BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1996 RELEASED TODAY: Median weekly earnings of the nation's 92.7 million full-time wage and salary workers were $488 in the third quarter of 1996. This was 1.9 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with a gain of 3.0 percent in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers over the same period .... The number of mass layoffs across the nation declined about 25 percent between the second quarters of 1995 and 1996, BLS says. The number of mass layoffs totaled 1,247 in the second quarter of this year, resulting in job separations for 226,449 workers. Most of the employers who experienced mass layoffs in the second quarter of this year expected to recall the workers involved, with more than half of them anticipating a recall within three months. Most of the layoffs were attributed to "seasonal work," especially for employees of schools and day care services. In mid-November, BLS plans to start releasing brief monthly reports on mass layoffs, BLS economist Patrick Carey said ....(Daily Labor Report, pages 1,D-1). Partial credit for inflation's low profile this year belongs to America's hefty appetite for imports and the strong dollar, says Maury N. Harris of PaineWebber Inc. ....So far this year, observes Harris, import prices are down 0.5 percent from a year ago, with nonoil import prices running 2.2 percent below year-earlier levels. By region, prices are down 4.5 percent on imports from Japan and 2.4 percent on imports from emerging Asia ....A chart is credited to DOL (Business Week, Oct. 28, page 36). DUE OUT ON FRIDAY: Worker Displacement During the Mid-1990s (Based on Revised Estimates)
