BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

> BUREAU 0F LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2001:
>
> RELEASED TODAY: In October, 227 metropolitan areas reported unemployment
> rates below the U.S. average (5.0 percent, not seasonally adjusted), and
> 92 areas posted higher rates, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
> today.  Nine areas recorded rates below 2.0 percent;  six of these areas
> were in the Midwest and three were in the South.  Of the five metropolitan
> areas with jobless rates over 10.0 percent, three were in California's
> Central Valley and two were along the Mexican border in other states.
>
> Broad-based layoffs caused employment declines in about half the nation's
> regions and metro areas during October compared with a year earlier.  The
> 0.3 percent U.S. decrease is the first monthly decline since 1992. Great
> Lakes and East South Central states still are being hit by manufacturing
> cutbacks that started a year ago.  Now areas vulnerable to effects of the
> September 11 terrorist attacks are slashing work forces. The New York City
> area alone lost 76,000 jobs in October -- one-third of them in financial
> services.  Areas linked to tourism and aircraft production also are
> shedding jobs, though the damage isn't fully reflected in states such as
> Florida and Kansas because these numbers exclude cuts at smaller
> companies.  Employment is flattening in even the West South Central and
> Rocky Mountain regions as their energy sectors weaken.  In Texas, although
> Houston's health-services firms are adding jobs, airlines in Dallas and
> tech companies in Austin are cutting back (The Wall Street Journal, page
> B13).
>
> Consumer confidence fell 3.1 percentage points in November as workers
> continued to become discouraged about job prospects, the Conference Board
> says.  "Rising unemployment and continuing layoff announcements are
> dampening confidence," says Lynn France, director of the Conference
> Board's Consumer Research Center.  "A turnaround in confidence level is
> not likely before year's end, nor are retailers likely to enjoy a
> blockbuster holiday season."  The percentage of consumers claiming jobs
> are "hard to get" rose to 23.0 percent from 20.6 percent in October. Those
> reporting jobs are "plentiful" decreased to 17.0 percent in November from
> 20.9 percent in October.  The consumer confidence survey is based on a
> representative sample of 5,000 households (Daily Labor Report, page A2;
> John M. Berry, The Washington Post, page E4).
>
> Consumer confidence unexpectedly slumped this month, but housing was a
> surprise bright spot in the economy in October, reports show (Reuters, The
> New York Times, page C2).
>
> The housing market showed signs of rebounding after a dismal September,
> but consumer confidence continued to weaken, suggesting that housing and
> the broader economy might not be out of the woods yet (The Wall Street
> Journal, page A2).
>
> Crowds shopping at retail stores over the Thanksgiving Day weekend do not
> tell the whole story of the kickoff to this most unpredictable of holiday
> shopping seasons.  A key measure of retail sales, based on reporting from
> roughly 80 major retail stores, showed yesterday that large chain stores
> experienced a 2.2 percent increase in sales for the week ending Saturday,
> the smallest gain in 5 years. A big bump on that weekend is important,
> retail analysts say, because sales typically decline right afterward --
> until last-- minute shoppers send their numbers up again (The Washington
> Post, page E4).
>
> U.S. chain store sales inched higher in the latest week as
> post-Thanksgiving sales lured bargain hunting consumers to stores, the
> Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UBS Warburg said.  U.S. chain store sales
> rose 0.9 percent during the week ending November 24, after a 0.5 percent
> decline one week earlier, the companies reported.  Compared with last
> year's Thanksgiving sales, the index rose 2.2 percent, weaker than the
> prior week's year-over-year gain of 2.4 percent, and well below the 3.3
> percent rate of growth seen the week before the September 11 attacks
> (Reuters,
> http://www.latimes.com/business/la-000094726nov28.story?coll=la%2Dheadline
> s%2Dbusiness11/28/01).
>

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