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To: James Strauss who wrote (12630)	8/5/2003 11:01:18 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13094

Layoff notices up 43%>> July US Job Cuts Up 43% From June DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -- The deterioration in the labor market continued in July, but a recovery in capital spending may eventually spur job growth, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas reported Tuesday. The firm counted 85,117 planned job cuts in July, 43% higher than the 59,715 cuts reported in June. Job cuts announced by U.S. corporations from the start of the year through July totaled 715,649, down 12% from the 814,493 reported during the same seven-month period last year. "If there is significant capital spending to compel to start hiring again" the job market could turn around by the end of the year, said John Challenger, CEO of the firm. "Employers have all the cards," he said. The consumer-products sector posted the highest number of job-cut announcements in July, with 15,665, followed by transportation, with 9,820, and government and non-profits, with 9,369. The report is an anecdotal, non-statistical tally of job-cut announcements that are reported in major media outlets. The report focuses only on job-cut announcements, not actual layoffs , and it doesn't take into account new hires or internal transfers at companies that have announced layoffs . Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement firm, tracks layoff announcements and releases its Challenger Employment report monthly. __________________________ Is it different this time?

To: James Strauss who wrote (12630)	8/7/2003 10:19:38 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 13094

Seems that service sector job growth means little>> Chicago-area wages rose 4.6 percent last year, far outstripping the national average, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But not everyone fared equally. The winners were white- and blue-collar employees who escaped layoffs. Their average income jumped about 5.5 percent, according to the data, part of the bureau's annual National Compensation Survey. By contrast, service-sector workers, who constitute the largest and fastest-growing segment of the job market, saw their wages stagnate. "It's frustrating," said Randy Smith, who has earned $5.15 an hour for the last three years as a temporary employee. "You look at these people with permanent jobs and they're working, and they're talking about the cost of living went up and [they] got a raise. Me, I'm broke at the end of every month." Service-sector workers--defined as non-professionals who work in such areas as food service, health care and cleaning--suffered the most because they often lack bargaining power in the workplace, economist Jared Bernstein said. "White-collar workers typically are protected because of their skills. And blue-collar work is pretty unionized," said Bernstein, who works at the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute. "But service-sector workers have very little protection. They're less insulated from market swings, unlike the union folks who are covered by contracts." More so than in other sectors, service-sector employees are non-union and work part time. They also constitute the largest segment of the workforce, and fastest-growing. In 2001, the most recent year for which figures are available, 46 percent of employees worked in the service sector, compared with 29 percent in white-collar occupations and 25 percent in blue-collar jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That growth in the number of jobs has yet to spur an equivalent boost in wages. The average service-sector employee earned $12.21 an hour in Chicago last year, compared with $25.42 for white-collar and $16.93 for blue-collar employees. Economists warn that stagnating wages in service employment will hamper an economic turnaround. "This is our largest sector, and if there's no growth it's going to be pretty hard to build a recovery," Bernstein said. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report was also remarkable for the differences it found among Chicago-area wage growth and the national average. In the country as a whole, wage expansion barely outpaced inflation at 2.6 percent. In the Chicago region, which stretches from Gary to Kenosha, it jumped 4.1 percent. Paul LaPorte, an economist at the bureau, said that's because financial services--so strong in Chicago--boomed last year along with the flood of homeowners who took advantage of low interest rates to refinance their homes. "Over the year we did see a big increase in the finance, insurance and real estate industries," he said. "And the pay for workers in those industries went up." At the same time, the growth in wages doesn't account for the roughly 1 million jobs shed since the recession ended in November 2001. Those remaining likely had more seniority and commanded better pay, LaPorte said. Bernstein said manufacturing wages, in particular, remained strong because so many workers--71,000 in July alone--have been shed from payrolls. "Those who have stayed are producing at a high rate," he said. Nationally, forecasters predict that wages will climb at only a modest pace in the coming year.

To: James Strauss who wrote (12630)	8/7/2003 4:48:59 PM
From: James Strauss	Respond to of 13094

SPX Continues With Negative Technicals... *********************************************** bigcharts.marketwatch.com 10 Day MA is below the 20 day MA... Parabolic SAR is negative... MACD is negative... ADX is beginning to confirm Negative trend by rising after negative DMI crosses over positive DMI... The oils and oil services look good... Precious metals look ready for another pop... Rydex Arktos and Ursa look good for a short term trade... Rydex Juno looks ready for another move upward as the inevitable rise in interest rates continues... Jim