(The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Archived articles from The Editor's Desk
—Chronological archives: 2000

December 2000

• Multifactor productivity increases modestly in many manufacturing industries (12/29/00)
• Child care resource and referral services much more common in large workplaces (12/28/00)
• Non-mandated improvements account for most of light truck quality change (12/27/00)
• Another decrease in days away from work due to workplace injuries and illnesses (12/26/00)

• Consumer expenditures rise 4.2 percent in 1999 (12/22/00)
• Injuries and illnesses in goods-producing and service-producing industries in 1999 (12/21/00)
• New York County leads in pay in 1999 (12/20/00)
• Decline in on-the-job injuries and illnesses continues (12/19/00)
• Consumer prices up slightly in November (12/18/00)

• Producer prices edge up in November (12/15/00)
• Export prices unchanged in November (12/14/00)
• Job leavers not a good gauge of worker confidence (12/13/00)
• San Jose ranks first in annual pay (12/12/00)
• Payroll job total grew slowly in November (12/11/00)

• Most 16-year-old students work for pay (12/08/00)
• Third-quarter productivity growth revised downward (12/07/00)
• Connecticut, New York tops in pay (12/06/00)
• Highest productivity growth in computer industry (12/05/00)
• Fewer extended mass layoffs in 1999 (12/04/00)

November 2000

• Working full time, year round at record high (11/30/00)
• Biggest hike in pay in San Jose (11/29/00)
• Comparing hourly earnings measures (11/28/00)
• Mining industry continues to be highest paid, retail trade lowest (11/27/00)
• Declines in labor costs among manufacturing industries (11/24/00)

• Work experience rises again (11/22/00)
• Employed women about as likely as men to be looking (11/21/00)
• Washington State, Massachusetts lead in pay gains (11/20/00)
• Consumer prices in October (11/17/00)
• Productivity rises in most manufacturing industries (11/16/00)

• Experience of unemployment continues to decline (11/15/00)
• Value of quality changes in 2001 model-year cars (11/14/00)
• Producer prices up again in October (11/13/00)
• Import prices fall in October (11/09/00)
• Multiple jobholding rates higher in North (11/08/00)

• Job search rate declines with age (11/07/00)
• Payroll employment in October (11/06/00)
• Productivity increases again (11/03/00)
• Union membership shows distinct geographic pattern (11/02/00)
• Teens with jobs-where does the money go? (11/01/00)

October 2000

• Less job hunting by employed workers  (10/31/00)

• Small change in benefit costs for State and local government workers (10/30/00)
• Compensation costs rise 0.9 percent from June to September (10/27/00)
• Producer prices for telephone communications continue to decline (10/26/00)
• Earnings by occupation in 1998 (10/25/00)
• U.S. factory costs dip compared to competitors (10/24/00)

• Unit labor costs in manufacturing increased the most in Japan and Korea in 1999 (10/23/00)
• Weekly earnings of full-time workers in third quarter (10/20/00)
• Consumer prices in September (10/19/00)
• U.S. led factory productivity gains in 1999 (10/18/00)
• Producer prices for health care services in 1999 (10/17/00)

• Producer prices up in September after August decline (10/16/00)
• Import prices in September (10/13/00)
• Stock options most likely for the higher paid (10/12/00)
• Cable TV providers plug in to higher prices (10/11/00)
• Unemployment in September (10/10/00)

• Small number of industries involved in largest strikes (10/06/00)
• Types of jobs in cable TV and in broadcasting (10/05/00)
• New price indexes for insurance industries (10/04/00)
• Pay TV employment charges along (10/03/00)
• Computer prices dip again (10/02/00)

September 2000

• Labor market problems of poor full-timers (09/29/00)
• Singapore has biggest fall in hourly compensation in 1999 (09/28/00)
• Dropouts most likely to be working poor (09/27/00)
• Second-quarter extended mass layoffs trend downward (09/26/00)
• 65-and-over group gives most (09/25/00)

• Seventh annual rise in multifactor productivity (09/22/00)
• Fewer hours, fewer benefits (09/21/00)
• Nearly 7.2 million working poor in 1998 (09/20/00)
• Average weekly hours drop in all retail trade industries (09/19/00)
• Consumer prices edge down in August (09/18/00)

• Producer prices decline in August (09/15/00)
• Petroleum import prices up slightly in August (09/14/00)
• Food stamp households budget more of spending on basics (09/13/00)
• When one job isn't enough (09/12/00)
• Farmers have highest percentage of older workers (09/11/00)

• No change in foreign wage differential (09/08/00)
• Productivity figure revised upward (09/07/00)
• Changes in average weekly hours, 1964-99 (09/06/00)
• Private-sector payroll employment edges up in August (09/05/00)
• Median tenure declines among older men, 1983-2000 (09/01/00)

August 2000

• Jobs most affected by baby-boomer retirements (08/31/00)
• Median tenure little changed in recent years (08/30/00)
• Part-timers earn more in some health care jobs (08/29/00)

• Youth labor force participation this summer (08/28/00)
• Job-related homicides continue to decline (08/25/00)
• Summer youth unemployment rate lowest since 1969 (08/24/00)
• Majority of working 15- to 17-year olds earn above minimum wage (08/23/00)
• On-the-job deaths due to falls in 1999 (08/22/00)

• "Nature of job" most frequent reason for shift work (08/21/00)
• Fatal work injuries in 1999 (08/18/00)
• Consumer prices rise 0.2 percent in July (08/17/00)
• Labor force participation and Social Security (08/16/00)
• Bigger establishment, usually better benefits (08/15/00)

• Producer prices show no change in July (08/14/00)
• Petroleum import prices fall in July (08/11/00)
• Risk of displacement remains highest in manufacturing (08/10/00)
• Productivity jumps in second quarter (08/09/00)
• Eating and drinking places industry hire the most 15-year-olds (08/08/00)

• Payroll employment in July (08/07/00)
• Pay gap crosses occupational lines (08/04/00)
• Service workers on alternative shifts more often (08/03/00)
• Compensation costs for State and local government workers rise 3.5 percent (08/02/00)
• Youth working in high school more likely to be employed in future (08/01/00)

July 2000

• European jobless rates look lower when adjusted to U.S. concepts (07/31/00)
• Compensation costs up 4.6 percent over the year (07/28/00)
• Risk of lost worktime injuries for youth (07/27/00)
• Executives most likely to have flexible work hours (07/26/00)
• Weekly earnings of full-time workers in second quarter (07/25/00)

• Youths from higher-income families more likely to work (07/24/00)
• Labor supply in a tight labor market (07/21/00)
• Wages of salespersons in 1998 (07/20/00)
• Consumer prices rise 0.5 percent in June (07/19/00)
• Common occupations for 15-year-olds: cashiers and cooks (07/18/00)

• Producer prices up in June due to energy price increase (07/17/00)
• Petroleum import prices rise again (07/14/00)
• Retirees spending more on health insurance (07/13/00)
• Health care 5 ½ percent of compensation (07/12/00)
• Singles eat out more (07/11/00)

• Unemployment rates in June (07/10/00)
• Price of fun falls (07/07/00)
• Wages and benefits highest in Northeast (07/06/00)
• Public assistance and family characteristics (07/05/00)
• Income and meals away from home (07/03/00)

June 2000  

• Average compensation $21.16 per hour (06/30/00)

• Assistance recipients spend bigger share on basics (06/29/00)
• Let's do lunch (06/28/00)
• More seniors are mortgage free (06/27/00)
• Medical care inflation up in 1999 (06/26/00)
• Employment of mothers with infants decreases (06/23/00)

• No rise in new vehicle prices for three years (06/22/00)
• Longer hours at the top? (06/21/00)
• Third drop in a row for consumer durables prices (06/20/00)
• Food prices increase less in 1999 than 1998 (06/19/00)
• Share of families with an employed member rose in 1999 (06/16/00)

• CPI up 0.1 percent in May (06/15/00)
• Gradual advance in women's earnings vis-a-vis men from 1979 to 1999 (06/14/00)
• Declines in labor costs among service-producing industries (06/13/00)
• No change in producer prices in May (06/12/00)
• Import, export prices up in May (06/09/00)

• Labor force participation of Vietnam-era vets (06/08/00)
• Factory productivity increases at 7.3-percent annual rate in first quarter (06/07/00)
• Earnings of female college graduates up 4.7 percent in 1999 (06/06/00)
• Drop in private-sector employment in May (06/05/00)
• Productivity rose fastest in computer factories (06/02/00)

May 2000

• Productivity up in many service-producing and mining industries (05/31/00)
• Benefits bigger piece of union compensation (05/30/00)
• Increases in real earnings vary by occupation (05/26/00)
• Over half of youth are students; half of students are in labor force (05/25/00)
• Compensation costs in State and local government, 1999 (05/22/00)

• Private sector wages rose faster than benefits last year (05/19/00)
• Decline in college enrollment rate (05/18/00)
• Consumer prices unchanged in April (05/17/00)
• Trends in health insurance (05/16/00)
• Producer prices down in April (05/15/00)

• Import Price Index posts first decline since June 1999 (05/12/00)
• Growth in air transport jobs (05/11/00)
• Hourly benefits $5.58 in 1999 (05/10/00)
• Speedy growth of air courier industry (05/09/00)
• Unemployment rates in April (05/08/00)

• Productivity gain in first quarter (05/05/00)
• Sprains, strains by far the most common injuries resulting in time away from work (05/04/00)
• National Security largest component of work-related aircraft fatalities (05/03/00)
• Increases in wages and salaries and benefits, March 1999-March 2000 (05/02/00)
• Fatal and nonfatal falls in the workplace (05/01/00)

April 2000

• Employment costs rise in March (04/28/00)
• Taxicabs have by far the greatest work-related homicide risk (04/27/00)
• About one in five workers have supervisory role (04/26/00)
• Union-nonunion wage gap narrows (04/25/00)
• Lost-worktime injuries and illnesses (04/24/00)

• College grads have biggest wage increase in 1999 (04/21/00)
• Pay premium grows through the ranks (04/20/00)
• Decline in work-related homicides (04/19/00)
• Highest risk of falls in construction (04/18/00)
• Consumer prices rise in March (04/17/00)

• Producer prices up 1.0 percent again in March (04/14/00)
• Import prices in March (04/13/00)
• Robbery by far the most common motive for work-related homicides (04/12/00)
• Growth and overtime higher in durables factories (04/11/00)
• Payroll employment in March (04/10/00)

• Consumers spend more on food away from home (04/07/00)
• Wage differences among industries (04/06/00)
• Work-related homicide rates highest among cabbies, cops (04/05/00)
• Midwest has lowest unemployment rate again (04/04/00)
• Industries with highest percentages of college grads (04/03/00)

March 2000

• Transportation equipment makers added the most overtime (03/31/00)
• Distribution of consumer expenditures in 1998 (03/30/00)
• Lowest unemployment rates in decades at end of 1999 (03/29/00)

• Consumer expenditures rise modestly in 1998 (03/28/00)
• More counters compared to population: Census 2000 (03/27/00)
• Overtime contributes to factory recovery (03/24/00)
• Strong growth in managerial and professional occupations in 1999 (03/23/00)
• Counting the counters: Census 2000 (03/22/00)

• Job leavers larger share of unemployed (03/21/00)
• Consumer prices last month (03/20/00)
• Producer prices rise 1.0 percent in February (03/17/00)
• February rise in import prices largest since 1990 (03/16/00)
• Unit labor costs fall in fourth quarter (03/15/00)

• Total job openings, 1998-2008: replacement and growth (03/14/00)
• Managers, laborers unemployed longest in 1999 (03/13/00)
• Manufacturing productivity surges in fourth quarter (03/10/00)
• Midwest has lowest unemployment rate again (03/09/00)
• Productivity rise in fourth quarter largest since 1992 (03/08/00)

• West Virginia reports highest level of unemployment (03/07/00)
• Hourly earnings up 4 cents (03/06/00)
• Days of idleness due to work stoppages at new low (03/03/00)
• Fewer mass layoffs in 1999 (03/02/00)
• Iowa reports lowest unemployment rate in 1999 (03/01/00)

February 2000 

• Workers idled by work stoppages in 1999 (02/29/00)
• Unemployment decline widespread in 1999 (02/28/00)
• Work stoppages at 53-year low (02/25/00)
• Largest number of truckdriver highway fatalities occurred in Texas in 1998 (02/24/00)
• Part-time workers in 1998 (02/23/00)

• Consumer prices in January (02/22/00)
• Producer prices in January (02/18/00)
• Rises in import prices by locality of origin in January (02/17/00)
• Changes in women's labor force participation in the 20th century (02/16/00)
• Wages, occupations, and job duties (02/15/00)

• Women's share of labor force to edge higher by 2008 (02/14/00)
• Collisions are the most common cause of truckdriver fatalities (02/11/00)
• Fewer individuals experienced unemployment in 1998 (02/10/00)
• Productivity increase in 1999 (02/09/00)
• Farmers projected to have largest job loss in 1998-2008 (02/08/00)

• Labor force and employment rates at highs (02/07/00)
• Truckdriver highway fatalities most common in summer (02/04/00)
• Travis County, Texas had biggest pay increase in 1998 (02/03/00)
• Union members earn more in most industries (02/02/00)
• Nearly two-thirds of workers are employed year round, full time (02/01/00)

January 2000

• Compensation costs up 3.4 percent in 1999 (01/31/00)
• Services industry projected to gain the most jobs in 1998-2008 (01/28/00)
• Jacksonville, NC, has lowest annual pay (01/27/00)

• Gender pay gap largest in sales, lowest in farm occupations (01/24/00)
• The top-paying service occupations in 1998 (01/21/00)
• Protective service occupations have highest union membership rate (01/20/00)
• Hourly compensation still higher in Europe than U.S. (01/19/00)
• Consumer prices in 1999 (01/18/00)

• Producer prices for finished goods up 3.0 percent in 1999 (01/14/00)
• Import and export prices rise in 1999 (01/13/00)
• Hourly compensation drops the most in Korea in 1998 (01/12/00)
• Montana had the lowest pay in 1998 (01/11/00)
• Job growth in December (01/10/00)

• Los Angeles County experiences largest employment gains (01/07/00)
• Where the dollar stretches most, least (01/06/00)
• Pay increase largest in finance again (01/05/00)
• Variation in unit labor costs by industry (01/04/00)
• Austin had highest 1998 pay increase (01/03/00)