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

Archived articles from The Editor's Desk—
Chronological listing

November 2009

• Nonfarm business labor productivity up 9.5 percent in third quarter 2009 (11/06/09)
• Small increases in compensation costs in September 2009 (11/05/09)
• Illnesses and injuries among State and local government workers in 2008 (11/04/09)
• Declines in occupational illnesses and injuries in 2008 (11/03/09)
• Stand-alone dental and vision plans: employee access and participation by establishment size (11/02/09)

October 2009

• Metropolitan area employment: September 2008–09 (10/30/09)

• Unemployment in large metropolitan areas, September 2009 (10/29/09)
• Mass layoffs in September 2009 (10/28/09)
• International manufacturing productivity, 2008 (10/27/09)
• State unemployment rates in September 2009 (10/26/09)
• Pay off debt, spend, or save? The 2008 Economic Stimulus Payments (10/23/09)

• PPI in September 2009 (10/22/09)
• Earnings by age and sex, third quarter of 2009 (10/21/09)
• Average weekly wages: first quarter 2008-09 (10/20/09)
• Change in real weekly earnings, September 2009 (10/19/09)
• CPI in September 2009 (10/16/09)

• Import prices increase in September 2009 (10/15/09)
• Women's earnings as a percentage of men's, 2008 (10/14/09)
• Job opening, hires, and total separations rates in August 2009 (10/13/09)
• Labor force participation of women and mothers, 2008 (10/09/09)
• Consumer expenditures in 2008 (10/08/09)

• Demographics of New York City health care employment (10/07/09)
• Unemployment in September 2009 (10/06/09)
• Payroll employment in September 2009 (10/05/09)
• Metropolitan area employment, August 2009 (10/02/09)
• Metropolitan area over-the-year unemployment rate increases, August 2009 (10/01/09)

September 2009

• Health care benefits access and participation rates, March 2009 (09/30/09)

• Employee access to medical care benefits in metropolitan areas, December 2008 (09/29/09)
• Employer costs for employee compensation in metropolitan areas, March 2009 (09/28/09)
• Paid vacation benefits, March 2009 (09/25/09)
• Mass layoff initial claims, August 2009 (09/24/09)
• Retirement benefits access and participation rates, March 2009 (09/23/09)

• State employment changes, August 2008–August 2009 (09/22/09)
• Geography of unemployment, August 2009 (09/21/09)
• Change in real average hourly earnings, August 2009 (09/18/09)
• CPI increases in August (09/17/09)
• PPI in August 2009 (09/16/09)

• Careers in auto racing (09/15/09)
• Export prices increase in August 2009 (09/14/09)
• Wages and benefits by occupational group, June 2009 (09/11/09)
• Job openings rates, by industry, July 2008 and July 2009 (09/10/09)
• Payroll employment in August 2009 (09/09/09)

• High-tech employment in Silicon Valley, 2001 and 2008 (09/08/09)
• Unemployment rate demographics, August 2009 (09/04/09)
• Second quarter 2009 productivity growth revised (09/03/09)
• Metropolitan area unemployment: July 2008–09 (09/02/09)
• Productivity and costs by selected industries in 2008 (09/01/09)

August 2009

• Frozen Defined Benefit Pension Plans in March 2008 (08/31/09)

• Youth unemployment and employment in July 2009 (08/28/09)
• Types of fatal occupational injuries in 2008 (08/27/09)
• Payroll employment by State in July (08/26/09)
• Mass layoff events and initial claims decrease in July (08/25/09)
• Fatal work injuries in 2008 (08/24/09)

• Gross job gains and losses in the fourth quarter of 2008 (08/21/09)
• Producer prices in July 2009 (08/20/09)
• Change in real average weekly earnings, July 2009 (08/19/09)
• CPI unchanged in July 2009 (08/18/09)
• Import prices turn down in July 2009 (08/17/09)

• Hires rate at low point in June 2009 (08/14/09)
• Extended mass layoffs in the second quarter of 2009 (08/13/09)
• Productivity gains in the second quarter of 2009 (08/12/09)
• Employment changes by industry in July 2009 (08/11/09)
• Unemployment rates of men and women in July 2009 (08/10/09)

• Women and men in management, professional, and related occupations, 2008 (08/07/09)
• Hours spent doing unpaid household work by age and sex, 2003–07 (08/06/09)
• Gasoline prices reduced PPI for finished energy goods in 2008 (08/05/09)
• International comparison of youth unemployment rates in recent decades (08/04/09)
• 12-month private industry compensation costs increase in June: 1.5 percent (08/03/09)

July 2009

• Women's-to-men's earnings ratio, 1979-2008 (07/31/09)
• Large metropolitan areas and unemployment in June 2009 (07/30/09)

• Access to medical care benefits: private industry vs. State and local government (07/29/09)
• Comparisons of full- and part-time hourly earnings, 2007 (07/28/09)
• Comparisons of pay between metropolitan areas in 2008 (07/27/09)
• Mass Layoffs in June 2009 (07/24/09)
• Average weekly wages among large counties, fourth quarter 2008 (07/23/09)

• Employment changes in the largest counties, December 2008 (07/22/09)
• State unemployment rates: June 2009 (07/21/09)
• Change in real average weekly earnings, June 2009 (07/20/09)
• Education and usual weekly earnings for women and men, second quarter 2009 (07/17/09)
• CPI up in June 2009 (07/16/09)

• Producer prices in June 2009 (07/15/09)
• Export prices in June 2009 (07/14/09)
• Import prices up in June 2009 (07/13/09)
• Changes in nonfarm business productivity, 1947-2008 (07/10/09)
• Seven months without any major work stoppages (07/09/09)

• Hires rate continues to decline (07/08/09)
• Payroll employment in June 2009 (07/07/09)
• Unemployment and demographics in June 2009 (07/06/09)
• Metro areas with lowest unemployment rates in May 2009 (07/02/09)
• Metro areas with highest unemployment rates in May 2009 (07/01/09)

June 2009

• BLS Internet site usage over the years (06/30/09)
• Time spent in household activities, 2008 (06/29/09)

• Putting numbers to work for 125 years (06/26/09)
• Average hours that men and women worked in 2008 (06/25/09)
• Mass layoff actions reach peak again in May 2009 (06/24/09)
• Working at home, 2003-2007 (06/23/09)
• States with the largest increases in unemployment rates, May 2008-May 2009 (06/22/09)

• Change in real average weekly earnings, April 2009-May 2009 (06/19/09)
• Consumer prices in May 2009 (06/18/09)
• PPI in May 2009 (06/17/09)
• Export prices in May 2009 (06/16/09)
• Import prices in May 2009 (06/15/09)

• Compensation costs per hour, March 2009 (06/12/09)
• Health benefit costs in private industry, March 2009 (06/11/09)
• Number of job openings at new low in April (06/10/09)
• Unemployment rate in May 2009 (06/09/09)
• Payroll employment in May 2009 (06/08/09)

• First quarter 2009 productivity growth revised upward (06/05/09)
• Metro areas with largest over-the-year percentage declines in employment, April 2009 (06/04/09)
• Annual business employment dynamics statistics (06/03/09)
• Job openings, hires, and separations in 2008 (06/02/09)
• Beyond basic benefits (06/01/09)

May 2009

• Labor force participation of mothers with infants in 2008 (05/29/09)
• Employment and married-couple families in 2008 (05/28/09)
• States with the highest unemployment rates, April 2009 (05/27/09)
• Mass layoff events and initial claims decrease in April (05/26/09)
• Productivity growth in selected service-providing industries, 2007 (05/22/09)

• Decline in mining productivity (05/21/09)
• Gross job gains and losses in the third quarter of 2008 (05/20/09)
• Change in real average weekly earnings, March 2009-April 2009 (05/19/09)
• CPI in April 2009 (05/18/09)
• PPI in April 2009 (05/15/09)

• Import prices up again in April 2009 (05/14/09)
• Number of job openings at new low (05/13/09)
• Unemployment in April 2009 (05/12/09)
• Payroll employment in April 2009 (05/11/09)
• Productivity in first quarter 2009 (05/08/09)

• Multifactor productivity in private business, 2008 (05/07/09)
• Flows into and out of employment in recent recessions (05/06/09)
• Employment concentration: welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers (05/05/09)
• Wages of workers in largest occupations, May 2008 (05/04/09)
• Compensation costs in private industry up 1.9 percent from March 2008 to March 2009 (05/01/09)

April 2009

• Metro areas with highest unemployment rates in March (04/30/09)
• 2008 high school grads and college enrollment (04/29/09)

• Which workers spend the most time working at home? (04/28/09)
• Housing expenditures in 2007 (04/27/09)
• Mass layoffs reach high in March 2009 (04/24/09)
• Wellness programs (04/23/09)
• Forensic science technicians (04/22/09)

• A career as an executive chef (04/21/09)
• Unemployment rates higher in all 50 states in March 2009 than a year ago (04/20/09)
• Weekly earnings in first quarter 2009 by demographics (04/17/09)
• Consumer prices down in March 2009 (04/16/09)
• Producer prices in March 2009 (04/15/09)

• Job losses in temporary help services (04/14/09)
• Export prices down in March 2009 (04/13/09)
• Import prices up in March 2009 (04/10/09)
• Fastest decline in employment by county, September 2007-2008 (04/09/09)
• Hires rate in February 2009 (04/08/09)

• Payroll employment in March 2009 (04/07/09)
• Unemployment rate in March 2009 (04/06/09)
• Foreign-born labor force and educational attainment in 2008 (04/03/09)
• Bonuses as percentage of cash compensation (04/02/09)
• Education levels and unemployment at end of 2008 (04/01/09)

March 2009

• Foreign-born workers by region, 2008 (03/31/09)
• Manufacturing compensation costs in foreign countries and U.S., 2007 (03/30/09)

• Unemployment and foreign-born workers, 2008 (03/27/09)
• Multifactor productivity in nonfarm business, 2007 (03/26/09)
• Labor force participation in 2008 of veterans of World War II, Korean War, or Vietnam era (03/25/09)
• Mass layoffs by region, February 2009 (03/24/09)
• Unemployment and veterans who served since September 2001 (03/23/09)

• Change in real average weekly earnings, January 2009-February 2009 (03/20/09)
• CPI in February 2009 (03/19/09)
• PPI in February 2009 (03/18/09)
• Export prices in February 2009 (03/17/09)
• Import prices in February 2009 (03/16/09)

• Employer costs and paid leave, December 2008 (03/13/09)
• Employee-contribution-only retirement plans and State and local government workers (03/12/09)
• Job openings rate in January 2009 (03/11/09)
• Unemployment and demographics in February 2009 (03/10/09)
• Payroll employment in February 2009 (03/09/09)

• Productivity growth in fourth quarter 2008 revised downward (03/06/09)
• Leisure and illness leave (03/05/09)
• Korea and Taiwan had largest manufacturing productivity gains in 2007 (03/04/09)
• 2007-08 changes in State unemployment rates (03/03/09)
• Highest State unemployment rates in 2008 (03/02/09)

February 2009

• Export prices in January 2009 (02/27/09)
• Mass layoffs by industry in January 2009 (02/26/09)
• Gross job gains and losses: second quarter 2008 (02/25/09)
• Real average weekly earnings in January 2009 (02/24/09)

• CPI in January 2009 (02/23/09)
• Producer price index up in January 2009 (02/20/09)
• Petroleum import prices fell 55 percent in past 12 months (02/19/09)
• Extended mass layoffs in 2008 (02/18/09)
• Extended mass layoffs reach high in fourth quarter 2008 (02/17/09)

• Concentration of employment in higher education in metropolitan areas (02/13/09)
• Work stoppages in 2008 (02/12/09)
• Quits as a percentage of separations, December 2008 (02/11/09)
• Increase in unemployment rate in January 2009 (02/10/09)
• Payrolls in January 2009 (02/09/09)

• Productivity, output, and hours in 2008 (02/06/09)
• Wages in healthcare practitioner and technical occupations (02/05/09)
• Employment of 20- and 21-year-olds not enrolled in school (02/04/09)
• Union membership by state, 2008 (02/03/09)
• Compensation costs in private industry up 2.4 percent in 2008 (02/02/09)

January 2009

• Union membership in 2008 (01/30/09)
• Mass layoffs in 2008 (01/29/09)
• Unemployment rates by state in December 2008 (01/28/09)
• School status at age 21 (01/27/09)

• Most frequent volunteer activities: fundraising, tutoring, teaching (01/26/09)
• Earnings and education, fourth quarter 2008 (01/23/09)
• Counties with highest wage growth, second quarter 2008 (01/22/09)
• CPI in December 2008 (01/21/09)
• PPI falls again in December 2008 (01/16/09)

• Import prices in December 2008 (01/15/09)
• Job openings, hires, and total separations rates in November 2008 (01/14/09)
• Unemployment in December 2008 (01/13/09)
• Payroll employment in December 2008 (01/12/09)
• Wives earning more than their husbands, 1987-2006 (01/09/09)

• Labor force participation rate of mothers, 1975-2007 (01/08/09)
• Women and employment by industry (01/07/09)
• Involuntary part-time work (01/06/09)
• Changes in health care spending patterns of older Americans (01/05/09)
• Activities of high school students by age (01/02/09)