[PEN-L:4750] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <RichardD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 1996

U.S. businesses outside of agriculture posted a 2.1 percent annualized
advance in productivity during the first quarter of this year, somewhat less

than first estimated but still much stronger than in the prior quarter,
according to BLS.  Initially, productivity -- output per hour worked -- was
estimated to have increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.6
percent in the first quarter.  The downward revision was due to a lower
estimate of output.  Even with the downward revision, the 2.1 percent
advance was the largest rise since the fourth quarter of 1993 and marked a
substantial rebound from last year's fourth quarter, when nonfarm
productivity declined at an annual rate of 0.8 percent.  Hourly compensation

for nonfarm businesses stayed in the range where it has been the last
several quarters, rising by 3.3 percent in current dollars during the first
quarter.  After adjustment for inflation, real hourly pay edged up 0.1
percent ....(Daily Labor Report, pages 2,D-5; USA Today, page 1B; New
York Times, page D2).

"Boomers vs. parents" is the title of an article in USA Today (page 2B) that

includes -- "The wage gap between college and high school graduates
continues to widen.  College grads now on average earn 43 % more than high
school graduates, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics."

More than 40 percent of companies now have telecommuting, up from 27 percent

in 1993, and 68 percent expect to use it more this year, says the caption on

a page 1A graph in USA Today ....Source of the data is Olsten l996 Automated

Workplace Survey of senior executives.

Commenting on inflation-indexed bonds, the Treasurer and Receiver General of

the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in a letter to the editor of the Wall
Street Journal, points out Massachusetts has college savings bonds indexed
to increases in the CPI plus 2 percent ....