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




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