[PEN-L:4127] BLS Daily Report

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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MARCH  2, 1999:

Personal income gained 0.6 percent in January, to post its strongest gain
since  February 1998, and consumer spending advanced 0.3 percent in January.
Private wages and salaries went up $21.3 billion in January, compared with
an increase of $16 billion in December.  The January and December changes
were affected by a number of special factors, the Commerce Department says.
The January change was boosted by cost-of-living adjustments to federal
transfer payment programs, by changes to the Earned Income Credit Program
and the Child Tax Credit Program, by pay raises for federal civilian and
military personnel, and by subsidy payments to farmers (Daily Labor Report,
page D-1).

Vice President Gore announces that employers participating in the Welfare to
Work partnership have exceeded their goal by hiring a total of 410,000
former welfare recipients nationwide in the last year.  He released the
results of the Wirthlin survey, which showed that 48 percent of companies
hiring welfare recipients are turning to nonprofit, community-based
organizations to find job candidates, up from 25 percent in 1998.  The
latest survey also found that 72 percent of companies hiring welfare
recipients offer them health care benefits, 53 percent offer mentoring
services, 23 percent offer transportation subsidies, and 12 percent offer
child care.  Slightly more than a quarter (27 percent) of the employers
surveyed said they were hiring welfare recipients into salaried positions,
with those firms showing an average salary of $15,266 a year.  About 70
percent of the firms said they hired these workers into wage jobs, with an
average starting pay of $6.86 an hour.  Wirthlin said the survey findings
were derived from a random sample of 500 businesses, broken down by size to
represent the partnership's significant small business membership (Daily
Labor Report, page A-6).

Manufacturing activity surged in February, following 8 months of decline,
according to the National Association of Purchasing Management.  The
purchasing managers index increased to 52.4 percent from 49.5 percent in
January, indicating a change in the factory sector from contraction to
expansion.  The sectors with the largest increases in new orders in February
were (from most significant advances):  wood products; tobacco; apparel;
petroleum; chemicals; transportation equipment; and textiles.  "An
employment index above 47 percent, over time, is generally consistent with
an increase in the BLS data on manufacturing employment," the NAPM report
says (Daily Labor Report, page A-1). 

Construction put in place during January rose to a seasonally adjusted
annual rate of $692.3 billion, a 1.6 percent gain from December 1998's
revised figures, the Census Bureau reports.  The January estimate was 9.2
percent higher than in January 1998.  Private construction projects rose to
a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $535.6 billion in January, a 0.5
percent increase from December's rate.  Analysts attributed the gain to a
growing market for housing (Daily Labor Report, page D-7).

The economy showed signs of continued strength in January, as Americans'
personal income rose by a robust 0.6 percent and personal spending rose
modestly, while manufacturers confirmed that a rebound occurred last month
in their troubled sector.  "With consumer balance sheets now more liquid, we
expect spending to pick up in coming months," an National, Association of
Manufacturers economist said.  "For the first quarter, consumer spending
should top 3 percent, and economic growth should post a similar gain."
Particularly telling was the purchasing managers' export index, which broke
50 to climb to the 54 level, the first time it has closed above the crucial
50 mark in 15 months (Tim Smart, writing in The Washington Post, page E3).

Manufacturing expanded in February for the first time in 9 months, adding
fuel to an economy already benefiting from rising incomes and increased
construction spending. The factory index of the National Association of
Purchasing Management rose 52.4 percent last month.  "The signal from this
survey is clear:  The manufacturing slowdown is over," said an economist at
High Frequency Economics, in Valhalla, N.Y.  Another report showed that
consumers' incomes rose 0.6 percent of a percent in January.  Construction
spending was up 1.6 percent in January, the largest gain in 7 months.
Manufacturing was the one weak spot in the United States economy last year,
as housing and consumer spending surged to records (The New York Times, in a
Bloomberg News article, page C9).

Manufacturing finally appears to be pulling itself off the mat, says The
Wall Street Journal, page A2).  Quoting the National Association of
Purchasing Management index, the chairman of the survey says "Though it may
be premature to say that manufacturing is back, this certainly signals a
possible reversal of recent fortunes in the sector."  Personal income rose
0.6 percent in January, and spending on construction surged.  The Journal's
page 1 graph is of the Purchasing Management Index, 1996 to the present.  

Think educational training for workers is a waste?  If so, you're making a
mistake, says a new poll by Interim Services and Louis Harris and
Associates. Its data shows that 35 percent of employees who don't receive
regular mentoring plan look for another job within 12 months.  But just 16
percent of those with good mentors expect to jump ship.  Among employees who
say their company offers poor training, 41 percent plan to leave within a
year, vs. only 12  percent of those who rate opportunities excellent
(Business Week, March 1, page 8).

Minority workers, and especially Hispanic workers, are significantly less
likely to have employer-provided health insurance than other workers in the
same fields, according to a new study from The Commonwealth Fund.  The
survey found that 37 percent of Hispanics with full-time jobs are not
covered at work by health insurance, compared with 20 percent of blacks and
12 percent of whites.  "Perhaps the most important lesson learned from the
analysis is that having a job does not equalize chances of obtaining health
insurance coverage for minority workers," the report concludes. "This
disparity suggest barriers to being insured beyond employment or having an
employer that offers health insurance benefits."  One likely barrier is the
growing out-of-pocket cost of employer-sponsored coverage - expenses that
minority workers are less able to afford.  The Commonwealth Fund study,
which was based on a 1997 federal survey of 62,500 households, found that
minorities were less likely to have employer-provided health coverage than
whites whether they worked in large, medium, or small firms (The Washington
Post, "Health" supplement, page 5).

No medical insurance means tough and creative choices, says The New York
Times (page 1).  For the most part, the uninsured are not the poorest of the
poor, who tend to be covered by Medicaid, the Government health program for
the indigent.  Indeed, of the 43 million Americans without health insurance,
75 percent work at least part-time, but are not offered insurance through an
employer or cannot afford their contribution.  (The rest tend to be
students, children, and early retirees).  And their numbers are swelling as
the price of insurance rises - especially for small businesses - and as more
people move from welfare to jobs where there are few benefits.  Nationwide,
17.6 percent of people under 65 lack health insurance.

Job seekers with 4-year degrees are sometimes enrolling in 1 and 2 year
associate degree programs that teach skills, a University of Minnesota study
says.  "A bachelor's won't result in employment as easily as something that
gives you skills," says the manager of an electronics firm (The Wall Street
Journal, "Work Week" feature, page 1).


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