BLS daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2000

Meatpacking plants, at 26.7 per 100 employees, had the highest nonfatal
injury and illness incidence rate among industries last year, says BLS.
Strains and cuts tend to account for many of the injuries ("Work Week" in
Wall Street Journal, page A1).

Mine deaths, following a record low two years ago, see a small rise.  This
year's total, at 82 so far, still could fall below last year's 90.  Yet
safety officials see the trend, following 1998's all-time low of 80, as a
disappointment. ...  In recent years, five or six deaths have occurred in
the last few weeks of the year.  Coal-mining fatalities, which have risen to
36 so far this year from 29 two years ago, account for the rise. ...  ("Work
Week" in Wall Street Journal, page A1).

Many employers believe there will be a push to share more of the burden of
rising prescription drug costs with plan participants through coinsurance,
according to findings by the International Society of Certified Employee
Benefit Specialists.  Sixty-five percent of employers surveyed agree that
rising drug prices will force plan sponsors to shift from copayments to a
percentage-based coinsurance structure. ...  (Daily Labor Report, page A-8).

The Senate approved Leslie Kramerich as assistant secretary of labor for
pension and welfare benefits and Gordon Heddell as Labor Department's
inspector general.  Kramerich had been serving as acting assistant head of
the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration before being nominated for
the permanent slot last July. ...  Heddell, a 28-year veteran of the federal
law enforcement system, was nominated inspector general last March.  He has
served as assistant director in the U.S. Secret Service's Office of
Inspection (Daily Labor Report, page A-10).

DUE OUT TOMORROW:  Occupational Employment and Wages in 1999 Based on the
New Standard Occupational Classification System

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