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

Archived articles from The Editor's Desk
—Chronological archives: 2002

December 2002

• Preventive care provisions not commonly described in plans (12/31/2002)

• Volunteering across the ages (12/30/2002)
• Work experience in 2001 (12/27/2002)
• Mass layoffs down in November from a year ago (12/26/2002)
• College grads have highest volunteer rate (12/24/2002)
• Injuries and illnesses in goods-producing and service-producing industries in 2001 (12/23/02

• On-the-job injuries and illnesses rate at new low (12/20/2002)
• Volunteering in the U.S. (12/19/2002)
• Consumer prices in November (12/18/2002)
• More workers experienced unemployment in 2001 (12/17/2002)
• Producer prices decline in November (12/16/2002)

• Import prices down in November (12/13/2002)
• Average compensation $23.44 per hour in September (12/12/2002)
• Employment little changed in November (12/11/2002)
• Consumer health care spending in 2001 (12/10/2002)
• Unemployment rate up in November (12/09/2002)

• Decline of manufacturing unit labor costs continues (12/06/2002)
• Third-quarter productivity growth revised upward (12/05/2002)
• Spending drops on apparel in 2001 (12/04/2002)
• Lowest paying occupations in 2001 (12/03/2002)
• Job flows in Rust Belt (12/02/2002)

November 2002

• Counties with employment declines last year (11/29/2002)
• Mass layoffs in October (11/27/2002)
• California, Texas, Florida, Nevada had fastest growing counties (11/26/2002)
• Lafayette County, Louisiana had highest growth in pay in 2001 (11/25/2002)

• New York County had highest pay level in 2001 (11/22/2002)
• Job-search methods on-line (11/21/2002)
• Consumer prices in October (11/20/2002)
• Value of quality changes for 2003 light trucks and passenger cars (11/19/2002)
• Producer prices jump in October (11/18/2002)

• Small advance in import prices in October (11/15/2002)
• Extended mass layoffs in third quarter (11/14/2002)
• Metro areas with highest pay in 2001 (11/13/2002)
• Largest pay hike in Lafayette, La. (11/12/2002)
• Another rise in productivity (11/08/2002)

• Highest paying occupations in 2001 (11/07/2002)
• Using the Internet to find a job (11/06/2002)
• Unemployment rates in October (11/05/2002)
• Payroll employment in October (11/04/2002)
• Employment costs up 0.6 percent from June to September (11/01/2002)

October 2002

• Computer use most prevalent in finance industry (10/31/2002)
• Reasons for computer use at work (10/30/2002)

• Insurance PPIs up in 2001 (10/29/2002)
• More school, less labor (10/28/2002)
• Mass layoffs down in September from a year earlier (10/25/2002)
• Over half of workers used a computer in 2001 (10/24/2002)
• Most IT workers have college degrees (10/23/2002)

• Weekly earnings in the third quarter (10/22/2002)
• Consumer prices in September (10/21/2002)
• Singles' similar purchasing probabilities (10/18/2002)
• Wage gains and cuts (10/17/2002)
• Moonlighting in 2001 (10/16/2002)

• Producer prices up slightly in September (10/15/2002)
• Import and export prices advance in September (10/11/2002)
• Fatal on-the-job highway incidents rise in 2001 (10/10/2002)
• Management of companies and enterprises has top pay (10/09/2002)
• Payroll employment in September (10/08/2002)

• Unemployment rate 5.6 percent in September (10/07/2002)
• Largest pay gains in Delaware and Maryland (10/04/2002)
• Work-related fatalities up in construction industry (10/03/2002)
• Compensation costs in foreign factories two-thirds of U.S. costs (10/02/2002)
• Highest pay in 2001: Connecticut (10/01/2002)

September 2002

• U.S. factory productivity gain in 2001 was fourth highest (09/30/2002)
• Mass layoff events in August (09/27/2002)
• September 11 raises fatal work injury toll in 2001 (09/26/2002)
• Average pay increase smallest since 1994 (09/25/2002)
• Managers, professionals have highest tenure (09/24/2002)

• U.S. and foreign compensation costs in manufacturing (09/23/2002)
• Gender differences in employee tenure (09/20/2002)
• Consumer prices in August (09/19/2002)
• Average compensation $23.20 per hour in June (09/18/2002)
• Young boomers employed in three-quarters of weeks from age 18-36 (09/17/2002)

• Producer prices unchanged in August (09/16/2002)
• Import and export prices up again in August (09/13/2002)
• Employment growth in the G7 countries: 1960–2000 (09/12/2002)
• Factory productivity in the G-7 countries: 1950-2000 (09/11/2002)
• Payroll employment in August (09/10/2002)

• Unemployment rates in August (09/09/2002)
• Upward revision in second-quarter productivity growth (09/06/2002)
• Unemployment in the G7 countries: 1960–2000 (09/05/2002)
• Permanent worksite closures in 2001 (09/04/2002)
• Youth unemployment this summer (09/03/2002)

August 2002

• Another increase in manufacturing multifactor productivity (08/30/2002)
• Comparing countries (08/29/2002)

• Younger boomers: nearly 10 jobs by age 36 (08/28/2002)
• More layoffs in West, more laid off in Midwest in July (08/27/2002)
• Factory workers have highest risk of displacement (08/26/2002)
• Mass layoff events in July (08/23/2002)
• Increase in displaced workers (08/22/2002)

• The new Chained Consumer Price Index (08/21/2002)
• Real average weekly earnings fall in July  (08/20/2002)
• Consumer prices in July (08/19/2002)
• Foreign-born workers and labor force growth at end of 20th century (08/16/2002)
• Extended mass layoffs in second quarter (08/15/2002)

• Lowest July labor force participation rate for youth since 1971 (08/14/2002)
• Manufacturing unit labor costs fall again in second quarter (08/13/2002)
• Productivity up in second quarter (08/12/2002)
• Producer prices decline in July (08/09/2002)
• Import and export prices increase in July (08/08/2002)

• Projected slowdown in labor force growth (08/07/2002)
• Payroll employment in July (08/06/2002)
• Unemployment rates in July (08/05/2002)
• Occupations of foreign-born workers (08/02/2002)
• Job openings rates by industry (08/01/2002)

July 2002

• New job openings and labor turnover survey (07/31/2002)
• Long-term unemployment most common in Northeast (07/30/2002)

• Variation in employment cost increases (07/29/2002)
• Compensation costs rise (07/26/2002)
• Mass layoffs in June (07/25/2002)
• Regional variation in employment (07/24/2002)
• Weekly earnings in the second quarter (07/23/2002)

• Consumer prices in June (07/22/2002)
• Earnings of interpreters and translators (07/19/2002)
• Homeownership highest in Midwest and South (07/18/2002)
• Time off most common benefit (07/17/2002)
• Apprenticeships (07/16/2002)

• Cost of health benefits in private industry, March 2002 (07/15/2002)
• Producer prices edge upward in June (07/12/2002)
• Import prices decline in June (07/11/2002)
• Employment costs by occupation in March (07/10/2002)
• Job losses moderating in manufacturing (07/09/2002)

• Unemployment in June (07/08/2002)
• Labor costs in wholesale trade (07/05/2002)
• Recently discharged vets and unemployment (07/03/2002)
• Earnings of part-timers (07/02/2002)
• Labor force participation of Vietnam-era vets in 2001 (07/01/2002)

June 2002

• Mass layoffs in May (06/28/2002)
• Paid by the hour in 2001 (06/27/2002)
• Women's earnings and education in 2001 (06/26/2002)

• New wholesale-trade productivity series (06/21/2002)
• Average compensation $23.15 per hour in March (06/20/2002)
• No change in consumer prices in May (06/19/2002)
• Worker fatalities in eating and drinking places (06/18/2002)
• On-the-job injuries in eating and drinking places (06/17/2002)

• Producer prices down again in May (06/14/2002)
• No change in import prices in May (06/13/2002)
• Slowdown in computer-services employment growth (06/12/2002)
• Unemployment rate at 5.8 percent in May (06/11/2002)
• Payroll employment in May (06/10/2002)

• Wages in legal occupations in 2000 (06/07/2002)
• Sharp decline in manufacturing labor costs in first quarter (06/06/2002)
• Fast growth in services to business (06/05/2002)
• Falling employment in personnel services (06/04/2002)
• Small revision in first-quarter productivity growth (06/03/2002)

May 2002

• Initial claims due to mass layoffs down from year ago (05/31/2002)
• Small rise in spending on food away from home in 2000 (05/30/2002)

• Shelter inflation higher in 2001 (05/29/2002)
• Elderly spend greatest share on housing (05/28/2002)
• Consumer durables prices dropped in 2001 (05/24/2002)
• Continued acceleration in medical care inflation (05/23/2002)
• Earnings spread widest within and between professional, service groups (05/22/2002)

• Clothing prices down again in 2001 (05/21/2002)
• Unemployment rate 35.9 percent among dropouts (05/20/2002)
• Extended mass layoffs lower in first quarter (05/17/2002)
• Consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in April (05/16/2002)
• College enrollment of 2001 high school graduates (05/15/2002)

• High-tech productivity gains in 1990s (05/14/2002)
• Producer prices down slightly in April (05/13/2002)
• Import prices up again in April (05/10/2002)
• Women of Generation X in the labor force (05/09/2002)
• Jump in productivity in first quarter (05/08/2002)

• Small change in payroll employment in April (05/07/2002)
• Unemployment rate rose in April (05/06/2002)
• Unit labor costs in manufacturing decline the most in Germany, Denmark in 2000 (05/03/2002)
• Productivity by industry between 1990 and 2000 (05/02/2002)
• Repetitive motion leads to longest work absences (05/01/2002)

April 2002

• One in 7 work evening, night, other shifts (04/30/2002)
• Compensation costs up in first quarter (04/29/2002)

• Benefit, wage costs for State and local government workers rise in step at the beginning of 2002 (04/26/2002)
• Nearly half of executives have flexible work hours (04/25/2002)
• Truck drivers again have the most lost-time injuries (04/24/2002)
• Most full-timers among working poor have one labor market problem (04/23/2002)
• Korea had largest productivity gains in manufacturing in 2000 (04/22/2002)

• Over one quarter of full-time workers have flexible schedules (04/19/2002)
• Weekly earnings in the first quarter (04/18/2002)
• Consumer prices up 0.3 percent in March (04/17/2002)
• Youths, blacks, Hispanics most likely to be working poor (04/16/2002)
• Producer prices up in March (04/15/2002)

• Rise in import prices in March (04/12/2002)
• Injuries and illnesses that resulted in time away from work in 2000 (04/11/2002)
• Employment of mothers with infants in 2001 (04/10/2002)
• Unemployment rates in March (04/09/2002)
• Fewer job losses in manufacturing (04/08/2002)

• Median weekly earnings in 2001 (04/05/2002)
• Decline in married-couple families with both spouses employed (04/04/2002)
• For aircraft mechanics, certification pays (04/03/2002)
• About 1 in 5 toxicology reports positive in occupational fatalities (04/02/2002)
• Families with unemployment in 2001 (04/01/2002)

March 2002

• Layoffs in February down from year ago (03/29/2002)

• Unemployment rates up across the board in 2001 (03/28/2002)
• Steepest job losses in manufacturing-related fields in 2001 (03/27/2002)
• Historic low for days of idleness due to work stoppages (03/26/2002)
• Decrease in major work stoppages in 2001 (03/25/2002)
• Consumer prices up 0.2 percent again in February (03/22/2002)

• Use of respirators in the workplace (03/21/2002)
• Frequency of work at home (03/20/2002)
• Decline in traditional fee-for-service health plans in 1990s (03/19/2002)
• Producer prices rose in February (03/18/2002)
• Import prices in February (03/15/2002)

• Unit labor costs down in fourth quarter of 2001 (03/14/2002)
• 2000 saw largest increase in multifactor productivity since 1992 (03/13/2002)
• Unemployment rates in February (03/12/2002)
• Payroll employment up in February (03/11/2002)
• Upward revision of fourth-quarter productivity growth (03/08/2002)

• Computer use by home workers (03/07/2002)
• Catching up is most common reason to work at home (03/06/2002)
• Most home workers are managers and professionals (03/05/2002)
• Working at home (03/04/2002)
• January 2002 layoff figures based on new industry classification (03/01/2002)

February 2002

• Midwest had highest employment-population ratios in 2001 (02/28/2002)
• State with highest unemployment rate in 2001: Washington (02/27/2002)
• North Dakota had lowest unemployment rate in 2001 (02/26/2002)
• Average unemployment up in most States in 2001 (02/25/2002)

• Real average weekly earnings down in January (02/22/2002)
• Consumer prices up 0.2 percent in January (02/21/2002)
• Events of 9/11 and layoffs (02/20/2002)
• Producer prices in January (02/19/2002)
• Import prices up in January (02/15/2002)

• Extended mass layoffs up sharply in 2001 (02/14/2002)
• Middle Atlantic tops in hourly earnings in 2000 (02/13/2002)
• Headquarters jobs for 1.8 million (02/12/2002)
• Wages and salaries increase fastest in West over the year (02/11/2002)
• Jump in factory labor costs in 2001 (02/08/2002)

• Productivity growth in 2001 (02/07/2002)
• Smaller rise in benefit costs for State and local government workers at end of 2001 (02/06/2002)
• Employment continued to decline in January (02/05/2002)
• Unemployment down in January (02/04/2002)
• Employment costs up 4.2 percent for the year (02/01/2002)

January 2002

• Information sector employs 3.7 million (01/31/2002)

• Layoffs in 2001 (01/30/2002)
• Unionization rates by age, 2001 (01/29/2002)
• Self-employed in 2000 (01/28/2002)
• Who was affected as the economy started to slow? (01/25/2002)
• Union membership in government, 2001 (01/24/2002)

• Labor productivity in apparel stores in 1990s (01/23/2002)
• Weekly earnings in the fourth quarter (01/22/2002)
• Union membership in private industry, 2001 (01/18/2002)
• Consumer Price Index down in December (01/17/2002)
• First glimpse at NAICS data (01/16/2002)

• Faster retail productivity growth in second half of 1990s (01/15/2002)
• Producer prices decline three months in a row (01/14/2002)
• Import prices down for third consecutive month (01/11/2002)
• Two-thirds of occupational illnesses are repeated trauma cases (01/10/2002)
• Most new jobs to be in services or retail trade (01/09/2002)

• Unemployment edged up in December (01/08/2002)
• Payroll employment declined again in December (01/07/2002)
• Occupations losing the most jobs, 2000-10 (01/04/2002)
• Consumer health care spending increases faster (01/03/2002)
• Incidence of injuries with days away from work edged down in 2000 (01/02/2002)