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

Archived articles from The Editor's Desk
—Chronological archives: 1999

December 1999

• Declines in unit labor costs and gains in productivity (12/30/1999)

• Occupations with the largest growth, 1998-2008 (12/29/1999)
• Eighth consecutive drop in incidence of days away from work due to workplace injuries and illnesses (12/28/1999)
• Fast-growing industries vs. fast-going industries (12/27/1999)
• Annual wages of nurses, doctors, and other health care workers (12/23/1999)
• Over half of contingent workers would prefer permanent jobs (12/22/1999)

• Injuries and illnesses in goods-producing and service-producing sectors (12/21/1999)
• The "grayby" boom ages the labor force (12/20/1999)
• Rate of on-the-job injuries and illnesses continues to decline (12/17/1999)
• Washington State reports biggest pay gain again (12/16/1999)
• Consumer prices in November (12/15/1999)

• The labor force in 2008: race and Hispanic origin (12/14/1999)
• Producer prices in November (12/13/1999)
• Import prices rise again in November (12/10/1999)
• More than two-thirds of projected fastest growing occupations are in high wage jobs (12/09/1999)
• Unit labor costs in the third quarter (12/08/1999)

• Education requirements and job growth (12/07/1999)
• Unemployment in November (12/06/1999)
• Service sector dominant source of new jobs (12/03/1999)
• Dental care benefits in medium and large private establishments (12/02/1999)
• Millennial themes: age, education, services (12/01/1999)

November 1999

• Features of life insurance plans (11/30/1999)
• Blue-collar workers have highest eligibility for short-term disability benefits, lowest for long-term (11/29/1999)
• Value of quality changes in 2000 model-year light trucks (11/26/1999)
• What consumers pay for in a VCR (11/24/1999)
• Value of quality changes in 2000 model-year cars (11/23/1999)

• Employment in electric services industry drops in 1990s (11/22/1999)
• Spending on food away from home up by 5.7 percent in 1998 (11/19/1999)
• Consumer prices in October (11/18/1999)
• PPI rising at an annual rate of 2.9 percent through October (11/17/1999)
• Features of outpatient prescription drug benefits (11/16/1999)

• Producer prices in October (11/15/1999)
• Prevalence of paid sick leave (11/12/1999)
• Rises in import prices by locality last month (11/10/1999)
• Paid vacation and length of service (11/09/1999)
• Manufacturing employment in October (11/08/1999)

• Compensation rising more rapidly in service sector than in goods-producing sector (11/05/1999)
• Few employees able to cash in unused sick leave (11/04/1999)
• Benefits now increasing at slower rate than wages and salaries (11/03/1999)
• Full-time working couples more common (11/02/1999)
• Movements in constant-dollar wages and salaries, 1976-98 (11/01/1999)

October 1999

• Average work experience rises in recent years (10/29/1999)
• U.S. auto industry boosts productivity in 1990s (10/28/1999)
• Industries with the most cases of occupational stress (10/27/1999)
• Toxicology reports and workplace deaths (10/26/1999)
• Variation in earnings of college grads (10/25/1999)

• Pay gains similar for workers in private industry and State and local government over past two decades (10/22/1999)
• Rate of occupational injuries and illnesses in construction drops by 38 percent in 1976-97 (10/21/1999)
• Occupational stress and time away from work (10/20/1999)
• Nationwide earnings data by occupation from National Compensation Survey now available (10/19/1999)
• Working in manufacturing safer over the past two decades (10/18/1999)

• Displaced professional workers most likely to return to same occupation (10/15/1999)
• White-collar workers account for most cases of occupational stress (10/14/1999)
• Decline in cases of occupational stress (10/13/1999)
• Incidence of displaced workers becoming reemployed in the same industry (10/12/1999)
• Income and public transportation expenditures (10/08/1999)

• Education and second job entrepreneurs (10/07/1999)
• Communications workers get the most paid leave (10/06/1999)
• Knowledge gets the biggest pay premium (10/05/1999)
• Just over half of temporary workers are female (10/04/1999)
• Mass transit and public transportation expenditures (10/01/1999)

September 1999

• Incidence of flexible work schedules increases (09/30/1999)

• Most hours in private sector now supplied by those with more than a high school education (09/29/1999)
• Shifts in auto industry employment, 1979-98 (09/28/1999)
• Airfare dominates public transportation expenditures (09/27/1999)
• Change in percent of persons working full-time year round varies by sex and education (09/24/1999)
• How long does it take a displaced worker to find a new job? (09/23/1999)

• Hours worked for women with children rise (09/22/1999)
• New York County tops in pay in 1997 (09/21/1999)
• Increasing skill levels now account for over a quarter of labor productivity growth (09/20/1999)
• Shifts within and across occupations drive changes in skill levels (09/17/1999)
• Displacement rates for blue-collar and white-collar workers more similar in recent years (09/16/1999)

• Temps work same hours as other services workers (09/15/1999)
• Unit labor costs fall in 1990s in U.S. auto industry (09/14/1999)
• Transportation the largest piece of pleasure travel spending (09/13/1999)
• Poverty rates higher for working women (09/10/1999)
• Young adults most likely to be among the working poor (09/09/1999)

• Midwestern States have top employment-population ratios (09/08/1999)
• Service, farm workers have highest poverty rates (09/07/1999)
• Unit labor costs in manufacturing decline the most in Korea, Taiwan, Japan in 1998 (09/03/1999)
• Productivity gains in German and American factories better than 4 percent in 1998 (09/02/1999)
• Working for someone else and for yourself (09/01/1999)

August 1999

• Food, clothing, and shelter see different historical spending patterns (08/31/1999)
• High earnings without a college degree? (08/30/1999)

• Youth employment up 2.8 million this summer (08/27/1999)
• San Jose leads nation in annual pay (08/26/1999)
• Comparing food expenditures by income group (08/25/1999)
• Largest drop ever in prices of crude materials in 1998  (08/24/1999)
• Health insurance now accounts for biggest share of health care dollar (08/23/1999)

• Much variation in women's employment across metropolitan areas (08/20/1999)
• No change in producer prices in 1998 (08/19/1999)
• Hospitals have highest number of occupational injuries (08/18/1999)
• Rate of fatal work injuries rises with age (08/17/1999)
• Educational and health services employment most extensive in Northeast (08/16/1999)

• Most reported occupational illnesses are repeated-trauma disorders (08/13/1999)
• Agriculture employment most widespread by far in West North Central States (08/12/1999)
• Fatal work injuries at seven-year low (08/11/1999)
• Pension expenditures drop for all except highest income group (08/10/1999)
• How leased and owned vehicles stack up (08/09/1999)

• Manufacturing employment most prevalent in Midwest (08/06/1999)
• Meat packing plants have the highest rate of repeated-trauma disorders (08/05/1999)
• Nonfatal injuries to young workers (08/04/1999)
• Concentration of high-tech employment (08/03/1999)
• Importance of retirement benefits in compensation (08/02/1999)

July 1999

• Considerable variation in multiple jobholding by State (07/30/1999)

• High tech doesn't always mean high growth (07/29/1999)
• Hazards of refuse collection (07/28/1999)
• Workdays lost to injury in manufacturing (07/27/1999)
• Compensation highest in biggest establishments (07/26/1999)
• Men's earnings at peak at age 45-54 (07/23/1999)

• Large variation in union membership by State (07/22/1999)
• High tech, high pay (07/21/1999)
• Majority of college students work for pay (07/20/1999)
• Prices for apparel fall in most years in 1990s in research series (07/19/1999)
• Wages highest in West, benefits highest in Northeast (07/16/1999)

• Youths and on-the-job danger (07/15/1999)
• Length of work stoppages in 1998 (07/14/1999)
• Transportation prices and the new research series (07/13/1999)
• Unemployment and the newest high school dropouts (07/12/1999)
• Fatalities among firefighters (07/09/1999)

• Differences in benefits between government and private industry (07/08/1999)
• Housing prices usually restrained in CPI research series (07/07/1999)
• Blue-collar workers earn more of compensation in benefits than other workers (07/06/1999)
• How risky is police work? (07/02/1999)
• Pay increase largest in finance in 1997 (07/01/1999)

June 1999

• Young women enroll in college in greater numbers than young men (06/30/1999)
• Benefits nearly a third of compensation in manufacturing (06/29/1999)

• Food inflation leaner in new research series (06/28/1999)
• Alaska has smallest pay gain in 1997 (06/25/1999)
• Washington State reports biggest pay gain in 1997 (06/24/1999)
• Sources of adjustments in CPI research series (06/23/1999)
• Apparel prices adjusted downward the most in new research series (06/22/1999)

• New research series shows lower inflation (06/21/1999)
• Projections of service worker employment generally on target (06/18/1999)
• Consumers pay less for durables again in 1998 (06/17/1999)
• Assessing projections of management jobs (06/16/1999)
• Prices for services decelerate, but not shelter prices (06/15/1999)

• BLS total employment projections usually close (06/14/1999)
• Savings and thrift plans in small private establishments (06/11/1999)
• Women in managerial, professional occupations earn more than others (06/10/1999)
• Prices for apparel declined in 1998 (06/09/1999)
• Employment of mothers with infants (06/08/1999)

• Consumer prices for medical care accelerate in 1998 (06/07/1999)
• Differences in women's and men's earnings by age, 1979-98 (06/04/1999)
• Labor force participation of fathers and mothers varies with children's ages (06/03/1999)
• Self-employment more important in 1990s Canadian job growth than in American (06/02/1999)
• Fewer families experienced unemployment in 1998 (06/01/1999)

May 1999 

• Consumers pay more for desired features (05/28/1999)
• Both husband and wife work for pay in majority of married-couple families (05/27/1999)
• In small firms, blue-collar, service workers least covered by health care benefits (05/26/1999)
• Women's earnings rise with education—earnings ratio falls, then rises (05/25/1999)

• Life insurance for older workers at small establishments (05/21/1999)
• White-collar workers more likely to receive disability benefits in small establishments (05/20/1999)
• Women's earnings ratio highest in D.C., California (05/19/1999)
• Executives, professionals, and service workers to be growing share of self-employed (05/18/1999)
• Slower growth in health services earnings in the 90s (05/17/1999)

• Earning patterns for women working part-time contrast with full-timers' (05/14/1999)
• More than a third of youths combine school and jobs (05/13/1999)
• It takes more information to understand labor shortages (05/12/1999)
• Women's earnings, earnings difference highest after age 45 (05/11/1999)
• Two of five 15-year olds hold jobs (05/10/1999)

• More Northeastern workers receive most types of benefits (05/07/1999)
• Health employment not as strong as it used to be (05/06/1999)
• Productivity rose in most mining and service industries in 1997 (05/05/1999)
• Five days away from work is median for injury or illness (05/04/1999)
• About a quarter of 14-year olds hold jobs (05/03/1999)

April 1999

• Consumers in the South spend less on entertainment in 1997 (04/30/1999)
• West region's mass layoffs decline the most during 1998 (04/29/1999)

• Employer costs for Medicare, workers' compensation rise from 1966-98 (04/28/1999)
• Apparel spending down in 1997 (04/27/1999)
• Lost-worktime injuries decline from 1993 to 1997 (04/26/1999)
• Have our price indexes dampened productivity measures? (04/23/1999)
• Persons not in the labor force who "want a job now" declines in 1998 (04/22/1999)

• West, South lead employment growth by region in 1998 (04/21/1999)
• Entertainment spending declines in 1997 (04/20/1999)
• Employment advances on narrower industry front in 1998 (04/19/1999)
• Manufacturing leads industries in nonfatal injuries and illnesses (04/16/1999)
• Extended mass layoff events and separations up slightly in 1998 (04/15/1999)

• Retirement costs share of compensation rises from 1966-98 (04/14/1999)
• 1998 services industry job growth strong, but still off 1993-97 average (04/13/1999)
• Sprains, strains, and tears most frequent time-lost work injury (04/12/1999)
• 1996-98 growth fastest among jobs with highest earnings (04/09/1999)
• Health care costs fluctuate with employer cost-containment efforts (04/08/1999)

• Single- and multi-employer defined benefit pension plans differ (04/07/1999)
• 1998 job growth in several major industries outpaces 5-year average (04/06/1999)
• Computer ownership up sharply in the 1990s (04/05/1999)
• Workweeks shorter in 1998 (04/02/1999)
• Expenditures for housing, personal insurance rise fastest in 1997 (04/01/1999)

March 1999

• Manufacturing, mining report employment declines during 1998 (03/31/1999)
• Job losses from mass layoffs rise in 1998 (03/30/1999)
• Consumer prices in the South rise 1.5 percent in 1998 (03/29/1999)

• Largest employment share is in services industry (03/26/1999)
• Job absence rate higher for women than for men (03/25/1999)
• New CPI estimator expected to lower inflation rate by 0.2 percent (03/24/1999)
• Transportation spending brakes in 1997 (03/23/1999)
• 1998 consumer price rise in the West slightly above national increase (03/22/1999)

• Reasons for unemployment differ by gender, age (03/19/1999)
• Southeast region employs the most textile workers (03/18/1999)
• France leads 11 countries in manufacturing productivity growth during 1997 (03/17/1999)
• Medical care spending climbs again in 1997 (03/16/1999)
• Consumer prices in the Midwest rise 1.6 percent in 1998 (03/15/1999)

• Energy PPIs closely track oil, gas, and electricity prices (03/12/1999)
• Unemployment rate drops with additional education (03/11/1999)
• Hourly compensation rises in 1998 (03/10/1999)
• Spending on food differs by gender (03/09/1999)
• Consumer prices rise 1.7 percent in the Northeast in 1998 (03/08/1999)

• 7.9 million workers were multiple jobholders in 1998 (03/05/1999)
• Sources of labor productivity shift (03/04/1999)
• More temporary workers expected in certain blue-collar occupations (03/03/1999)
• Midwest jobless rate lowest for eighth straight year (03/02/1999)
• Outside DC, largest federal employment share in Alaska (03/01/1999)

February 1999

• Expenditures on frozen foods, meat change considerably over 12-year period (02/26/1999)
• Productivity of labor, capital rise again in 1997 (02/25/1999)
• Temporary workers in professional occupations expected to increase (02/24/1999)
• Share of long-term unemployed declined in 1998 (02/23/1999)

• Montana reports lowest weekly wage (02/22/1999)
• Northeastern States have highest weekly wages (02/19/1999)
• Factory unit labor costs rise for first time in five years (02/18/1999)
• Highest compensation reported in white-collar occupations (02/17/1999)
• Demographics vary by occupation (02/16/1999)

• A few more work stoppages in 1998 (02/12/1999)
• Small establishments employ the largest share of workers (02/11/1999)
• Productivity gains led by durables manufacturing (02/10/1999)
• The young are most likely to be contingent workers (02/09/1999)
• Odessa-Midland, Texas, had largest unemployment rate increase during 1998 (02/08/1999)

• Most metropolitan areas experience jobless rate decrease in 1998 (02/05/1999)
• Finance and manufacturing industries report highest weekly wages in 1997 (02/04/1999)
• Black women report highest earnings premium for additional education (02/03/1999)
• Independent contractors differ from traditional workers (02/02/1999)
• Export prices decline again in 1998 (02/01/1999)

January 1999

• Total compensation package up 3.4 percent in 1998 (01/29/1999)
• Union membership edges up, but share continues to fall (01/28/1999)
• Women's earnings 76 percent of median for men in 1998 (01/27/1999)
• New Mexico had highest State unemployment rate at end of 1998 (01/26/1999)

• Three Midwestern States tie for lowest unemployment rate at end of 1998 (01/25/1999)
• Benefits share of compensation costs changed little from 1986 to 1998 (01/22/1999)
• Paid vacation most frequently offered time-off benefit (01/21/1999)
• Another real raise in 1998 (01/20/1999)
• Record decline in import prices during 1998 (01/19/1999)

• Annual consumer price rise smallest since 1986 (01/15/1999)
• Producer prices edged down 0.1 percent in 1998 (01/14/1999)
• Production occupations have largest employment share in 1997 (01/13/1999)
• More fatalities from being caught in machinery in 1997 (01/12/1999)
• Unemployment rate continued to drop in early 1998, then stayed down (01/11/1999)

• More workers covered by HMOs and PPOs (01/08/1999)
• High earnings without long hours a possibility (01/07/1999)
• Defined contribution retirement plans becoming more prevalent (01/06/1999)
• Clerical, service, and agricultural workers have low wages (01/05/1999)
• Most dangerous occupation of 1997? Timber cutting (01/04/1999)