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.
