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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1998
RELEASED TODAY:
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX - On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U rose
0.1 percent in December, the same as in November ....For the 12-month
period ended in December 1997, the CPI-U rose 1.7 percent. This
compares with an advance of 3.3 percent in 1996 and was the smallest
annual increase since a 1.1 percent rise in 1986 ....
REAL EARNINGS -- Real average weekly earnings decreased by 0.6
percent from November to December after seasonal adjustment. This loss
was due to a 0.6 percent drop in average weekly hours and a 0.1 percent
rise in the CPI-W. The decline was partly offset by a 0.1 percent
increase in average hourly earnings ....Between December 1996 and 1997,
real average weekly earnings grew by 1.9 percent ....
The Washington Post, page D1, says that the aging of the nation's
population, the advent of costly new medical technologies and
diminishing returns from the manage care revolution, all augur sharper
spending increases in coming years, experts say.
National health care spending grew 4.4 percent in 1996, the smallest
increase since 1960, according to a study by the Health Care Financing
Administration in the January/February issue of the journal "Health
Affairs." Despite the slowdown in growth, total health care spending
topped $1 trillion for the first time. In addition, the study found
trends toward public health programs and employees in employer-sponsored
health plans continuing to shoulder a higher proportion of the health
care cost burden ....(Daily Labor Report, page A-3; New York Times, page
A14)_____The 4.4 percent rise was less than GDP gain, but analysts say
costs are accelerating ....(Washington Post, page D1)_____Total U.S.
health-care expenditures rose an inflation-adjusted 1.9 percent in 1996,
the slowest rate of growth in nearly four decades ....(Wall Street
Journal, page A2)
The cost of large employers' health benefit plans will increase faster
in 1998 than in recent years, according to a survey of 150 employers by
Towers Perrin ....(Daily Labor Report, page A-3).
The director of the Census Bureau Martha Farnsworth Riche resigned,
saying she was weary of the debilitating legal and political fights that
have enmeshed her agency as it prepares for the 2000 Census, and
acknowledging that she was tired of "putting out fires," according to
the New York Times (page A11). Her resignation could complicate the
government's plan to carry out an accurate Census in 2000 ....Riche said
that she had accomplished her goals of overhauling the bureau and
designing the next Census, and that she now wanted to escape the daily
grind of Washington's policy skirmishes ...._____The nation's census
director, after fighting with Congress for two years over how to conduct
the next population count, has announced she is quitting, leaving
unfilled a critical leadership position as the nation heads into the
2000 census. Riche said that the dispute with Republican congressional
leaders did not directly lead to her resignation, but several people who
know her well said she was frustrated by the political battle and the
prospect that it would continue for another two years ....(Washington
Post, page A13)
Despite the strong economy, the American auto makers are acting almost
as if a recession had hit, cutting costs sharply in the face of growing
competition from Asia ....(New York Times, page D3).
White-collar labor market severely pinches many employers. Joblessness
among professionals, sales people, and other white collars shrank to 2.
7 percent in November, the lowest since early 1970, BLS figures indicate
.....(Wall Street Journal, "Work Week," page A1).
A Wall Street Journal article on home health care aides (page A1) says
that the aide being profiled works in the nation's fastest growing job
category. The number of aides has doubled to more than 500,000 since
1989 and is projected to more than double again by 2005, according to
the Labor Department ....
DUE OUT TOMORROW: U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - December 1997
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