[PEN-L:3878] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

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BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1999

Wage data compiled by BNA in the first eight weeks of 1999 showed that the
median first-year wage increase in newly negotiated contracts was 3 percent,
the same increase as reported for the comparable period in 1998.  The
weighted average increase for settlements reported to date in 1999 was 2.2
percent, compared with 2.7 percent in 1998. The manufacturing industry's
gain was 3 percent, and its weighted average increase was 2.9 percent.
Nonmanufacturing settlements (excluding construction) showed a median
increase of 3 percent, with a weighted average of 2.2 percent. ...  (Daily
Labor Report, page D-1).

The National Association of Manufacturers said it has raised its economic
growth forecast for this year to 3.1 percent, nearly a full percentage point
above what it predicted in late November.  The U.S. economy is "navigating
through a minefield" in the global economy, with the latest risk being a
collapse in Latin America triggered by a recession in Brazil, NAM said. ...
The group expects the trade deficit (net exports) to deteriorate by some $60
billion this year to total $302 billion.  But the forces that are keeping
growth robust should continue, namely consumer spending--rising 3.8 percent
compared with 5.2 percent last year; business investment in equipment, much
of it in computers, growing 11.2 percent compared with 17.6 percent; and
very modest inflation, with consumer prices rising just 1.3 percent for the
year, even less than in 1998.  NAM noted that consumer spending has been
lifted by high employment and wage gains, which increase income.  The trend
reflects improved productivity, which NAM projects will increase 1.8 percent
annually, about the same as the trend for the last three years. ...  (Daily
Labor Report, page A-7).

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan reaffirmed his opposition to
raising the minimum wage, but also said that shareholders in some
corporations are "wasting their money" on oversized salaries for corporate
executives, which he suggested has gotten out of hand.  "I find a lot of
what is being paid to individual CEOs not directed to the value that they
are producing for their shareholders, who are paying the bill," Greenspan
told the House Banking Committee during his second day of testimony on the
state of the U.S. economy.  At the same time, Greenspan warned that raising
the minimum wage would result in a wave of teenage unemployment.  But when
it comes to government intervention, Greenspan said there is nothing the
government should do to raise the minimum wage or curb overly generous
executive pay packages. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-9: Wall Street
Journal, page A2).

Releasing a state-by-state analysis of government statistics that shows a
continued pay gap between men and women and significantly lower pay for
those concentrated in "female-dominated" jobs, the AFL-CIO announced a
campaign to push for enhanced "pay equity" laws in 22 states. ...  The move
reflects a new direction in organized labor's long -held but recently
languishing goal of achieving pay equity or comparable worth.  That concept
goes beyond "equal pay" for equal jobs to a broader approach of comparing
jobs that are not the same but have similar "value." ...  The AFL-CIO and
the Institute for Women's Policy Research analyzed Census and BLS data. ...
(Daily Labor Report, page A-3).

The Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, Wall Street's top
regulator, said he likes the idea of the New York Stock Exchange extending
trading hours next year. ...  Any extension in trading hours would likely
require approval from the SEC.  The world's largest exchange wants to extend
trading hours in June 2000 to boost volume in non-U.S. shares as it competes
with exchanges worldwide (Washington Post's "Digest," page E8).

DUE OUT TOMORROW: State and Regional Unemployment, 1998 Annual Averages


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