[PEN-L:6912] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <RichardD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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)