[PEN-L:11382] FW: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, JULY 21, 1997

Import prices increased 0.4 percent in June for the first monthly
upturn since December, BLS reports.   The cost of goods exported from
the United States slipped 0.1 percent, continuing a three-month string
of declines ....(Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_____Pricing trends may
work to narrow the trade imbalance soon, says the Wall Street Journal
in an article on the trade gap in May (page A2).  According to a
report by the Labor Department, prices for imports rose 0.4 percent in
June, the first monthly increase this year, while export prices fell
0.1 percent, the third decline in a row ....

Just as in the economy overall, employment in U.S. high-technology
industries has shifted substantially away from manufacturing and
toward services, according to a study recently published by BLS.
 Factory payrolls in this sector have declined since the late 1980s.
 "The industrial composition of employment in R&D-intensive
high-technology industries is shifting dramatically toward services
industries, as employment in R&D-intensive, defense-dependent
manufacturing industries declines and employment in civilian high-tech
manufacturing remains essentially static," concludes William Luker Jr.
and Donald Lyons in the June issue of BLS's Monthly Labor Review
....(Daily Labor Report, pages A-14, text E-1).

Many focus on deflation, says the "Commodities" column in the Wall
Street Journal (page C1).  As prices for many commodities around the
globe slide, some economists predict that supply will continue to
outstrip demand, despite a healthy global economy, driving prices even
lower ...."If you look at goods and forget about services, we're
moving toward deflation," says a Merrill Lynch economist ....Analysts
point out that, at least in the U.S. economy, there is today far more
emphasis on knowledge-based industries and service industries than on
materials industries.  While soybeans and gold may be falling, prices
for any number of services are rising, albeit slowly ....And some
commodity analysts predict that recent deflationary trends in
materials will turn around and soon be forgotten ....

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers:
Second Quarter 1997