>Employment has held up fairly well. Where are the new jobs coming from to >balance off the large layoffs in the news? >-- >Michael Perelman
Frankly, I would be skeptical about labor statistics at this point considering all of the garbage that came down the pike about corporate profitability in the 1990s. We have a tendency to put a halo around data coming from "impartial" government sources, but when you really get down to it, the top directors of such agencies come from the same class that made Enron possible. From Bureau of Labor Statistics website: Kathleen P. Utgoff Commissioner* --- The Houston Chronicle, June 29, 1995 Firms must disclose underfunded pensions Large companies that do not have enough money in their pension plans to pay promised benefits must send their workers letters this year disclosing the shortfall and the potential consequences under a new federal rule. (clip) The need for many of the letters was questioned by Kathleen P. Utgoff*, who was the agency's executive director during President Ronald Reagan's second term. "Most pension plans are very healthy, but that was true a year ago,'' said Utgoff, an economist who represents some of the large companies on the list. She said many healthy pension plans appear underfunded because the agency "uses the wrong interest rate and the wrong mortality table. '' Utgoff contends that tables used by other government agencies are more reliable. Such tables would produce more favorable results for many large companies in projecting their pension liabilities. Louis Proyect www.marxmail.org
