See next to last item on Manpower pay. It would seem that a lot of their workers were getting the $4.25 minimum wage or close to it. Dave Richardson ---------- BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1996 RELEASED TODAY: The preliminary seasonally-adjusted annual rates of productivity growth in the third quarter were 0.3 percent in the business sector and 0.2 percent in the nonfarm business sector. In both sectors, productivity increases in the third quarter were smaller than those recorded in the second quarter. In manufacturing, the productivity increase in the third quarter was 6.3 percent, the largest recorded since the first quarter of 1994 .... The all-industries median negotiated first-year wage increase compiled in the first 44 weeks of 1996 is 3 percent, according to the latest biweekly survey by BNA PLUS. In manufacturing agreements, the year-to-date median wage increase is 2.8 percent; in nonmanufacturing settlements (excluding construction), the year-to-date median wage increase is 3 percent. In construction agreements, the year-to-date median wage increase is 3.5 percent ....(Daily Labor Report, pages 2,D-1). Layoff plans by major U.S. businesses surged in October to the highest level in nine months, according to a monthly survey by the employment firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas. Planned dismissals rose 15.9 percent last month, to 47,911, from 41,335 during October 1995 (Washington Post, page D1). Temporary workers' average hourly pay at Manpower, the nation's biggest temporary staffing company, rose nearly 5.8 percent in the third quarter, compared with a 3.3 percent gain for U.S. workers overall, the company said. Smaller rival Randstad Staffing Services of Atlanta said its hourly pay increased 6.4 percent in October from year-ago levels ....(Washington Post, page D2). U.S. manufacturing executives expect steady, moderate growth through the end of the year, while builders see a slowdown in growth during the period, according to Dun & Bradstreet Corp. surveys. D&B's September survey of 1,000 manufacturing executives found that they toned down their expectations for production and new orders in the fourth quarter ....In a separate September survey of 200 construction executives, D&B found builders expect more-sluggish growth when compared with the rapid increase in the spring and summer ....(Wall Street Journal, page A2). DUE OUT TOMORROW: Average Annual Pay Levels in Metropolitan Areas, 1995
