>BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1997 > >RELEASED TODAY: Retirement plan participation by employees in medium and >large private establishments (those with 100 workers or more) has remained >fairly constant, but there has been a shift in the types of plans providing >coverage, according to a 1995 survey by BLS. In 1995, 80 percent of >full-time employees in medium and large private establishments participated >in one or more retirement income plans, up from the 78 percent reported in >1993. In 1995, 52 percent of all full-time workers participated in defined >benefit plans, which use predetermined formulas to calculate retirement >benefits, down from 56 percent in 1993. On the other hand, 55 percent of all >full-time workers participated in defined contribution plans, which specify >the employer's contribution but not the eventual benefit, up from 49 percent >in 1993 .... > >The proportion of high school graduates across the U.S. that attends college >rose to an all-time record of 65 percent in the fall of 1996, BLS reports in >data tracing the college and workforce status of high school graduates >....(Daily Labor Report, July 24, page D-1). > >The experimental geometric mean version of the CPI rose by 2.0 percent over >the year ended in June, maintaining the pattern of divergence with the >official CPI, according to data released by BLS. By comparison, the official >CPI-U increased 2.3 percent between June 1996 and June 1997. A second >experimental CPI, which is a recalculation of the official CPI-U using the >same arithmetic average method of calculating price change, also showed a 2.3 >percent rise over the year ended in June ....(Daily Labor Report, July 24, >page A-11). > >Cereal prices dropped in 1996 after years of rising faster than the rate of >inflation, Reps. Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said >in their third annual report on the cost of breakfast cereals ....(Washington >Post, page G1). > >Despite a continuing decline in job-related ailments among most American >workers, legions of nursing-home aides keep coming down with painful back >sprains and other injuries. In a federal job-safety ranking released last >month, nursing homes came out as the 12th most hazardous industry among the >more than 300 businesses tracked. That's worse than any of the construction >fields and is in roughly the same category as shipbuilders and truck drivers >....The main hazard to workers in the nursing-home field involves lifting or >moving patients ....(Los Angeles Times, July 25). > >The number of people filing initial claims for unemployment insurance >benefits dropped by 42,000 during the week ended July 19 to a seasonally >adjusted 299,000, DOL says ....(Daily Labor Report, July 25, page D-1; USA >Today, page 1B). > >
