BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1996: __Prices received by producers of finished goods declined 0.3 percent in January, reflecting decreases in food and energy products, BLS reports. the O.3 percent seasonally adjusted drop in the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods is the first decline since October 1994, BLS says. Analysts express no surprise at the favorable price report given widespread reports of energy price declines ....(Daily Labor Report, page D-1). __Prices at the wholesale level, pulled down by tumbling food costs, posted the first decline in more than two years in January, while output at the nation's factories moderated (AP story, Washington Post, Feb. 15, page B1; USA Today, Feb. 17, page 6B). __Largely reflecting a big drop in the cost of food, the prices charged by American producers fell in January, the first monthly decline in more than two years. Separately, the Fed reported that industrial production was flat in January, providing evidence that the economy was slowing. The surprisingly benign results were regarded by many analysts as further confirmation that inflation posed little threat despite a tight labor market and that the economy's growth rate had eased from its rapid pace in the fourth quarter of 1996 ....(Robert D. Hershey Jr., New York Times, Feb. 15, page 35). __Inflation news couldn't be much more soothing, says The Wall Street Journal (page A4). Wholesale prices unexpectedly fell 0.3 percent in January, after a 0.6 percent jump in December. Stripping out the volatile food and energy sectors, the producer price index was flat in January after inching up 0.1 percent the month before .... The Wall Street Journal's "Tracking the Economy" (page A4) shows the Technical Data Consensus Forecast for the January Consumer Price Index figures, to be released Wednesday, as an increase of 0.3 percent, the same as the the previous month. Internet use on the job is growing, but with few guidelines, says The Wall Street Journal's "Work Week" column (page A1). About half of 494 employers surveyed late last year said selected workers have access to the Internet, and another 17 percent said they planned to give some employees access soon, the Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., says. Despite that projected growth, few of the employers had formal policies to govern workers' Internet activities .... More than 60 percent of employers with 10 or more employees offered health care benefits last year. Average cost per active and retired employer 1993 to 1996 are given in a page 1B USA Today graph. Source is Foster Higgins. Temping can help you learn new skills or bridge the gap between jobs. Some are even making a career of temping -- mostly those who like the independence or need more flexible work schedules ....No longer just a fill-in for vacationing or sick secretaries and receptionists, temps now are brought in for special projects and long-term assignments. They increasingly include white-collar technical and professional workers -- even the occasional executive ....(Wall Street Journal, page B1). The dramatic slowdown in benefit costs in recent years has more to do with employers' narrowing health insurance coverage and shifting costs to workers than it does with the trend toward managed care, according to a study by Princeton University economists Alan Krueger and Helen Levy. They find "a steady erosion of employer-provided health insurance and lower premium growth." Based on these findings, Krueger says he expects the moderation to continue in the near term rather than end soon as some industry analysts have suggested. The system of employer-paid health insurance could come unraveled if labor market shifts make such plans less important, he suggests ....Krueger also commented on the difficulty in using some of the data series compiled by BLS, in part because the ECI and benefits figures are on different conceptual bases. The situation will improve considerable, Krueger said, when the bureau completes its COMP2000 project that will consolidate major compensation and benefit programs (Daily Labor Report, page A-7). Job prospects for this year's 1.2 million college undergraduates are hotter than they've been since 1989 -- and sizzling for those with the right majors -- computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering -- according to Michigan State University ....(USA Today, page 1B). DUE OUT TOMORROW: Consumer Price Index -- January 1997 Real Earnings: January 1997