[PEN-L:9366] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

> BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, APRIL  3, 1997
>
> Factory orders for manufactured goods advanced for the second month in
> a row, rising 0.8 percent in February to a record, the Census Bureau
> reports.  Gains were reported for both durable and nondurable goods in
> February, but increases were at a slower pace than previously reported
> ....(Daily Labor Report, page D-1; Washington Post, page E3; New York
> Times, page D4; Wall Street Journal, page A2)_____A growing backlog of
> unfilled orders at U.S. factories is the latest evidence that the
> economy's brisk momentum will carry into the spring and that more
> interest-rate increases might be needed to hold off inflation.  For
> the sixth consecutive month, new orders for manufactured goods piled
> up faster than factories could ship completed items to their customers
> ....(Washington Times, AP story, page B12).
>
> Budget strategies predicted in April; early talks promising, White
> House Legislative Affairs Director John Hilley told a group of
> reporters ....The Daily Labor Report story (page A-6) includes:  The
> issue of adjusting the CPI or cost-of-living adjustments to more
> accurately reflect the true measure of inflation has been discussed in
> the last two weeks only in the most technical sense, Hilley said.  The
> White House and budget staffers have talked about what BLS can be
> expected to propose by way of a correction "in its own right," he
> said.  That leaves them to discuss the gap between BLS's technical
> adjustments downward, expected by many to be about 0.4 percent, and
> other recommendations of as much as 1.1 percent.  Although Clinton
> found the idea of a special CPI commission to look at an adjustment
> beyond what BLS may propose to be tough political sledding at this
> early stage of the budget talks, the inflation-measure question
> remains on the table between both parties.  Hilley said budget
> negotiators are ready to build into a five-year plan any corrections
> BLS will make to the CPI, but remain undecided about what kind of
> adjustment is needed on top of that.  For strategic reasons, the White
> House is letting the issue lie dormant for the time being ....
>
> After three years, the North American Free Trade Agreement has not
> benefited American workers and is in desperate need of reform, said
> Robert E. Scott, Economic Policy Institute economist, at a panel
> discussion held at the Foreign Press Office in Washington, D.C.  In
> contrast, Sidney Weintraub, an economist from the Center for Strategic
> and International Studies, argues that NAFTA has benefited the U.S.
> economy and the agreement should be expanded to South America
> ....(Daily Labor Report, page A-7).
>
> The Washington Post says in a page A1 story that the protective labor
> laws of France hamper economic downsizing.  Says the Post, "When times
> were good, as they were for much of the postwar period, workers were
> protected by these rules.  They still are, in large part, but in these
> difficult and competitive times, the French government and the private
> sector of the economy are beginning to fear that the price for
> protecting those already employed and keeping them at their current
> level of compensation and job security is fewer jobs for the
> nonworking" ....The article is illustrated with a graph that shows the
> unemployment rate in various European countries as of January 1997,
> led by Spain (21 percent), followed by Finland (15 percent), and Italy
> and France (both 12.4 percent) -- as well as job growth in 1985 and
> 1995 for the United States, France, and the European Union.
>
> The Census Bureau says it is considering counting people of mixed race
> as a separate category for the first time.  Between 1970 and 1984, the
> number of interracial married couples rose from 150,000 to more than
> 1.1 million, according to Census figures.  Supporters say the change
> would help foster pride and self-affirmation among mixed-race
> Americans ....But some civil rights advocates are balking, claiming
> the new category would reduce the numbers of blacks and Hispanics
> counted, imperiling minority voting districts and financing for
> minority programs.  A preliminary decision is expected this summer
> (USA Today, page 3A).
>
> DUE OUT TOMORROW:  The Employment Situation: March 1997
>
>