This will be the last forward this month. It is VACATION TIME!
Dave Richardson
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BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1996
RELEASED TODAY:
CONSUMER PRICE INDEX -- On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer
Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 0.3 percent in July, following a
0.1 percent increase in June. The energy index, which turned down in June
after increasing 9.4 percent in the preceding 6-month period, declined 0.4
percent in July ....The food index rose 0.5 percent in July, reflecting, in
part, another sharp increase in prices for dairy products. Excluding food
and energy, the CPI rose 0.3 percent, following a 0.2 percent increase in
June. The slightly larger advance in July was due to a jump in shelter
costs, which partially resulted from a rise in the cost of lodging while out
of town ....
REAL EARNINGS -- Real average weekly earnings fell by 1.5 percent from
June to July after seasonal adjustment. This decrease followed a sharp
increase in June (2.2 percent). The large decrease in July resulted from
declines in both average weekly hours and average hourly earnings, coupled
with a rise in the CPI-W ....Real average weekly earnings fell by 0.4
percent from July 1995 to July 1996 ....
Three years ago, more than a dozen big brand-name drug companies issued a
joint pledge: We will hold "price increases at or below the consumer price
index," they said, in a formal statement (The Washington Post, page D1).
They made the promise during a national debate over escalating health care
costs ....A survey of current pricing of all drugs, brand name and generic,
suggests that the pledge has been kept, though in large part because, on
average, generic drug prices have been falling. Still, some consumer
groups and drug stores are unhappy, because prices of some categories of
drugs, including many of the most popular prescription products, have risen
much faster than inflation ....The article uses numbers calculated by IMS
America Inc., a pharmaceutical market research firm that is viewed by many
on both sides of the debate as having the best price data, for comparisons
with the CPI.
A controversial new paper suggesting that a little bit of inflation may be
good for the economy has people talking at the Federal Reserve (The Wall
Street Journal, page A2). The Brookings Institution paper, which says the
economy wouldn't function efficiently at zero inflation, adds fuel to a
debate both inside and outside the Fed over whether policy makers should
drive inflation even lower than it is now. The paper suggests the economic
and social costs of getting to zero inflation, or "price stability," would
be far higher than most economists believe ....
DUE OUT TOMORROW: Productivity and Costs: Second Quarter 1996
