[PEN-L:4737] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <RichardD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 1996

RELEASED TODAY:  The revised seasonally-adjusted annual rates of
productivity change in the first quarter of 1996 were 2.3 percent in the
business sector and 2.1 percent in the nonfarm business sector.  In both
sectors, the gains were the largest since the fourth quarter of 1993.  In
manufacturing, the productivity change was 5.5 percent, higher than in the
fourth quarter of 1995, reflecting both a larger increase in output and a
bigger drop in the hours of all persons in the sector ....

When the Commerce Department calculated in late 1994 that the average price
of a new car had broken the $20,000 level for the first time, the result was

an immediate outcry over whether cars had become too expensive.  But now, it

turns out, the numbers were wrong, reports Kenneth Bradsher in The New York
Times (page D1).  The average price for all cars, including sharply
discounted sales to rental car fleets and other larger purchaser, never
reached $20,000.  Even the average price of cars sold to individuals only
briefly touched $20,000 in late 1994.  And average car prices have actually
drifted lower in the last year and a half, as makers have been raising
prices less often and more buyers have been choosing cheaper cars ....The
department recalculated its figures with much greater precision after
protests from auto makers ....The new Commerce calculations include
manufacturers' rebates, along with discounts that auto makers offer to
customers who buy packages of options.  The department also began tracking
sales of specific models and made other refinements ....The CPI, which is
calculated separately by BLS, shows that prices for comparable cars have
edged up over the last several years.  But the rate of increase in new car
prices has slowed sharply from 3.4 percent in 1994 to only 1.4 percent in
the 12-month period ended last month, or half the rate of inflation in the
overall economy ....Ted Reese, BLS' new vehicle analyst for the CPI, said
that his agency had long taken into account the manufacturers' rebates and
other details that the Commerce Department is only now incorporating in its
calculations.  Commerce's changes will have no effect on the reported rate
of inflation, said Patrick C. Jackman, an economist at the BLS.

Louis Uchitelle, writing in The New York Times (page D1), says that negative

publicity is causing companies to stop trumpeting layoffs as a badge of
honor and to highlight the chance of new hires.  Layoffs are out, hiring is
back ....Corporate America, and the consultants who help executives devise
both the strategy and the rhetoric that describes it, are softening their
earlier, harsher language, with its stress on sacrifice and survival.  But
while the words are changing, reality hasn't, at least not yet.  American
companies are still cutting jobs, if more sotto voce.  "The pace of layoffs
is way ahead of last year at this time," said John E. Challenger, president
of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago firm that tracks announcements of

job cuts ....But if shedding workers is losing status, the growth fad might
not last either.  The robust expansion of the economy suggested by the new
slogans probably is not likely, if only because it would raise fears of
inflation and that would prompt the Fed to raise interest rates, thus
slowing the economy ....

The significantly greater incidence of broken marriages in the United States

is a key factor in the higher level of moonlighting in the United States
than in Canada, says the Daily Labor Report (page A-3).  This is according
to a study released by the Canadian Employment Research Forum.  U.S. males
are statistically much more likely to be unmarried father than are Canadian
males, and those fathers seek secondary jobs at very high rates, says the
study ....Canadians might also moonlight less overall in part due to the
higher unemployment rates in Canada.  With such an excess supply of labor,
both primary and secondary jobs are hard to find, it said ....The study
noted that there are significant differences between Canada and the United
States in the time devoted to secondary jobs.  In the United States, the
total time worked by employees with secondary jobs averaged 48.2 hours per
week in 1994 compared with 43.9 hours per week in Canada in 1995.  Total
hours worked by moonlighters has decreased in both countries, however
....Despite the differences, motivations for undertaking secondary jobs are
similar in both countries, the study said.  Needing additional money to meet

regular household expenses was the most commonly cited reason, reported by
33.7 percent of Canadian workers with secondary jobs and 31.2 percent of
U.S. workers with secondary jobs.  Other significant factors cited were
paying off debts, buying a special item, saving for the future, gaining
experience or building a business, and enjoyment of the secondary job.