This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------_=_NextPart_000_01BE6655.DFC8E300 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 commodity prices are a calamity to some producers and a boon to others -- and consumers get the short end, says another article in the Washington Post's Business section (page 12). ... In addition to record low prices for virtually all grain commodities, other goods have bottomed out over the past year -- steel, sugar, oil, and pork, to name just a few. These devaluations have provided delight and disappointment to consumers. The decline in oil prices, for example, has shown up at the pumps and drivers have been positively giddy. On the other hand, the precipitous decline in the value of agricultural commodities has made no impact on the price of such items as cereal, which actually has gone up. The odd confluence of low commodity prices is attributable to a number of factors. The primary culprits are the Asian and Russian economic crises, which precipitated a supply bottleneck in the United States when their formerly plush markets dried up. ... Aside from a few noticeable exceptions, those reductions have not trickled down to consumers. "Typically consumers do not see much direct impact," said as assistant professor of finance. "The fraction of the budget for the raw product is relatively small. ... Other costs, including sales, marketing, and shipping, generally comprise far more significant portions of production budgets. ... Federal agencies have hired more than 10,000 former welfare recipients in the last 2 years, meeting a goal set by the White House 19 months ahead of schedule, administration officials have announced. ... (New York Times, page A12). "Tracking the Economy," a feature in The Wall Street Journal (page A4), says that the technical data forecast for the February unemployment rate, to be released by BLS Friday, is 4.3 percent, the same as the actual January unemployment rate. The increase in nonfarm payrolls is forecast to be 245,000. The total annual cash compensation for a physician employed by a hospital, HMO, or group practice averaged $158,800 in 1998, according to a compensation survey of more than 800 health care organizations released by the William M. Mercer Inc. consulting firm. ... 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[PEN-L:4128] BLS Daily Report
Richardson_D Thu, 4 Mar 1999 10:44:38 -0500boundary="----_=_NextPart_000_01BE6655.DFC8E300"