> BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1999:
>
> Today's News Release: "Productivity by Industry: Service Sector and
> Mining, 1997" reports on labor productivity changes in 1997 for selected
> industries in the service and the mining sectors of the U.S. economy.
> Labor productivity -- defined as output per hour -- rose in 1997 for most
> of the industries measured by BLS in these sectors. In 1997, output per
> hour increased in 74 percent of the service and mining industries, as
> measured at the 3-digit level of the SIC Manual. Output, which is the
> production of goods and services, rose in 81 percent of the industries at
> the 3-digit level, while hours of labor rose in 72 percent of the
> industries.
>
> A Labor Department survey found that more than half of 14- and
> 15-year-olds are employed. According to the survey, 57 percent of
> 14-year-olds work in some capacity, while 64 percent of 15-year-olds a re
> employed (The New York Times, page A12).
>
> The nation's manufacturing sector continued to grow in April, with a
> broader-based gain but slower pace than in March, the National Association
> of Purchasing Management says. Although the purchasing managers' index
> was slightly lower in April at 52.8 percent, growth was unabated. Despite
> healthy economic demand, however, factory payrolls continued to shrink in
> April, although at a slower pace than in March. The employment index
> stood at 49.5 percent, up from 48 percent in March. "The industrial sector
> is firming, but certainly not booming," according to a Merrill Lynch
> economist (Daily Labor Report, page A-2).
> __Manufacturing grew in April for the third consecutive month, and
> personal income and spending and construction spending all rose in March,
> a private industry survey and Government reports showed today. "The
> economy looks like it still has lots of momentum," said an economist at
> Standard & Poor's DRI in Lexington, Mass. "Manufacturing looks reasonably
> good. Consumer spending is rising. Housing is strong." The National
> Association of Purchasing Management's factory index was 52.8 last month.
> While that was down from a March reading of 54.3, it was still the third
> consecutive monthly reading above 50, indicating more businesses reported
> improved conditions than showed declines. On the inflation front, the
> purchasing association reported its index of prices paid rose to 49.9 in
> April from 43.2 during March, an indication that more companies reported
> price increases during the month (Bloomberg News, in an article in The New
> York Times, page C6).
> __The nation's purchasing executives said that manufacturing activity
> continued to grow in April, but at a slower pace than the month before.
> Meanwhile, other sectors of the economy continued to produce positive
> news. The Commerce Department said personal income and consumption both
> rose moderately in March, but the savings rate has remained negative for 4
> consecutive months. It also said construction spending rose 0.5 percent
> in March (The Wall Street Journal, page A2; The Journal's page 1 chart is
> of the Purchasing Management Index, 1997 to the present).
>
> Personal income rose 0.4 percent in March, the same pace as spending, the
> Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. Private
> industry wages and salaries rose 0.2 percent in March, after advancing 0.6
> percent in February. Manufacturing wages and salaries decreased 0.1
> percent in March after a 0.3 percent February gain. Service industries
> wages and salaries rose 0.6 percent in March, following a 0.8 percent jump
> in February (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
> __Personal income and personal spending grew at a slower rate in March
> than in previous months, but both continued to rise at a hefty 5 percent
> annual rate, the Commerce Department reports. Analysts said the March
> figures indicated the economy entered the second quarter on a somewhat
> less exuberant note, and some forecasters said the economy is likely to
> grow this spring at a 3 to 3.5 percent pace, down from 4.5 percent in the
> first 3 months of the year and a roaring 6 percent rate in the fourth
> quarter of last year. Meanwhile the National Association of Purchasing
> Management's monthly index of conditions in the manufacturing sector of
> the economy slipped to 52.8 last month, from 54.3 in March, indicating
> that conditions are still improving but at a slower rate. In another
> indication of solid U.S. economic growth, Commerce said the value in March
> of construction work on homes, office buildings, factories, hospitals,
> roads and other structures was up only slightly from February, but was 11
> percent higher than in March 1998 (John M. Berry, writing in The
> Washington Post, page E2).
>
> Both private and public-sector construction reached record levels in
> March, contradicting economists' predictions of a slight decline, the
> Census Bureau reports (Daily Labor Report, page A-4).
>
> Warning that American future retirement security depends on a
> revitalization of defined benefit pension plans, the head of the Pension
> Benefit Guaranty Corp. says his agency will issue a proposal to expand the
> development of such plans (Daily Labor Report, page A-6).
>
> IBM, long regarded as a leader in employee benefits, became the latest
> employer to abandon its lifetime pension program in favor of a more
> flexible plan that lets workers take their retirement money with them from
> job to job. It's called a cash-balance plan, and it's a phenomenon
> sweeping Corporate America. Under such a plan, employers generally
> contribute 4 to 7 percent of a worker's pay each year into an account with
> a guaranteed rate of return. In most cases, the return is tied to the
> 30-year Treasury bond, but some companies are giving employees a choice of
> linking it to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index of large company stocks.
> And when employees change jobs, they generally take a lump-sum payment
> from the cash balance plan with them. An accompanying table shows that 12
> percent of defined benefit pension plans were cash balance plans in 1998,
> compared to 5 percent in 1995 (USA Today, page 1).
>
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