BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1996 __Fed officials were astonished yesterday by the apparent leak of one of its most closely held monetary policy secrets: a recommendation by eight of the 12 regional Fed banks to raise a key interest rate, says John M. Berry (page A2, Washington Post). An exceptionally detailed report from Reuters news service said the eight banks had asked the Fed Board to raise its current 5 percent discount rate, the interest rate the Fed charges financial institutions for overnight loans ....Reuters said the source of the information was "a senior Fed official." Bond prices fell sharply on the news, as many analysts and investors concluded that Fed policymakers are more likely than they had thought to raise short-term interest rates, including the discount rate, when they meet next Tuesday. Yields on many U.S. Treasury securities rose ....On at least one occasion in the past, the FBI has been called in to investigate the source of a serious leak of other policy information. Industrial production picked up in August, rising 0.5 percent, after a sluggish 0.1 percent July increase, according to the Federal Reserve. An upward swing in weather-related utility output helped boost industrial production figures ....Analysts voice pleasure at the relatively low level of manufacturing capacity used by businesses. Merrill Lynch economists say the utilization rate suggests no bottleneck pressures in manufacturing -- a sign that inflation should continue to remain well behaved ....(Daily Labor Report, pages 2,D-1)_____The report left analysts divided about whether higher interest rates will be needed to keep the economy from overheating (Washington Post, page F1; Wall Street Journal, page A2). Analysts say the tentative three-year accord between Ford and the UAW, which would be the first auto industry contract to guarantee employment levels, could pose major problems for bargainers at GM, which aims to reduce costs ....(Daily Labor Report, page A-11; Wall Street Journal, page A1)_____The Ford deal: No job cuts but less pay for some ....(New York Times, page A1). The number of major U.S. corporations that use drug testing has risen 277 percent since widespread testing began in 1987, according to a nationwide survey (Washington Post, page A1). Most of the boom occurred from 1988 to 1993, as federal regulations mandated testing for a growing list of professions, but the ranks of employees being tested continue to grow. Drug-testing experts estimate that one-third of all new U.S. hires will be screened this year, more than ever before. If on-the-job screening is included, as many as 30 million U.S. workers are subject to testing annually ....The Post says a national poll of 1,006 white- and blue-collar workers by Gallup and the Institute for a Drug Free Workplace showed growing support for screening out illegal drug users .... California will enter a slower employment growth pattern that will start in about 1998 and continue for the foreseeable future, the UCLA Business Forecasting Project reports (Daily Labor Report, page A-6). While the projected average nonfarm job growth of about 2 percent a year from 1998 through the year 2010 will be slightly higher than what UCLA-BFP estimated for the nation as a whole during that period, it "is not sufficient to reduce unemployment below 6 percent and will not restore the construction and real estate business to its past prominence in the state," warned the forecast .... A new breed of debtor shocks credit card issuers. As delinquency rates hit record highs, it's affluent, low-risk customers who are declaring they can't pay ....Almost 3.7 percent of credit card payments were delinquent during the second quarter of this year, the highest rate ever recorded ....(Washington Post, page F1)_____A surge in late payments ....(New York Times, page D4; USA Today, page 1B) An amendment expanding the Freedom of Information Act to cover electronic records was passed by the House and Senate without opposition. The amendment requires that computer-based information kept by federal agencies -- in addition to paper records -- be subject to disclosure. And it goes a step further. If a requester wants to receive the records in electronic form, then the agency must comply if it can ....(Washington Post, page A17). The Daily Labor Report carries the following Notice To Subscribers (page 4): "As of January 1996, the Bureau of Labor statistics stopped collecting and reporting information on changes in wages and compensation negotiated under collective bargaining agreements. BNA is now the only source for settlement data. In order to make our reports as comprehensive and useful as possible, we request that our subscribers send us details of their recent settlements. We would include the information in our biweekly settlement listing, or if you request confidentiality, use it only in our statistical analyses ...." DUE OUT TOMORROW: Employment and Unemployment Among Youth -- Summer, 1996
