BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

> BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, NOVEMBER 16, 2001:
>
> RELEASED TODAY:  The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)
> declined 0.3 percent in October, before seasonal adjustment, to a level of
> 177.7 (1982-84=100), the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.  For the
> 12-month period ended in October, the CPI-U increased 2.1 percent.  The
> Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W)
> decreased 0.5 percent in October, prior to seasonal adjustment.  The
> October level of 174.0 was 2.0 percent higher than the index in October
> 2000.
>   Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.2 percent from September to
> October after seasonal adjustment, according to preliminary data released
> today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  This was due to a 0.1 percent
> increase in average hourly earnings and a 0.4 percent decrease in the
> Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).
> These movements were partially offset by a 0.3 percent decline in average
> weekly hours.
>
> Consumer prices fell by 0.3 percent in October, reflecting a record drop
> in the price of natural gas and sharply lower costs for gasoline.  The
> latest reading of the Consumer Price Index, a key inflation measure,
> marked the best showing in 3 months and came after prices jumped by 0.4
> percent in September, the Labor Department reported today.  The decline in
> consumer prices highlighted one of the few benefits a weakening economy
> can provide (Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press,
> http://www.usatoday.com/aponline/2001111608/2001111608463500.htm).
>
> Drawing from figures that provide a closer look at job losses related to
> the September terrorist attacks, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor
> Statistics reported yesterday that the number of extended mass layoff
> events rose sharply in the third quarter compared with a year ago.
> Extended mass layoff events -- those involving 50 or more workers from the
> same workplace who were laid off more than 30 days -- totaled 1,689 in the
> third quarter.  These actions resulted in job losses for 349,866 workers
> across various industries. "This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of
> significant over-the-year increases in extended mass layoff activity," BLS
> said.  In comparison, there were 1,014 mass layoff events affecting
> 230,103 workers in the third quarter of 2000  (Daily Labor Report, page
> D4).
>
> The calendar bodes well for workers this holiday season, as Christmas and
> New Year's Day fall on Tuesdays, giving employees an excellent shot at
> some "extra" time off, according to the Bureau of National Affairs' latest
> annual survey of year-end holiday plans.  More than three of five surveyed
> employers (63 percent) will grant at least three paid days off for the
> holiday season, up from 49 percent in 2000-2001, when Christmas and New
> Year's Day fell on Mondays.  Workers stand a good chance of enjoying an
> extended holiday weekend, as a majority of responding organizations have a
> full paid day off slated for Christmas Eve (Monday, December 24) (Daily
> Labor Report, page C-1).
>
> Industrial productivity dropped in October for the 13th month in a row,
> the longest string of declines in manufacturing activity since the Great
> Depression.  The Federal Reserve reported Friday that output of the
> nation's factories, utilities and mines plummeted  1.1 percent last month,
> on top of a big 1 percent decline in September.  The 13-month stretch of
> declining activity marked the longest period of falling industrial output
> since a 15-month stretch that ended in July 1932. The nation's
> manufacturing sector has been hardest hit by the more than yearlong
> economic slump, and the September 11 terror attacks dealt the industry
> another severe blow (Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press
> http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/171704p-1659316c.html).
>
> New unemployment insurance claims for the week ending November 10 fell to
> 444,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised figure of
> 452,000, according to the Labor Department's Employment and Training
> Administration. "After an initial spate of large layoffs following the
> September 11 attacks, the number of new unemployment insurance claims have
> been leveling off for the past 3 weeks," said Labor Secretary Elaine L.
> Chao.  The less volatile, more closely watched 4-week moving average also
> fell, dropping 13,000 to 474,750.  The previous week's revised 4-week
> average was 487,750 (Daily Labor Report, page D-1.
>
> The unemployment trust funds of 23 states are so depleted that the federal
> government may have to help some of them to make sure benefits are paid if
> the nation's economic slump worsens.  Labor Department figures show that
> the 23 states don't have enough cash on hand to pay a year's worth of
> unemployment benefits in a slumping economy, according to the Employment
> Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank.  Three states -- Texas, New
> York, and North Dakota -- have enough to pay unemployment people for only
> about 4 months, the foundation said (The Washington Post, page E1).
>
> Americans filed fewer new claims for state unemployment insurance last
> week, but the number of laid-off workers drawing jobless benefits hit an
> 18-year high amid a sour economy.  The Labor Department reported Thursday
> that for the work week ended November 11, new jobless claims fell by a
> seasonally adjusted 8,000 to 444,000 (The Washington Post, page E2;
> Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press,
> http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/170921p-1648518c.html).
>
> A staggering 79,000 jobs disappeared from New York City in October,
> government officials announced yesterday, signaling that all the dire
> forecasts of economic fallout from the September 11 terrorist attacks may
> have been understated.  Public and private forecasters have been
> predicting that 80,000 to 115,000 jobs would evaporate in the wake of the
> World Trade Center disaster - but not all in one month.  The number of
> jobs usually rises in October, and a big loss in that month is
> unprecedented for the city, said James P. Brown, an analyst with the New
> York State Department of Labor, which has been keeping such figures since
> 1958 (The New York Times, page A1).
>

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