[PEN-L:9435] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, APRIL  9, 1997

Home health care workers face a much higher risk of injuries than
nurses, orderlies, and other workers employed in health care
facilities, BLS reports.  Injured home health care workers also missed
more time from work because of their injuries, according to BLS
summary sheet Issues in Labor Statistics No. 97-4.  The leading cause
of injury for home health care workers is overexertion resulting from
assisting patients -- typically through attempts at moving patients
without assistance from other workers .... (Daily Labor Report, page
A-4).

While strong economic growth and progress in other areas have improved
the labor market situation for blacks, policy-makers should continue
looking at a mix of policies that include education and training as
well as possible tax incentives, says Labor Department chief economist
Edward Montgomery at a conference sponsored by the Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies.  Montgomery underscores that, although
the gap has narrowed between blacks and whites in the labor market,
there is still much higher joblessness among blacks ....(Daily Labor
Report, page A11).

OMB officially unveiled the new industry classification system called
the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) yesterday.
 It replaces the more than 60-year-old Standard Industrial
Classification System and will be implemented by federal
administrative and statistical agencies.  It will enable NAFTA
 partners to have more comparable economic and financial data.  OMB
said NAICS is scheduled to go into effect with data for 1997 in Canada
and the United States and with data for 1998 in Mexico.  This year,
the Census Bureau will implement NAICS when it conducts the 1997
Economic Census, with the first data from this survey to be issued in
early 1999 (Daily Labor Report, page A12).

Employers announced they were cutting 50,182 jobs in March, the
largest number of layoffs planned since January 1996, according to a
report released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., an outplacement
firm that tracks job-cut announcements.  The March jobs-cut
announcements bring the total of proposed layoffs in the first quarter
of 1997 to 134,257, a 17 percent jump from the fourth quarter of 1996.
 However, the first quarter of 1997 had 20.4 percent fewer job cuts
than in the first quarter of 1996 ....(Daily Labor Report, page A-3;
Washington Post, page C9).

Female entrepreneurs in the 1990s are having more success than ever
before in starting businesses and getting commercial credit and are as
optimistic about their business prospects as their male counterparts,
according to the Census Bureau.  A survey of 29,000 business owners
nationwide found that slightly more than 18 percent of firms started
from 1991 to 1994 were owned by women.  That was a significant
improvement from the 12 percent figure for firms launched before 1980.
 The survey, conducted in 1994, was limited to companies with at least
one employee, excluding "mom-and-pop" operations ....(Washington Post,
page C10).

The Census Bureau said that nearly one in 10 people in the United
States is foreign-born, the highest rate in more than 50 years.  At
24.5 million, the number of foreign-born inhabitants stands at the
highest level in U.S. history and is about 2 million more than
reported in the previous such survey in 1994.  In proportional terms,
the foreign-born accounted for 9.3 percent of the total U.S.
population, well below the high mark this century of 14.7 percent in
1910 but nearly double the rate since the low point in 1970 and
continuing an upward trend since then.  The Census Bureau report was
based on a March 1996 survey that included legal and illegal
immigrants, naturalized citizens, students, and temporary workers
....The bureau reported that the foreign-born are more likely than
natives to live in poverty, to be unemployed, to use welfare, and to
have less than a high school education.  On the other hand, the report
said, the longer the immigrants stay here, the better they fare
....(Washington Post, page A18).

Wall Street economists increasingly are calling on their firms'
securities analysts -- not for stock tips, but for fresh information
about the health of the economy.  Although they still rely on
government statistics and other data to make their forecasts,
economists at major securities firms recently have begun looking for
more immediate, anecdotal evidence about the economy.  And in most
cases, the easiest place to find it is in-house ....The increased use
of analysts partly reflects the growing concern among economists that
government statistics are often unreliable and subject to major
revision ....Lately, what analysts have been saying confirms what the
government data indicate:  continued expansion and rising wages, but
surprisingly few signs that corporate America is able to raise prices
....(Wall Street Journal, page A2).

A surge in sales kept wholesalers' inventories flat in February and
left them with their lowest supply levels in more than 12 years, the
Commerce Department said ....Sales were especially brisk for costly
and long-lasting durable goods ....(Washington Post, page C11).

Two months after the world's major economic powers suggested they
wanted to brake the dollar's ascent on foreign exchange markets, the
dollar has risen this week to new highs against both the Japanese yen
and the German mark ....The dollar's renewed strength is evoking some
unease among economists about whether the authorities can keep it
under control.  Although a strong dollar benefits consumers by
lowering the cost of imported goods and overseas travel, it hurts U.S.
manufacturers by making their products more expensive -- and less
competitive -- overseas ....(Washington Post, page C9).