[PEN-L:9738] BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

BLS DAILY REPORT, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1999

RELEASED TODAY:  On a seasonally adjusted basis, the 3-month increase in
compensation costs for civilian workers was 1.1 percent during QII99.  The
QII99 increase in wages and salaries was 1.2 percent, following a 0.5
percent increase in QI99.  Benefit costs rose 0.9 percent during QII99 and
0.3 percent in QI99. ...  The ECI increased 3.2 percent from June 1998 to
June 1999. ...

Orders for durable goods rose at a slower-than-expected pace in June,
restrained by reduced demand for industrial machinery.  Total orders for
items designed to last several years rose 0.3 percent last month after a 0.8
percent increase in May, the Commerce Department said.  The June increase
was less than the 1 percent rise expected by analysts. ...  (Washington
Post, page E7; New York Times, page C8)_____Durable-goods orders suggested
continued softening in the industrial sector.  The rise in orders marked the
10th increase in the past 13 months. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page A2).

U.S. companies budgeted an average employee salary increase of 4.1 percent
in 1999, outpacing the rate of inflation by more than twice, according to
the American Compensation Association's 1999-2000 Total Salary Increase
Budget Survey. ...  The companies polled, representing 39 selected
industries, reported that the salaries they pay likely would continue to
rise between 4 and 4.5 percent in 2000. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-8).

Data compiled by BNA in the first 30 weeks of 1999 from newly negotiated
collective bargaining agreements show that the weighted average wage
increase was 2.9 percent, compared with 2.7 percent in 1998.  The median
first-year increase for contracts reported to date in 1999 is 3 percent, the
same figure reported in the comparable period of 1998. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page D-1).

President Clinton plans to nominate Martin Baily of the consulting company
McKinsey & Co. to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the
White House says.  He will replace Janet Yellen (USA Today, page 1B).

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has cleared two
nominees to head the Labor Department's pension and policy offices, but
their chances for Senate confirmation remain dim due to holds Sen. Coverdell
(R-Ga.) has placed on agency nominees in a dispute over a foreign
agricultural farm worker program. ...  Richard McGahey and Edward Montgomery
already are on board at the Labor Department.  For McGahey, the confirmation
process is a formality since he was reassigned in February as assistant
secretary of labor for pension and welfare benefits, leaving his post as
assistant secretary for policy.  Montgomery, however, who is in line for the
policy job, may be adversely affected by the holds. ...  (Daily Labor
Report, page A-7).

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