BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1998
__Sharply falling petroleum and nonpetroleum prices help lower the price
of imported goods by 1.3 percent in January, the largest monthly drop in
nearly a year, BLS reported. BLS also reported that import prices from
the Asian Newly Industrialized Countries of Hong Kong, Singapore, South
Korea, and Taiwan fell 1.2 percent in January, the biggest decline since
the bureau began publishing the statistics on a monthly basis in 1993.
The index has dropped 3.1 percent over the last three months and 5.8
percent over the last 12 months, according to BLS ….(Daily Labor Report,
page D-1).
__Asia's pain was the American consumer's gain last month, as prices of
imports from the region tumbled at their fastest rate since the
government started keeping such statistics five years ago ….The result
is a strong check on U.S. inflation at a time when rapid growth might
otherwise trigger price increases ….(Wall Street Journal, page A2).
Business inventories advanced for the 18th month in a row in December,
rising a stronger-than-expected 0.4 percent during the month, despite a
healthy 0.9 percent gain in sales, the Commerce Department reports
….(Daily Labor Report, page A-10; Wall Street Journal, page A2).
Stereotype turns students off of high-paying careers, says USA Today
(Feb. 16, page 1B). Students of all ages, although weaned on computers,
perceive tech jobs to be for introverts, geeks, and geniuses who can
hack into the CIA but rarely wear socks that match. Meanwhile, 200,000
tech jobs wait vacant in a field that pays college graduates upward of
$50,000 a year. Employment will swell from 1.5 million to 2.6 million
by 2006, yet the number of students earning bachelor's degrees in
computer science and electrical engineering has fallen more than 40
percent since the 1980s. That defies the law of supply and demand, and
it has persisted for 17 years. The best explanation the experts can
muster is the "nerd image" ….
Major U.S. companies squeezed out profit growth of 1.3 percent during
the fourth quarter, extending their streak of earnings gains to two
years. But analysts say that is likely to be their best performance for
a while, as labor costs edge up, productivity improvements slow, and
Asia's troubles hit home ….(Wall Street Journal, page A10).
DUE OUT TOMORROW: Producer Price Indexes - January 1998
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