Page images
PDF
EPUB

91-491 O

9

Y 4. Ec 7: Em 712/pt."
EMPLOYMENT-UNEMPLOYMENT

95-1

HEARINGS

BEFORE THE

JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES

NINETY-FIFTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

PART 9

JANUARY 12, FEBRUARY 4, MARCH 4, AND APRIL 1, 1977

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402

JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE

(Created pursuant to sec. 5(a) of Public Law 304, 79th Cong.)

RICHARD BOLLING, Missouri, Chairman

HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, Minnesota, Vice Chairman

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

HENRY S. REUSS, Wisconsin

WILLIAM S. MOORHEAD, Pennsylvania

LEE H. HAMILTON, Indiana
GILLIS W. LONG, Louisiana
OTIS G. PIKE, New York
CLARENCE J. BROWN, Ohio
GARRY BROWN, Michigan

MARGARET M. HECKLER, Massachusetts
JOHN H. ROUSSELOT, California

SENATE

JOHN SPARKMAN, Alabama
WILLIAM PROXMIRE, Wisconsin
ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, Connecticut
LLOYD BENTSEN, Texas

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts

JACOB K. JAVITS, New York

WILLIAM V. ROTH, JR., Delaware

JAMES A. McCLURE, Idaho
ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah

JOHN R. STARK, Executive Director
COURTENAY M. SLATER, Assistant Director
LOUIS C. KRAUTHOFF II, Assistant Director
RICHARD F. KAUFMAN, General Counsel

[blocks in formation]

CONTENTS

Tabular response to Representative Bolling's five-point query regard-
ing job prospects for young workers..

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Shiskin, Hon. Julius, et al.:

IV

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1977

Table reflecting unemployment rate by alternate seasonal adjustment methods_

Page

1607

Press release No. 77-100 entitled "The Unemployment Situation: January 1977," Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, February 4, 1977___.

1609

Tabular response to Representative Bolling's request to supply for the record a comparison of U.S. unemploment rates and other labor statistics with other major countries____.

1651

FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1977

Shiskin, Hon. Julius, et al.:

Tables:

1. Unemployment rate by alternate seasonal adjustment methods__
2. Changes in major labor force indicators, three 4-month
periods

1658

1660

Press Release No. 77-195 entitled "The Employment Situation: Febru-
ary 1977," Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, March
4, 1977___
Study entitled "Federal Supplemental Benefits Post-Exhaustion
Study"

1661

1687

FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 1977

Shiskin, Hon. Julius, et al.:

Chart reflecting consumer price index and selected components, seasonally adjusted 1-month span, 1967-77---

1710

Table reflecting unemployment rate by alternate seasonal adjustment methods

1711

Press release No. 77-273 entitled "The Employment Situation: March 1977," Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, April 1, 1977

1713

Response to Representative Bolling's request to supply an estimate on the effect of shoe exports and imports on jobs---

1735

EMPLOYMENT-UNEMPLOYMENT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1977

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES,
JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE,
Washington, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11 a.m., in room 5302, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Richard Bolling (chairman of the committee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Bolling, Long, Brown of Michigan, and Rousselot; and Senator Proxmire.

Also present: John R. Stark, executive director; Louis C. Krauthoff II and Courtenay M. Slater, assistant directors; William R. Buechner, G. Thomas Cator, and Katie MacArthur, professional staff members; Michael J. Runde, administrative assistant; and Charles H. Bradford and M. Catherine Miller, minority professional staff members.

OPENING STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE BOLLING, CHAIRMAN Representative BOLLING. The committee will be in order.

We are pleased to welcome Commissioner Shiskin here today to give us some ideas about the significance of the unemployment and wholesale price figures released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The news is mixed. Unemployment is down, but wholesale prices rose significantly.

The unemployment rate for December was 7.9 percent, which certainly represents an improvement over the 8.1 percent unemployment rate for November. I know that a 1-month reduction in the unemployment rate doesn't portend a long-term trend, but I do hope that the news you brought us today represents just the beginning of a sustained downward movement that will bring unemployment well below 7 percent by the end of this year.

I note from your release of this morning that all of the December improvement took place among adult men, and that the jobless rate for adult women, teenagers, and blacks failed to improve. This is not good news, and I think we may want to explore it after your testimony. The wholesale price index in December rose by 0.9 percent, the fourth large monthly increase in a row. Since September, the wholesale price index has been rising at an annual rate of almost 10 percent, which is not good news. The only silver lining I see in the figures you gave us this morning is in the Industrial Commodities index, which rose only 0.3 percentage points. We suffered a very large bulge in industrial prices during the last half of 1976, and I hope this small

« PreviousContinue »