Labor month in review
The
April Review
Unit
labor costs fall
Consumer
expenditure rises modestly in 1998
Job
leavers larger share of jobless
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Even last year, the price of gasoline was making itself felt in price measures. As Todd Wilson reports, the rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was 2.7 percent in 1999, up from 1.6 percent the year before. This acceleration was a reflection of higher gas prices: When energy and food were excluded, the rate of increase in the "core" CPI-U was actually the smallest recorded since 1965.
Gerald S. Oettinger reports on youth employment. His findings from the National Longitudinal Survey indicate that there are very different patterns, both seasonal and occupational, between young students and young dropouts. Student employment is both more seasonal and more concentrated by industry and occupation. However, the most common jobs for both are "food service workers" in "eating and drinking places."
Brian Headd examines small-business employment. Although the Current Population Survey data on size of employer are difficult to work with, Headd outlines some broad differences between the employees of organizations with more than 500 workers and those with fewer. In general, small businesses are more likely to employ white and Hispanic workers, workers under age 25 or over age 65, high school dropouts, and recipients of financial assistance.
David Scott Johnson summarizes socioeconomic indicators for the young and the elderly. One significant finding is that while the family structure of the elderly has remained quite stable over time, the proportion of children living with both parents has dropped since 1987. However, it is measures of economic security that highlight the biggest differences between young and old. The poverty rate among the elderly has fallen; that for the young has risen substantially.
Unit labor costs declined in the fourth quarter of 1999 in both the nonfarm business and manufacturing sectors. In the nonfarm sector, unit labor costs fell at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter. In manufacturing, unit labor costs dropped more rapidly, at a rate of 5.5 percent. Unit labor costs are computed by dividing labor costs in nominal terms by real output.
Consumer expenditure rises modestly in 1998
The average consumer unit spent $35,535 in 1998, an increase of 2.1 percent over the previous year. The 1998 increase was more moderate than either the 3.0-percent increase in 1997 or the 4.8-percent increase in 1998. The change in expenditures was slightly larger than the 1.6-percent annual average rise in the Consumer Price Index.
Spending on housing accounted for 33.0 percent of total consumer expenditures. This was by far the largest expenditure share of all the major categories of spending. Transportation was the second largest component of total spending, accounting for 18.6 percent of the total. At 13.5 percent, food was the third largest component of expenditures.
Expenditures on personal insurance and pensions accounted for 9.5 percent of total expenditures. Rounding out the expenditures by major categories were health care, 5.4 percent; entertainment, 4.9 percent; and apparel and services, 4.7 percent. "Other expenditures," such as reading, education, tobacco, and personal care, were 10.4 percent of expenditures in 1998. Find more data in Consumer Expenditures in 1998, BLS Report 940.
Job leavers larger share of jobless
The level of unemployment declined for almost every reason in 1999. The sole exception was an increase in the number of persons unemployed as a result of leaving their jobs voluntarily. As a result, the share of the unemployed made up of job leavers rose by 1.5 percentage points to 13.3 percent.
There were slightly fewer unemployed persons on temporary layoff, but their share of total unemployment still rose by half a percentage point to 14.4 percent. Both numbers and shares of the unemployed declined for permanent job losers, for those who completed temporary jobs, and for new entrants into the labor force. The number of unemployed reentrants edged down, while their share of the unemployed was little changed. For more annual average data on unemployment, see the January 2000 issue of Employment and Earnings.
Starting in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics website will offer some enhanced services. On the day of a principal Federal economic indicator release, the key numbers and links to the official news release will appear directly on the Bureau’s top-level homepage (www.bls.gov).
A new feature, Industries at a Glance, will appear behind the "Economy at a Glance" button, joining the national overview and geographic area profiles that have been there. There will be a significant expansion in the number of metropolitan areas profiled as well. The data series featured in the "At-a-glance" tables will be upgraded to include a link to a 10-year history of that series (/eag/).
Finally, links directly from the "Publications and Research Papers" page will increase by about a third. This will allow faster access to more of our topical publications such as Issues in Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov/opub/ils/opbilshm.htm) and Web-oriented features such as the Review’s own spin-off, MLR: The Editor’s Desk (www.bls.gov/opub/ted/tedhome.htm).
And, if you hadn’t already noticed, the 2000–01 edition of the very popular Occupational Outlook Handbook (/oco/) was added to the site at the end of March, along with its companion volume, Career Guide to Industries (/oco/cg/).
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