BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 1998:
RELEASED TODAY: According to updated figures, manufacturing productivity
in the United States rose 4.4 percent in 1996, a smaller increase than
in 1994 or 1995. Nevertheless, the U.S. productivity growth rate was
higher than the rates recorded for 8 of 10 foreign countries ....
ALSO TODAY: The Monthly Labor Review is now available at
http://stats.bls.gov/mlr/opub/mlrhome.htm
More than a quarter of the U.S. full-time workforce had flexible
scheduling arrangements with their employer in 1997, almost double that
of six years ago, BLS reports ....(Daily Labor Report, page D-5).
Initial claims filed with state agencies for unemployment insurance
benefits rose 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 313,000 for the week ended
March 21, the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration
reports. This is the second straight increase, as initial claims
increased 10,000 for the week ended March 14 ....(Daily Labor Report,
page D-3)_____The weekly jobs data, which Wall Street analysts had
forecast at 308,000, remain at levels typical of a healthy U.S. economy,
one that was entering its 8th year of uninterrupted expansion (The New
York Times, page C3).
Witnesses at a House subcommittee hearing voice strong support for
consolidating the three major U.S. statistical agencies. "The purpose
of the legislation before us is to improve the quality and reliability
of federal statistical data and statistical analysis by organizational
consolidation and data sharing for statistical purposes," says Rep.
Stephen Horn (R-Calif.). Horn's subcommittee heard favorable testimony
on a bill he will introduce and its Senate counterpart. The proposals
call for a commission to recommend whether to create a single
independent federal agency that would pull together the three major
economic data agencies: the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census
Bureau, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis ....Economist Joel Popkin,
president of Joel Popkin and Co., said he supports consolidating
statistical agencies and believes centralized control will help
revitalize the federal statistical system ....Charles A. Waite, a former
associate director at the Census Bureau, said ....the bills would help
the government "meet the challenges of measuring our rapidly changing
and increasingly complex economy." But Popkin prefers an earlier
version of Horn's bill, which was introduced in the previous Congress
.....L. Nye Stevens of the GAO praised the Senate bill as consistent with
its principles for reorganizing and streamlining government agencies
.....(Daily Labor Report, page A-4).
The Conference Board reports that its help-wanted advertising index was
92 in February, an increase of 3 percentage points from the previous
month. The latest figure is the highest the index has stood since
November 1997, when it was also 92. The increase suggests that the
labor market remains strong and that there is no let-up in hiring
intentions ....(Daily Labor Report, page A-2).
Domestic output of goods and services advanced at an annual rate of 3.7
percent for the fourth quarter, slightly lower than previously reported
because of slower services and exports spending than earlier estimates
indicated, the Commerce Department reports. This is the department's
final revision to fourth-quarter GDP, based on data compiled by the
Bureau of Economic Analysis ....(Daily Labor Report, page D-1; New York
Times, page C3)_____Corporate profits fell 2.3 percent in the fourth
quarter, their steepest decline in nearly four years, even as the
economy kept expanding at a healthy pace ....(Wall Street Journal, page
A2; Washington Times, page B11).
The Employment Cost Index was cited in "Dear Abby" on Tuesday. Abby's
answer was about the increased dollar value of a homemaker's work.
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