BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2000

The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics announces average annual
pay of U.S. workers climbed 4.3 percent to $33,313 in 1999, with all states
posting gains.  Pay growth for U.S. workers in 1999 was smaller than in the
prior 2 years (5.2 percent in 1998 and 4.9 percent in 1997).  However, it
marked the fifth highest annual increase during the period between 1989 and
1999.  Over that decade, BLS said that average annual pay increased by 47.6
percent, a gain of $10,750. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-5).

Housing starts were "virtually unchanged" between September and October as
construction of new privately owned homes increased by only 0.1 percent.
Construction of single-family homes was down 0.2 percent from the previous
month, while building permits -- a barometer of future housing activity --
crept up 1 percent in October, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said.
Analysts generally said the report was encouraging because it shows that
gradually falling mortgage rates have offset signs that economic growth is
slowing. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)_____Housing construction
moderated last month as builders broke ground on more apartments than
single-family homes, the latest evidence that the nation's economy is
slowing. ...  (New York Times, Nov. 18, page B3; Wall Street Journal, page
A8).

Strong demand for workers across several industries is expected to continue
throughout the first quarter of 2001, according to a Manpower Inc. survey.
Manpower said its national survey of nearly 16,000 public and private
employers shows that 85 percent of businesses expect to maintain or expand
current staffing levels early in 2001.  Only 10 percent said they are
planning staffing decreases, the company said.  The survey results represent
a record-high employment level for first quarters, following record-setting
levels for the third and fourth quarter surveys for 1999.  Some industries
that typically rely on seasonal employees have been forced to hire earlier
than usual and to retain employees permanently because of stiff competition
for labor, Manpower says.  The president of Manpower says 27 percent of
wholesale and retail firms are planning to add workers during the first
quarter of 2001, reversing an 18-year trend.  "Construction companies find
themselves in a similar bind.  If they wait until the usual building season
is at hand, they may be unable to find the people they need," he said.
According to the survey, durable goods manufacturers were planning the most
new hires, with 29 percent indicating they were actively recruiting and 10
percent saying they are planning decreases. Nondurable goods manufacturers
were close behind, with 27 percent expressing an intent to hire more people,
while 9 percent said they were planning job cuts.  Manpower said demand in
the construction industry is the highest since 1978, with 24 percent of
respondents seeking additional workers.  Demand for teachers is also at a
record high. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-6)_____Demand for workers set
a 25-year high for the third consecutive quarter, but it is no longer
cutting across all business sectors, according to Manpower Inc.'s latest
survey of employers' hiring plans. "Now we're starting to see softening,
particularly in manufacturing" in certain regions, says the president and
chief executive officer of Manpower. ...  (Wall Street Journal, page A2).

In the last decade, hunger-relief agencies have found that the hungriest
people in the United States are the working poor.  The New York Times (page
21) offers this statistical snapshot of people who seek emergency help from
soup kitchens, food pantries, and shelters served by America's Second
Harvest Food Bank, the nation's largest domestic hunger relief organization.
(1) There is at least one working adult in 39 percent of households
receiving emergency food.  Of those adults, 49 percent work at least 40
hours a week.  (2) Of the 21 million needy people seeking emergency food
assistance, more than 8 million are children.  (3)  About 70 percent of poor
families with children in the U.S. include a person who works.  (4) Over the
last 2 decades, the poverty rate among working families has risen nearly 50
percent.  (5) According to census estimates, two-thirds of parents with low
earnings work in retail or service trades.  (6) Between 1978 and 1988,
families headed by high school dropouts increased their annual working hours
by nearly 12 percent, ending up with 8 percent less income.  (7) Of the
emergency food recipients, 40 percent have less than a high school diploma
or equivalent, including 16 percent who completed grade school or less.  (8)
Forty-three million Americans have no health insurance, even for
emergencies.  Nearly half of all parents in working-poor families lack
health insurance.

More students are saying that a big paycheck can wait, according to an
article in The New York Times (page 27). ...  "We're hearing from everywhere
that there is a significant increase in young people deciding they want to
work in the nonprofit sector," says the president and chief executive of
Independent Sector, a coalition of nonprofit organizations in Washington,
D.C. ...  Despite the strong job market, record salaries for new graduates,
and high school loan and credit card debt, the shift toward volunteerism
appears to be filtering down to college and university campuses. ...

As the year-end holiday shopping season approaches, retailers are worried
that consumers are so heavily indebted, undersaved, and overspent that they
are in no position to shop as lavishly as they did last year, says Steve
Liesman writing in "The Outlook" column of The Wall Street Journal (page
A1). ...  The International Mass Retail Association forecasts a rate of U.S.
sales growth as low as 2 percent during November and December, compared with
5 percent growth last year.  But many economists are optimistic, and they
expect spending to remain healthy throughout the holiday season. ,,,  The
rising affluence of an aging population may have changed the way consumers
spend.  "We've reached a level of affluence in today's economy when people
are spending more on services and recreation than on goods," one says. ...
The New Economy has also significantly altered sources of income, so the old
gauges of wealth don't adequately measure the health of the consumer. The
government deducts total U.S. spending from total U.S. income and what is
left is considered savings.  But that method doesn't capture income from
capital gains, dividends, and many other sources.  And money that is
actually accumulating in retirement plans and private investment portfolios
isn't counted as savings. ...

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Regional and State Employment and Unemployment:  October
2000

<<application/ms-tnef>>