Economic News 1999 June

1999-06-05
_DoL ETA_
unemployment insurance weekly claims

• 256,922 initial claims
• 2,002,752 continuing claims
• 1.6% insured unemployment rate

1999-06-07 (5759 Sivan 23)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Minimum wage, Maximum folly
"Most academic economists who've studied the minimum wage conclude that higher minimum wages cause unemployment, not so much among the general labor force, but among low-skilled workers, especially teen-agers.   Differences in unemployment rates reflect this: the unemployment rate for adults over 25 years is 3.1%; for teenagers it's 14.3%."

1999-06-13
Andrew Pollack _NYTimes_
(reprinted 1999-06-13 _Chicago Tribune_ section 6 pg 3)
Examining Ethics
"For all its high-tech image, developing software remains more art than science, & a fairly unpredictable art at that.   Last year, 46% of big corporate software development projects were either late or over budget, & 28% failed completely, according to a survey of 7500 projects by the Standish Group of research advisors in Dennis, MA."

1999-06-14
Ken McCarthy _BrassCheck_
From Waco to Belgrade
alternate source
"General Wesley Clark was [allegedly] involved in the siege and final assault near Waco, Texas that killed, by a combination of toxic gas and fire, at least 82 people including some 3 dozen women, children and infants... 'Military Personnel and Equipment - Personnel, Active Duty Personnel - 15, Texas National Guard Personnel - 13; - Track vehicles, Bradley fighting vehicle (OMZ) - 9, Combat Engineer Vehicle (M728) - 5, Tank Retrieval vehicle (M88) - 1, Abrams Tanks (M1A1) - 2' Source: Department of the Treasury, Report of the Department of the Treasury on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell also known as David Koresh, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1993 September."

1999-06-29
Bob Noblinksi _USDA Foreign Agricultural Service_
WTO and Nebraska Wheat Growers
"Market access.   Average U.S. tariff on agriculture imports is about 8% while the rest of the world exceeds 50%.   The U.S. does maintain a few moderate tariffs for some import-sensitive sectors.   Until such time as the significant reductions are made by others, the U.S. agricultural tariff should not further reduced."

1999 June
Carol Ann Meares, John F. Sargent, Jr., Carl Shepherd, Marc Cummings, Cheryl Mendonsa, Kathleen Sullivan, Robert Boege, Douglas Devereaux, Cathleen Campbell, Sarah Endres, Kim Jackson & David Cheney
THE DIGITAL WORK FORCE: Building Infotech Skills at the Speed of Innovation
full report (pdf)
"The IT industry is populated by many younger workers.   Approximately 75% of computer systems analysts and scientists, and nearly 80% of computer programmers are under the age of 45. [based on 1996 Current Population Survey]   Many managers in the IT industry are in their 20s and 30s, and may be uncomfortable hiring or managing older and more experienced workers.   A _Network World_ survey of 200 readers with some hiring responsibility showed that younger network managers are less likely to hire older workers than younger workers.   Almost half of respondents 20 to 30 years of age had never hired a person over the age of 40. [Neal Weinberg 'Help Wanted: Older Workers Need Not Apply' _Network World_, posted on _CNN Interactive_ on 1998-09-14.]..."

Employment Projections in Core IT Occupations, 1996-2006

title	Employed 1996	Projected Employed 2006	Change Number	Change PerCent	Avg Annual Openings
Computer scientists	211,600	460,800	249,200	118	26,830
Computer engineers	215,650	450,950	235,300	109	25,000
Systems analysts	505,500	1,025,100	519,600	103	55,400
Computer programmers	568,000	697,250	129,250	23	30,600
Totals	1,500,750	2,634,100	1,133,350	76	137,830

1999 June
Greg Tarpinian _Labor Research Association_
Plenty of Jobs, But Not Many Good Ones
"many of these new jobs do not pay enough to raise a family or save for a comfortable retirement...   Between 1998 May and 1999 May, manufacturing employment in the U.S. declined by 422K jobs, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).   Most of these manufacturing losses have been caused by the shift of plants to lower-wage countries, the flood of cheaper imports into U.S. market, and the increased use of technology to replace human workers.   The U.S. steel industry, for instance, has slashed more than 10K jobs over the last year due to cheaper steel imports from Russia, Japan, Brazil and other countries.   Levi Strauss, the famous blue-jeans maker, shut down 20 U.S. factories in the last year and laid off some 12K workers.   Levi said it closed the U.S. plants because it was shifting much of its production to low-wage contractors abroad...   Employment in retail trade, for example, grew by 518K jobs between 1998 May and 1999 May...   the U.S. economy is losing jobs that provide a higher standard of living than most of the new jobs being created.   Manufacturing work pays an average of $577 a week, according to the BLS.   By contrast, retail-trade work pays an average of $263 a week...   That's a big reduction in living standards..."

1999 June
top 500 fastest super computers LinPack bench-mark (rated in giga Floating-point Operations / second)
 
 

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