[PEN-L:9672] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, JULY 27, 1999:

An additional $200 a month or less in income would make it possible for 68
percent of the nation's working poor to meet their families' financial
needs, according to findings drawn from "The Work Trends Survey," performed
by the John L. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers
University and the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University
of Connecticut.  In order to obtain that $200, however, a worker paid the
federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour would need to work an extra 5 days
per month -- one reason behind the study's recommendation that the minimum
wage be raised to $6.15.  The extra dollar would "significantly help" the
working poor, or those who earn less than double the 1997 federally set
poverty threshold, the study concludes.  The study also recommends that
government support increased access to child care and public transportation
for the nation's working poor. ...  The poll was compiled from a national
sample of 500 adults in households making no more than double the federal
poverty threshold of $25,640 for a family of three. ...  The poll revealed
that the typical working poor individual is a single white mother, 30 to 49
years old, who works one full-time job for 40 hours a week, and who earns
less than $25,000 a year.  She has a child under 18, has held her job for
more than a year, receives little or no paid vacation, and has not received
cash welfare. Seventy-one percent of the working poor are paid by the hour
and have held their jobs for more than a year, the poll found, and 42
percent have had their jobs for more than 3 years. ...  (Daily Labor Report,
page A-4).

Unions increasingly are seeking to negotiate contracts that reduce or
eliminate mandatory overtime, according to several labor and management
officials contacted by the Bureau of National Affairs. ...  Workers feel
that instead of hiring an adequate number of personnel, employers are
cutting costs by forcing them to work overtime. ...  (Daily Labor Report,
page C-1).

Home sales soared to a record rate in June as buyers rushed to take
advantage of low mortgage rates, the National Association of Realtors said.
Sales of existing homes rose 10.6 percent in June.  The industry group said
buyers moved into the market when they saw mortgage rates starting to rise
(Washington Post, page E13; New York Times, page C7; Wall Street Journal,
page A2).

Government workers are older, on average, than their private-sector
counterparts, says a new report by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of
Government in Albany, New York.  Workers 45 to 64 years old account for 42
percent of the labor force in state, federal, and local government, the
report says, compared with 28 percent in the private sector (Wall Street
Journal's "Work Week" feature, page A1).

After years of relatively flat health insurance rates, employers are
suffering sticker shock, says USA Today (page 1B). ...  It's the second
consecutive year of significant insurance increases for many employers, who
may have been able to shrug off the first time around but are now looking
for solutions.  The last time rates soared -- year after year of
double-digit increases in the late 1980s -- employers flocked to managed
care plans, which promised lower rates but also greater restrictions on
care.  Health inflation slowed for a while, but the dam burst last year.
Two years of average premium increases of  7 to 11 percent or more is a
signal to some that managed care has done much of what it can to trim costs.
....  What are employers doing as premiums increase?  1.  Changing benefit
packages; 2.  Shopping around for a better deal with a different insurer; 3.
Increasing the amount employees pay toward their own or their dependents'
coverage; 4. Sitting tight and paying up. ...

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment:  June 1999

<<application/ms-tnef>>