[PEN-L:1341] RE: BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 1998

The U.S. economy's pace of expansion was slightly slower than projected
for the second quarter, with inflation-adjusted gross domestic product
rising at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.6 percent, according to
the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis.  Inflation
figures showed continued moderation in price changes for both business
and consumers.  Growth in the second quarter was held down by the 54-day
General Motors strike and related factory shutdowns, as well as the
trade effects of the Asian economies slowdown, analysts point out.  Most
forecasters expect the second half of this year to show real growth of
about 2 percent. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-1; New York Times, page
C5)_____The U.S. economy, weighed down in the second quarter by the
strike at General Motors and a slowdown in exports to Asia, still was
able to grow at a faster pace than previously estimated.  The gross
domestic product, the total output of goods and services, rose at a
revised 1.6 percent annual rate in the second quarter.  That's higher
than the initial GDP estimate of a 1.4 percent gain released July 31 -
though still well below the first quarter's 5.5 percent growth rate
(Washington Post, page F1)_____The quarterly increase in GDP was the
smallest in three years. ... (Wall Street Journal, page A2).

New claims filed with state agencies for unemployment insurance benefits
declined by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted total of 297,000 for the week
ended Aug. 22, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S.
Department of Labor announces. According to a New York securities firm,
with the effects of the General Motors strike no longer an issue, the
fewer number of unemployment claims indicates that the labor market is
extremely tight. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-11; Wall Street
Journal, page B2).

The Conference Board's help-wanted index rose 1 percentage point in July
to 91 percent of its 1987 base. One year ago, the index stood at 85
percent. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-2)_____Help-wanted advertising
increased slightly in July, as continued vigorous hiring in the service
sector outpaced industrial job growth. ... (Wall Street Journal, page
B2).

U.S. border towns suffer from post-NAFTA syndrome, says The Wall Street
Journal (page B1).  Along the 2,000-mile border shared by Mexico and the
United States, the population of Nogales, Mexico, is nearly double what
it was five years ago.  Shops are filled with workers who found jobs
when foreign business such as General Electric, Xerox, and Samsonite
moved south, building factories.  By contrast, in Arizona's Nogales, the
unemployment rate has risen to 23 percent today from 19.3 percent in
1993.  Its population has stayed about the same.  Nearly half the
downtown stores are boarded up, and sales-tax receipts have dropped by
about a fifth since 1994. "The boom that was supposed to hit the U.S.
side of the border has not hit, and it may never hit," says an economics
professor at New Mexico State University. ...

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