BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1998
RELEASED TODAY: The number of major work stoppages dropped to a record
low in 1997. Other measures of work stoppage activity were low by
historical standards, although the number of workers idled by stoppages
increased from a year ago ….
Wage gains remained moderate last year, with the all-industries median
first-year wage increase under contracts negotiated in 1997 coming in at
3 percent, which was identical to the 1996 advance, according to data
compiled by the Bureau of National Affairs. Second and third year
median wage increases also were unchanged at 3 percent. The year-end
report shows that 56 percent of contracts reported in 1997 called for
first-year raises in the more than 2 to 4 percent range, 21 percent
called for increases of more than 4 percent, 12 percent called for
increases of up to 2 percent. Ten percent specified wage freezes
….(Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
The Wall Street Journal (page A2) reports on the coming of globalization
to a Southern town and indicates that it brings worry, despite a robust
economy ….Even during a boom, there's growth and retrenchment, hiring
and firing, optimism and fear - all at the same time ….Nationwide, the
unemployment rate was a low 4.7 percent in January. Yet layoffs are on
the rise. Fed chairman Alan Greenspan told the Senate Budget Committee
last month that 300,000 jobs are lost each week in the U.S. even as more
are created, a "very major set of churning forces," he said. American
workers can be confident they'll find some job, but they can't be sure
how long they'll keep it ….
Business Week (Feb. 16, page 26) says that "until recently, it looked as
if the huge wave of downsizing that roiled U.S. labor markets in the
1990s was finally receding" ….Now, in spite of tight labor markets, it
appears that the pace of downsizing is on the upswing again.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., which tracks corporate layoff plans,
says that job cut announcements in the fourth quarter of last year, at
152,854, were up 33 percent over their year-earlier level, and the
just-released January 1998 total of 72,193 was the highest monthly
number in two years ….
DUE OUT TOMORROW: U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes - January 1998
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