BLS Daily Report

[Richardson_D <Richardson_D@xxxxxxx>]

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2002:

RELEASED TODAY:  Regional and state unemployment rates were generally stable
from March to April, but were higher than a year earlier.  All four regions
reported little or no change from March, and 42 states and the District of
Columbia recorded shifts of 0.3 percentage point or less, the Bureau of
Labor Statistics reports.  The national jobless rate rose to 6.0 percent in
April.  Nonfarm employment decreased in 33 states.

Mass layoff events totaled 1,669 in the first quarter of 2002 and resulted
in job losses for 301,181 workers, a decline from the 2,700 events and
541,410 job losses in the fourth quarter of 2001, according to figures
released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Both the number of layoff
events and the number of separations were lower than in the same quarter a
year earlier, BLS said (Daily Labor Report, page D-3).

U.S. consumer sentiment rose in early May as improvement in the stock
market, better economic data, and relative calm in the Mideast helped lift
consumers' assessment of current conditions and future hopes.  The
University of Michigan's preliminary May consumer sentiment index rose to
96.0 from a final 93.0 in April, market sources said today.  Forecasts were
for a drop to 92.7 after a larger-than-expected fall in the prior month.
The data are released directly to market subscribers only and were obtained
by Reuters (Reuters,
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2002-05-17-consumer-sentiment.htm).

America's trade deficit showed a slight improvement in March as sales of
American products overseas outpaced an increase in imports, which were
driven higher by the biggest one-month jump in crude oil prices in almost 12
years.  The Commerce Department reported today that the March deficit
narrowed to $31.6 billion.  That was a 0.4 percent improvement over the
February gap of $31.8 billion, which had been the biggest imbalance in 10
months. The strength came in a 0.6 percent rise in exports of goods and
services, led by gains in foreign demand for commercial aircraft,
American-made autos and auto parts, and computers (Martin Crutsinger,
Associated Press,
http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/404743p-3224446c.html).

New claims filed with state agencies for Unemployment Insurance benefits
climbed 2,000 to a total of 418,000 during the week ended May 11, the
Employment and Training Administration says (Daily Labor Report, page D-1;
The Washington Post, page E2).

Home builders broke ground in April on the smallest number of projects in 6
months, a sign the housing market is slowing a bit (The Washington Post,
page E2).

The economy is recovering, but it isn't completely out of the woods yet,
writes Patrick Barta, in The Wall Street Journal (page A2).  The Labor
Department said first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose 2,000 to
418,000 in the week ended Saturday.  Meanwhile, the number of "continuing
claims" for people already getting jobless benefits grew 82,000, to a
19-year high of 3.86 million in the week ended May 4.  Jobless claims are
well below the levels of September, when the economy was much weaker and
claims briefly surpassed 500,000.  But they are moving in the wrong
direction, and they are still high enough to suggest a rising unemployment
rate.  Economists estimate that initial claims would need to drop to at
lease 375,000 before the jobless rate started falling again (The Wall Street
Journal, page A2).

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