> BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, November 15, 2001: > > RELEASED TODAY: In the third quarter of 2001, there were 1,689 mass > layoff actions by employers that resulted in the separation of 349,866 > workers from their jobs for more than 30 days, according to preliminary > figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor > Statistics. Both the total number of layoff events and the number of > separations were sharply higher than July-September 2000. This marks the > fourth consecutive quarter of significant over-the-year increases in > extended mass layoff activity. For the first three quarters of 2001, the > number of worker separations totaled 1,171,572, up from 743,357 during the > same period in 2000 and slightly more than the total for all of 2000 > (1,170,423). > > Zero-percent financing deals fueled an auto sales boom in October that led > retail sales up a record 7.1 percent from the prior month, the Commerce > Department's Census Bureau reported Nov. 14 (Daily Labor Report, page > D-4). > > Consumers taking advantage of automakers' interest-free loans sent retail > sales surging 7.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted $306.8 billion in > October, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That follows a 2.2 > percent decline in September. Auto sales were the driving force, soaring > a record 26.4 percent. Excluding car sales, retail sales in October rose > 1 percent (The New York Times, page C12, The Wall Street Journal, page > A2). > > Retail sales skyrocketed last month as consumers, who had cut their > spending after the September 11 terrorist attacks, returned to stores, > restaurants and auto showrooms--and those who didn't want to venture out > boosted their mail-order and online purchases (The Washington Post, page > E1). > > A fourth consecutive quarterly decline in the Wage Trend Indicator (WTI) > signals further moderation of private industry wage increases well into > 2002, according to figures released November 15 by BNA. Saying the latest > WTI figures underscore the increasingly weak U.S. labor market, economist > Joel Popkin said the index's downward trend throughout 2001 "indicates > that we will see further deceleration of private industry wage gains over > the next several calendar quarters" (Daily Labor Report, page D-1). > > Drawing from its huge survey of employment and wages, the Labor > Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that legal, management, > and computer and mathematical jobs are the highest paying occupations. > The average wage of employees in legal occupations--a group that includes > paralegals and law clerks as well as lawyers and judges--was $33.14 an > hour in 2000, BLS said. At the top of the pay scale in the legal category > were lawyers with average hourly pay of $43.90 or an annual average of > $91,320 (Daily Labor Report, page D-7). > > While the number of pharmacists has grown over the past decade, there is > evidence of increasing demand for pharmacy services that is outpacing the > growth in the supply of pharmacists, according to a General Accounting > Office report released Nov. 13. The report, based primarily on data from > the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Health and Human > Services Department, found that between 1988 and 1998, the number of > pharmacists in the United States grew from 162,000 to 185,000. This 14 > percent increase was less than the 19 percent growth rate for the overall > workforce(Daily Labor Report, page A-2). > > Data compiled by BNA in the first 46 weeks of 2001 for all settlements > showed that the weighted average first-year wage increase in newly > negotiated contracts was 4.3 percent, compared with 3.8 percent in 2000. > The median first-year wage increase for these settlements was 3.5 percent, > the same as that negotiated in 2000 (Daily Labor Report, page D-24). > > > DUE OUT TOMORROW: Consumer Price Index: October 2001; and Real > Earnings: October 2001 >
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