BLS Daly Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

BLS DAILY REPORT, MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2002
NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - Over the past few years, employers fattened
their benefit plans with an array of tasty treats, from pet insurance to
stress-reducing lunchtime massages. This year, it's back to basics --
retirement, health care, stock options and insurance -- as compensation and
benefits managers trim calories in response to the economic downturn and the
mounting uncertainty of a nation at war.  Personal retirement funds may be
getting a heavy beating from the stock market and layoffs, but the value
that employees place in their nest eggs hasn't diminished. Defined-benefit
plans: Companies are moving away from traditional pensions (in which the
payout is determined by a formula applied to final average earnings) in
favor of less costly cash-balance plans and the increasingly popular 401(k)
defined-contribution plans.
(http://money.cnn.com/2002/01/24/companies/benefits_money)
Younger workers who once expected to ride the wave from the economic surge
are instead taking some of the biggest tumbles in the recession. The trend
alarms economists because youth unemployment can hamper income and
advancement later on. The jobless rate for those ages 20 to 24 hit 9.6% last
month, while those 16 to 19 are seeing unemployment rates topping 16%,
according to the Department of Labor. That's far above the national jobless
rate of 5.8%.
(http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2002-01-24-unemployment-young.htm,
Page 1B)
According to data compiled by BNA, the all-settlements weighted average
first-year wage increase in agreements reported in 2001 was 4.2 percent,
compared with 3.8 percent in 2000. The second- and third-year weighted
average increases in agreements in 2001 were 3.7 percent and 3.8 percent
respectively. (Daily Labor Report, page D-1)
With the economy  in particular decline in the Pacific Northwest, where
Oregon and Washington have the two highest unemployment rates in the nation,
hundreds of immigrant laborers have left agricultural area on the eastern
side of the Cascade Mountains in recent months, looking for work in the
urban areas on the western side. However, the market for such unskilled work
is drying up. (The New York Times, Sunday , January 27, section 1, page 18)
A study released last week by the  Economic Policy Institute in Washington
argues that a stronger recovery than is currently forecast by most
economists will be needed to prevent unemployment from continuing to rise
this year. The unemployment rate was 5.8 percent  in December up from a low
of 3.9 percent in October 2000. The institute's study predicts that even
with the economy recovering, unemployment will continue to rise, reaching
6.5 percent by the fall, and hovering in the 6 percent range next year. (The
New York Times, page A21)
DUE OUT TUESDAY: Mass Layoffs in December

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