left, sadly, has helped him do it.  The result
has been major damage to our democracy, our liberties,  our economy, our
environment, and even to our local, state, and national sovereignty. It
has been an assault on everything the liberal/left claims to honor.

"The new politics is green, it is populist, it is progressive, and it is
based the primacy of communities"

To Sam Smith and his Greens, Chomsky is the same as Clinton and The
Nation is the same as the Washington Post.  Moreover, Chomsky and The
Nation are responsible for the Clinton debacle.  Where was Sam Smith and
the Greens?  Why didn't THEY stop Clinton?

In this reading, the Green goal is Communitarianism, harking back to a
movement consisting, among others, of Brook Farm, the Shakers, and
various socialist groupings.   Founded on love, hope, charity, and
peace, Communitarianism sadly played itself out in the 19th century.  In
its heyday, and hopefully now, it was a movement that would have found
little place for Sam and his shabby Green sectarianism.

Dave

--
From:   McLarty, Scott T.[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent:   Tuesday, December 30, 1997 1:15 PM
To:
Subject:Excellent reading for your holiday pleasure

Hey, boys 'n' girls

Read Sam Smith's essay below.  It's one of the best assessments of
leftism, and of the position and potential of the Greens, that I've seen
for a long time.  

It's the kind of stuff you won't find in The Nation or The Village Voice
or Z Magazine or Mother Jones.

(Thanks, Sam, for allowing me to circulate it  I included your usual
promotional stuff at the bottom.)

Scott
DC Greens



Waiting for Lefties: How liberals and the left hold up change

From The Progressive Review 
No. 352, December 1997

(Slightly shortened to make the Pen-l 50KB limit.)

There are things happening elsewhere in the world that you don't hear
much about in America. Like polls finding the Green Party to be the
third most popular party in Germany. Or the news that one of Brazil's 26
state governors is a Green. Or that the French environmental minister is
one also. Or that the Green Party candidate for mayor of Stuttgart came
in second with 40% and exit polls showed him the most popular candidate
among all voters under 50. Or that there are now Green parties in over
70 countries, all without any central organization or even that much
collaboration. 

There are some good reasons why it's hard to find out about such things
in America, such as the disinterest of the media in matters foreign and
its love of the conspiracy for the restraint of political trade known as
the two-party system. The media also hates complexity, especially any
that muddies up its essential message to America, namely that there are
winners and losers in life and trust us to tell you which are which. 

The centrist establishment isn't going to help you learn about a new
politics either,  because its power depends in no small part upon
maintaining the absurd myth that it will come up with every new idea
worth discussing.  Meanwhile, the right, which has conned the rest of
the establishment -- from media to White House -- into adopting its
jargon, premises, and economics, has little interest in anything that
might disturb its marvelous scam. 

But there is another problem.  Those working to 

BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1998

There were 1,608 mass layoff actions by employees in December, involving
170,110 workers, BLS reports.  The numbers were higher than that
reported by BLS in November, when there were 1,143 layoff actions
affecting 97,509 workers ….(Daily Labor Report, page D-1).

__The major CPI revision scheduled for release Feb. 24 updates the CPI's
marketbasket of goods and services to more accurately reflect price
changes for the wide range of goods and services purchased by U.S.
consumers, according to BLS.  When BLS assigns new weights to items, it
is bringing the CPI more in line with how consumers spend their money
….Quoted is an article in the Monthly Labor Review by John S. Greenlees,
assistant commissioner for consumer prices, and Charles C. Mason, a BLS
economist ….(Daily Labor Report, page C-1).
__The consumer price index - the government's key inflation gauge - has
been overhauled for the first time in 11 years.  The new CPI will be
unveiled Tuesday, when BLS reports January prices.  There have been vast
changes in consumer spending habits in the past decade, says BLS
economist Pat Jackman.  "We were always picked on for not having cell
phones on the CPI.  Now they're in there," says Jackman, who supervises
the CPI report.  The overhaul:  Adds a major category, education and
communication, to the seven categories previously used ….Uses new
statistical techniques to better reflect changes in the quality of goods
and services, especially personal computers.  Shows that consumers are
spending less of their income on food, beverages, and transportation and
more on shelter and medical care ….(USA Today, page 1B). 
 
Led by the construction industry, U.S. employers throughout the country
are planning one of the most active worker recruiting periods on record
during the second quarter of 1998, according to a Manpower, Inc.,
survey.  Of the 16,000 businesses surveyed by the temporary help
company, 30 percent said they would recruit additional staff in the
second quarter, while 61 percent planned no changes.  Five percent said
they would reduce their staffs, while another 4 percent were uncertain
about their future employment plans ….(Daily Labor Report, page A-1;
Wall Street Journal, page A2).  

"Through the year 2005, the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
employment of securities and financial sales representatives to grow
much faster than average for all occupations," says an article in The
Washington Post advertising section on the local job market (Feb. 22,
page K9).  "Factors spurring the expected growth include a continued
healthy economy, rising personal incomes and greater inherited wealth -
all of which mean more money will be available for investment."

DUE OUT TOMORROW:
  Consumer Price Index - January 1998
  Real Earnings: January 1998


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BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

 BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1998
 
 __Led by a sharp drop in finished energy prices and declines in about
 every other category, the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods fell
 a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent in January, BLS reports.  Over the
 last year, the finished goods price index fell 1.8 percent, the
 largest 12-month drop since 1986, when the index was down 2.3 percent,
 BLS said.  The 12-month decline also was largely due to falling energy
 prices. Analysts said the report shows deflation has appeared at the
 wholesale price level ….(Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
 __A steep decline in energy costs pushed the PPI down 0.7 percent in
 January, the biggest one-month drop in more than four years.  In a
 second report, the Commerce Department said construction of new homes
 and apartments remained at a high level - an annual rate of 1.54
 million units in January.  That was down 0.3 percent from the previous
 month, but December's figures were revised.  Instead of falling 0.8
 percent, construction of new homes and apartments actually rose 1
 percent in December (Washington Post, page D1).
 __Reinforcing evidence of a robust economy and nearly nonexistent
 inflation, the Government reported yesterday that prices paid by
 manufacturers posted the biggest decline in nearly four years last
 month, while housing construction remained vibrant ….John M. Galvin,
 assistant commissioner for industrial prices at BLS, said that "these
 are very different numbers we are reporting now than a couple of years
 ago, that is for sure."  Most analysts had predicted the general
 trends of the producer price and housing reports …."Falling demand in
 Asia is one of the things keeping energy prices soft, but it is only
 one factor," Galvin said.  "We made an effort to look for an Asian
 effect, but we didn't see any real change in our indexes from four to
 six months ago.  Galvin said he did learn of anecdotal evidence about
 steep declines in the export prices of a few relatively esoteric items
 - cattle hides and metals like steel scrap - to the four Asian nations
 at the epi-center of the crisis.  "Suggested prices are really
 plunging for these commodities, which means that demand is falling,"
 he said ….(New York Times, page D1).
 __Because the producer price index measures only domestic goods, it
 captures just a portion of the good news on inflation.  Prices for
 goods imported from Asian countries are falling steadily, and analysts
 say that increased competition from these low-priced imports could
 bump domestic prices even lower ….(Wall Street Journal, page A2).
 __War with a Middle East oil-producing nation looms, yet energy prices
 are near four-year lows, the opposite of what happened in 1990, when
 Iraq invaded Kuwait and crude oil prices soared, says USA Today (page
 1B).  Consumers don't mind.  Falling crude oil prices have helped push
 gasoline and heating oil prices down.  More important, plunging energy
 prices have been crucial in taming inflation, despite a robust U.S.
 economy and the lowest jobless rate in 24 years ….
 
 DUE OUT TOMORROW: Mass Layoffs in December 1997
 

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BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 1998

__The economy added a seasonally adjusted 370,000 new nonfarm payroll
jobs in December and 3.2 million in 1997, according to BLS.  The rate of
job growth and the broadbased nature of the gain exceeded most analysts'
expectations.  BLS' separate household survey showed that the jobless
rate inched up to 4.7 percent in December, from 4.6 percent one month
earlier.  The average jobless rate for 1997 was 4.9 percent, the lowest
since 1973.  The average annual unemployment rate has not dipped lower
since 1969 when it hit 3.5 percent.  Fourth-quarter job growth was
particularly strong Most analysts expect a slowdown in job growth in
coming months, when they believe the Asian financial crisis will
somewhat quell the rapid expansion   Inflation watchers were
somewhat calmed by the slight 1 cent increase to $12.48 in average
hourly earnings, following four months of relatively large gains.  For
the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 3.7 percent.  When
adjusted for the increase in the CPI, real wages rose by 2.5 percent in
1997, much larger than the 0.5 percent advance in 1996, or the 0.4
percent advance in 1995.  In fact, Commissioner Katharine G. Abraham
said, real wages have risen faster than any time in at least 10 years
.(Daily Labor  Report, page D-1).
__U.S. closes out 1997 with big jobs gain.  Unemployment rate up
slightly in December (Washington Post, Jan. 10, page F1).
__Riding a strong economy, the nation's employers added 370,000 new jobs
to their payrolls last month - far beyond expectations - and at year's
end, employment reached record levels.  Not since the government began
to compile employment numbers, starting in 1948, has such a larger
percentage of Americans worked:  64.1 percent in December, having
reached 64 percent for the first time in November, up from 63.2 percent
in 1996.  Immigrants, students, men and women over 55, and younger women
are swelling payrolls, drawn to jobs at a moment when they are
relatively easy to get - and because people need money.  Many new
workers are single mothers or second earners in a family (New York
Times, Jan. 110, page B1).
__Unemployment remained low in December The jobs gain was both large
and exceptionally broad-based (Wall Street Journal, page A2).  

Wholesale inventories rose slightly in November while sales continued
their slide, the Commerce Department said (Washington Post, Jan. 10,
page F1).

A new prevailing wage policy for nonagricultural immigrant workers has
employers afraid they will be forced to pay higher wages to such
employees than they did under the previous system The new wage
rules, which took effect Jan. 1, mandate use of data generated by the
BLS division of occupational employment statistics for assessing
prevailing wages, instead of information from the state employment
security agencies, which had been used for years As for employer
fears about higher prevailing wages, the Labor Department contends that
some wage determinations will be higher and some will be lower.  With
increased uniformity of data being used, DOL sources said they think
they should be able to issue wage decisions more quickly The legal
counsel and director of government regulation for an employer group
concerned about immigration issues said OES uses substantially fewer
occupational categories than had been used under the old system, which
gives further rise to concern about higher wages (Daily Labor
Report, page A-8).

The nation's college freshmen sound more bored with school, less
interested in politics or social issues, and just plain lazier than any
class in a generation.  In a massive survey of their views, this year's
freshmen are reporting record levels of academic and civic apathy and
are continuing to embrace more conservative social values than college
students from the last few decades.  The survey, which has been
conducted annually for the past 30 years, is being released by
researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles
.(Washington Post, page A1)_The survey of college freshmen
confirms what professors and administrators said they have been sensing,
that students are increasingly disengaged and view higher education less
as an opportunity to expand their minds and more as a means to increase
their incomes. The annual nationwide poll shows that two suggested goals
of education - "to be very well off financially" and "to develop a
meaningful philosophy of life" - have switched places in the past three
decades (New York Times, page A11)

DUE OUT TOMORROW:
   Consumer Price Index - December 1997
   Real Earnings: December 1997


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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1998

RELEASED TODAY:  
   CONSUMER PRICE INDEX - On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U rose
0.1 percent in December, the same as in November For the 12-month
period ended in December 1997, the CPI-U rose 1.7 percent.  This
compares with an advance of 3.3 percent in 1996 and was the smallest
annual increase since a 1.1 percent rise in 1986  
   REAL EARNINGS -- Real average weekly earnings decreased by 0.6
percent from November to December after seasonal adjustment.  This loss
was due to a 0.6 percent drop in average weekly hours and a 0.1 percent
rise in the CPI-W.  The decline was partly offset by a 0.1 percent
increase in average hourly earnings Between December 1996 and 1997,
real average weekly earnings grew by 1.9 percent 

The Washington Post, page D1, says that the aging of the nation's
population, the advent of costly new medical technologies and
diminishing returns from the manage care revolution, all augur sharper
spending increases in coming years, experts say.

National health care spending grew 4.4 percent in 1996, the smallest
increase since 1960, according to a study by the Health Care Financing
Administration in the January/February issue of the journal "Health
Affairs."  Despite the slowdown in growth, total health care spending
topped $1 trillion for the first time.  In addition, the study found
trends toward public health programs and employees in employer-sponsored
health plans continuing to shoulder a higher proportion of the health
care cost burden (Daily Labor Report, page A-3; New York Times, page
A14)_The 4.4 percent rise was less than GDP gain, but analysts say
costs are accelerating (Washington Post, page D1)_Total U.S.
health-care expenditures rose an inflation-adjusted 1.9 percent in 1996,
the slowest rate of growth in nearly four decades (Wall Street
Journal, page A2)

The cost of large employers' health benefit plans will increase faster
in 1998 than in recent years, according to a survey of 150 employers by
Towers Perrin (Daily Labor Report, page A-3).

The director of the Census Bureau Martha Farnsworth Riche resigned,
saying she was weary of the debilitating legal and political fights that
have enmeshed her agency as it prepares for the 2000 Census, and
acknowledging that she was tired of "putting out fires," according to
the New York Times (page A11).  Her resignation could complicate the
government's plan to carry out an accurate Census in 2000 Riche said
that she had accomplished her goals of overhauling the bureau and
designing the next Census, and that she now wanted to escape the daily
grind of Washington's policy skirmishes _The nation's census
director, after fighting with Congress for two years over how to conduct
the next population count, has announced she is quitting, leaving
unfilled a critical leadership position as the nation heads into the
2000 census.  Riche said that the dispute with Republican congressional
leaders did not directly lead to her resignation, but several people who
know her well said she was frustrated by the political battle and the
prospect that it would continue for another two years (Washington
Post, page A13)

Despite the strong economy, the American auto makers are acting almost
as if a recession had hit, cutting costs sharply in the face of growing
competition from Asia (New York Times, page D3).

White-collar labor market severely pinches many employers.  Joblessness
among professionals, sales people, and other white collars shrank to 2.
7 percent in November, the lowest since early 1970, BLS figures indicate
.(Wall Street Journal, "Work Week," page A1).

A Wall Street Journal article on home health care aides (page A1) says
that the aide being profiled works in the nation's fastest growing job
category.  The number of aides has doubled to more than 500,000 since
1989 and is projected to more than double again by 2005, according to
the Labor Department 

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - December 1997
 


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The Daily Report is BAACK!!boundary=---- =_NextPart_000_01BD2106.79F3C0A0

[Richardson_D]

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Hi --
This is for those who have wondered where the BLS Daily Report had gone.
The following was sent out to my co-workers yesterday.  As you can see
below, I was quite ill and received little or no assistance from the
medical profession despite my ability to pay.

Dave

--
From:   Richardson_D
Sent:   Tuesday, January 13, 1998 4:43 PM
To: DCPPISTAFF
Subject:I'm BAACK!!

Hi --

Thank you to everyone who asked about me.  I have had an interesting
time of it.  As many of you know, I rode my bike to work on Monday and
arrived in a parlous state.  I truly thought I might be having a heart
attack and, at times, was content with the thought that the pain would
go away when I died.

The paramedics finally came  took me to the hospital.  Pretty quickly,
with the EKG, they were able to rule out a heart attack, but they
insisted on keeping me overnight, an inordinate period of time, just to
be sure.  The next day I had a tread mill test which again confirmed
that there was no damage to my heart.  I then was summarily released at
8 PM with no apparent concern as to what caused my problem in the first
place.

It should be noted that none of these decisions were made strictly from
the narrow financial point of view of the hospital -- that would be a
violation of medical ethics.  Nor should it be thought that the docs
were simply acting like little boys playing with their toys, again an
ethical violation.  Nor should it be thought that the cardiac unit is
slurping up all of the resources of the health care system to the
detriment of the public health -- they are simply doing their jobs as
best they can.  Nor should it be thought that the patients' health can
safely be ignored regardless of any ability to pay, which, under my Blue
Cross insurance, I have.  Therefore there are no serious issues here
regarding the performance of the health system.

On Wed. I saw Dr. Wu, a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine,
and received an acupuncture treatment that more than doubled my lung
capacity.  He also gave me some herbal medicine that, after two days,
cleared up my bronchitis, something 20 years of Western docs had failed
to make any progress with.  Thus I am celebrating being able to breathe
again.  Hopefully Blue Cross will pay his bill.

I have been out of the office this past week mainly because of the
"flu," whatever that is.  In any event I have not had the energy to stay
awake more than relatively short periods.  No treatment was ever
suggested for this condition although the hospital did replace fluids
and electrolytes.

So I am fine, at least as far as the medical profession can determine.
I can still use the lower part of my lungs so the acupuncture treatment
has been effective so far.  Sometimes I still have trouble with my
bronchi and I don't know what to do about it.  And I really want to take
a nap now -- after all I have been here since 9:40.  Otherwise I'm fine,
I guess.

Dave





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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 1998:

__Prices of goods imported into the United States dropped 0.6 percent in
December and fell 4.9 percent in 1997, BLS reports (Daily Labor
Report, page D-1).
__Competitive pressure, a drop in oil prices, and the financial turmoil
in Asia helped knock the prices of imported goods down 0.6 percent in
December and 4.9 percent last year, the largest decline since the
government began collecting such data in 1983.  The drop in the price of
petroleum imports was the biggest - 5.4 percent in December and 25.5
percent last year - and it reflected a sharp fall in 1997 in the price
of crude oil.  But economists focused on the prices paid by importers
for commodities other than petroleum, in an effort to gauge how much
Asian currency devaluations and the strengthening dollar might restrain
inflation in the United States.  In December, the prices of imports from
Japan dropped 0.4 percent and those from other Asian nations fell 0.5
percent Bill Alterman, an economist with BLS, is quoted in the
article (Jonathan Fuerbringer in New York Times, page D1).
__No one knows what the full impact of the Asian economic drama will
turn out to be on the United States, but there is broad agreement that
it will be a restraining force on U.S. economic growth and inflation in
1998.  The latter, in fact, is already happening.  The Labor Department
reported that its index of prices for nonpetroleum imports fell 0.2
percent last month, bringing the decline to 2.5 percent for the full
year.  Falling prices for items imported from Japan and the newly
industrialized countries on the Pacific Rim - many of which are caught
up in the current turmoil - were responsible for a large share of the
decline.  Some analysts say the falling value of most of the Asian
currencies relative to the U.S. dollar - those of China and Hong Kong
have declined little - could reduce U.S. consumer price inflation by two
or three tenths of a percentage point and perhaps as much as half a
point this year  Accompanying the article is a graph that charts the
CPI, excluding food and energy; inflation-adjusted, trade-weighted
dollar value; and U.S. import prices, excluding petroleum, 1990 to the
present (John M. Berry in Washington Post, page C1).

Nearly half the preschool children in families with mothers in the
workforce relied on fathers and other family members for child care
during working hours in the fall of 1994, the Census Bureau says in a
new report "When families are poor or receive government assistance
or the mother works part time or on a non-day shift, they rely even more
on relatives for child care and less on organized facilities," the
report's author, Lynne Casper, said in a statement.  "In these cases,
over half of the children are cared for by relatives other than their
mothers" (Daily Labor Report, page A-8)

Fathers are more inclined to care for their preschoolers if they hold
service jobs.  Maintenance workers, policemen, firemen, and security
personnel are twice as likely to watch kids while their wives work as
fathers in managerial, professional, sales, or technical jobs.  The
Census Bureau attributes the difference partly to the part-time, night,
and weekend hours of many service jobs ("Business Bulletin," Wall Street
Journal, page A1).

__Retail sales rose 0.7 percent in December, boosted by strong auto
sales, the Commerce Department reports.  But for all of 1997, sales rose
4.2 percent compared with a gain of 5.2 percent in 1996 and 4.3 percent
in 1995, the Census Bureau data show.  That made 1997's year-over-year
gain the weakest since 1991, when sales gained 0.6 percent (Daily
Labor Report, page D-3; Washington Post, page C2).
__Retailers rang up their biggest sales gain in half a year during
December, helped by last minute holiday shoppers as well as strong
demand for cars.  Analysts said consumers were likely to continue
fueling economic growth early this year (New York Times, page D3).
__Consumers bought cars like crazy in December, helping retailers end
the year on an upbeat note The December gain also reflected shoppers
snapping up last-minute holiday gifts and after-Christmas bargains
.However, the retail sales report covers lots more than just the
traditional holiday-shopping destinations The report also covers
such retailers as restaurants and pubs, as well as gasoline stations and
grocery stores - and they didn't fare so well But that was mostly
because prices of goods sold at those stores declined in December.  The
retail-sales data aren't adjusted for inflation It appears that low
prices will continue to make retail demand look bleaker than it really
is.  The Labor Department said U.S. import prices, excluding the
volatile fuels