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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: drmorgan who wrote (10154)	12/4/1997 1:16:00 PM
From: Moonray	Respond to of 22053

WASHINGTON (AP) -- America's workforce registered the best productivity gain in nearly five years over the summer and early fall, laying the groundwork for a rising standard of living. Non-farm business productivity -- output per hour worked -- grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.1 percent in the third quarter, the Labor Department said today. That was revised down from an estimate of 4.5 percent last month. Still, it was the largest gain since the final three months of 1992. Productivity increased a healthy 2.4 percent in the second quarter and a more moderate 1.4 percent in the first. Analysts say such robust productivity is unusual so late in an economic expansion. It's been more than six years since the end of the 1990-91 recession. Improving productivity is part of the explanation for why economic growth has been so strong and simultaneously inflation has sunk to a three-decade low in 1997. Fast productivity growth means corporations can hold the line on prices while earning increased profits and paying higher wages. Separately, the Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell by 3,000 last week to the lowest level in five weeks. It was fresh evidence of a tight labor supply. New applications totaled a seasonally adjusted 303,000, down from 306,000 a week earlier. It was the lowest since 299,000 during the week ended Oct. 25. The four-week average of new weekly jobless claims also fell, down 3,250 to 314,000, lowest since the period ended Nov. 8. In the productivity report, the department said labor costs per unit of output -- a key ingredient in price pressures -- fell 0.2 percent at an annual rate after rising at a 0.9 percent rate in the second. Rapid productivity increases -- of nearly 3 percent a year -- supported the post-World War II economic boom from 1947 through 1973. But, in the 1990s, productivity has averaged only about 1.2 percent a year. But many analysts believe the economy finally is beginning to reap rewards from rapid advances in computers and other technology. The latest productivity gain was led by a 9.3 percent increase in manufacturing, the best in 15 years. o~~~ O