> BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, MARCH 31, 1997: > > The 1998 revision of the CPI will narrow the gulf between the price > measure and the actual cost of living, according to an article in BLS' > "Monthly Labor Review", says the Daily Labor Report (page A-3, text > E-1). The report presents an overview of the change to the CPI in > the 1998 revision. It says the so-called substitution bias would be > mitigated by updating CPI weights and samples. This bias is related > to the difficulty of a fixed-weighted measure picking up changes in > spending patterns in a timely way -- especially as it relates to > consumers substituting lower-priced items for similar higher-priced > goods or services. > > The Wall Street Journal's feature "Tracking the Economy" (page A4) > says that the March unemployment rate, to be announced Friday by BLS, > will be 5.3 percent, the same as the February rate, according to the > Technical Data Consensus Forecast. The initial jobless claims figures > for the week to March 29, to be announced Thursday, will also be the > same as the figure for the previous period, 310,000. > > In growing numbers, the elderly are abandoning retirement for more > years of labor. Some of the 3.7 million Americans age 65 and older > who have jobs want to work. They are fleeing boredom, reclaiming > self-esteem, making extra money for luxuries. On the other hand, > nearly six of ten workers in the private sector reach retirement age > with no pension from their life-long work, the Labor Department > reports. About 75 percent of government employees, who make up 15 > percent of the total work force, have pensions. > > Despite decades of efforts to improve the lot of American farm > workers, wages for the nation's more than 2 million farm laborers have > trailed stubbornly behind inflation for the past 20 years, making it > hard for many of them to afford adequate housing and other > necessities. Agricultural economists and some industry surveys found > that farm workers' wages have fallen 20 pecent or more over the past 2 > decades after accounting for inflation, while a U.S. Department of > Agriculture study found a 7 percent drop to $6.17 an hour in current > dollars, over that period (The New York Times, page 1). > > "In a significant shift since the late 1980s, outplaced women no > longer require more time than men to find new employment," concludes > Lee Hecht Harrison, a career services firm that tracked and surveyed > 2,000 job seekers from 1993 to 1996 (The Washington Post, March 30, > page H4). > >
