BLS Daily report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

> BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2001:
>
> RELEASED TODAY:  The Bureau of Labor Statistics today reported preliminary
> productivity data -- as measured by output per hour of all persons -- for
> the third quarter of 2001.  The preliminary seasonally-adjusted annual
> rates of productivity growth in the third quarter were:  2.2 percent in
> the business sector and 2.7 percent in the nonfarm business sector. In
> both the business and the nonfarm business sector, productivity increases
> in the third quarter occurred because hours fell more than output.  In
> manufacturing productivity increases in the third quarter were 1.1 percent
> in manufacturing, 2.5 percent in durable goods manufacturing, and -1.3
> percent in nondurable goods manufacturing.
>
> Worker productivity rose in the third quarter by the largest amount in
> more than a year, as businesses, coping with the sour economy, slashed
> workers' hours at the fastest pace in a decade.  Productivity-- the amount
> of output per hour of work -- increased at an annual rate of 2.7 percent
> in the July-September quarter, up from a 2.2 percent growth rate in the
> second quarter, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. The third
> quarter's performance was stronger than the 2 percent productivity gain
> many analysts were expecting and marked the biggest increase since the
> second quarter of 2000, when productivity soared by 6.3 percent (Jeannine
> Aversa, Associated Press,
> http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/165650p-1584140c.html).
>
> The proportion of workers employed full time for the entire year increased
> 1.1 percentage point to 67.0 percent in 2000, according to data from the
> Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The 2000 data represents a record high since
> the agency began collecting the data in 1950 (Daily Labor Report, page
> D-1).
>
> Low-wage workers have borne the brunt of the impact on New York City
> employment from the September attack on the World Trade Center, according
> to a study by the union-backed Fiscal Policy Institute.  The study
> estimated that 60 percent of the workers in the city likely to be laid off
> in the fourth quarter of 2001 have an average wage of $11 an hour.  The
> five occupational categories facing the worst layoffs, it said, were
> waiters and waitresses, janitors and cleaners, retail sales workers, food
> preparation workers and cashiers (Daily Labor Report, page A-10).
>
> Large employers are facing double-digit increases in their health care
> costs for the third consecutive year, according to the 2002 Towers Perrin
> Health Care Cost Survey.  Employers are considering several options,
> according to the survey, to control rising costs, including additional
> cost sharing by employees (Daily Labor Report, page A-4).
>
> DUE OUT TOMORROW:  U.S. Import and Export Prices-- October 2001.
>

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