The Division continued its participation in the field of international technical cooperation by planning and conducting training and study programs for teams and individual participants visiting the Bureau to study U.S. labor statistics and labor economics. One hundred forty-three teams, 174 short-term visitors, and 32 individual participants were programed during the year. Consultation in the statistical field for foreign governments requesting technical assistance continued through correspondence with foreign governments and research agencies. The Division provided technical advice to various international organizations on a variety of statistical problems and continued to assemble in chronological order the various international resolutions relating to labor statistics. A staff member attended the meeting of the International Statistical Association in Argentina. The Division continued its regular publication program consisting of Short articles for the "Monthly Labor Review." Studies of selected countries for its "Foreign Labor Information" bulletins and for its "Summary of the Labor Situation" series. "Labor Developments Abroad," a monthly periodical which contains brief factual reports, wage data, and bibliographical material. The format of "Labor Developments Abroad" was improved; contents were shortened and tailored better to meet the needs of users. A sixth edition of "Economic Forces" was started. This publication originated with the International Cooperation Administration, and is designed to brief foreign participants on the economy of the United States. Bureauwide Activities The Office of Labor Economics continued to provide analyses of current economic developments and of special problems which are not specifically related to the functions of the various subject matter divisions of the Bureau. Weekly reports on current economic developments were transmitted to the Secretary, the Under Secretary, Department and Bureau personnel, and other governmental officials. Special reports were prepared for the Secretary's Office on the economic well-being of American consumers, nonlabor elements of the Consumer Price Index, and problems of inflation. The Office also provided assistance to the Department in the preparation of material for the Council of Economic Advisers and the Cabinet Committee on Price Stability. Materials were also provided by this Office for the Bureau's testimony before the Joint Economic Committee on the Economic Report of the President. The Office of Labor Economics participated in meetings of the Departmental Trade Agreements Committee and subcommittees which deal with specific products or items involved in tariff negotiations. The Interdepartmental Committee reports directly to the President concerning matters on foreign trade. Among other topics on which special reports were prepared are— Imports of pajamas from Hong Kong. Escalation clauses in Government procurement. Tuna imports. A number of special projects were handled by this Office. These included— Wage policies in selected European countries, emphasizing factors which made wage restraint possible. A review of Federal Government responsibilities to the consumer. Opportunity for nonagricultural employment of migratory workers along the Atlantic seaboard. Material for the Arden House Conference on Western Germany's Wage and Economic Policy in the Post World War II Period. Economic situation of Negroes in the United States. During the year, this Office answered many inquiries directed to the President, the Secretary of Labor, or the Bureau concerning, first, the economic recession, and, later in the year, the problems of inflation. The Bureau's Office of Statistical Standards provided advice and assistance on many technical problems of a divisional, bureau, or departmental nature. Because of the importance, complexity, and large amount of work involved in introducing the revised "Standard Industrial Classification Manual" into governmental series, the Office paid particular attention to the development of plans for the introduction of the new classification system into the Bureau's series. A set of conversion charts was prepared to enhance uniform application throughout the Bureau and Department. The Office collaborated with the staffs of the operating divisions in training technicians and in developing plans for introducing a medium-size electronic computer into the Bureau's survey-processing procedures. The Office made arrangements for representatives from other governmental agencies to address the Bureau's statistical officers' staff on the latest statistical technical developments in their organizations. The Business Research Advisory Council, organized in 1947, continues to function in an advisory capacity. Members are appointed by the Commissioner for a 1-year term, after nominations have been made by the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The members serve in their individual capacities, not as representatives of their companies or organizations. The council was composed of 40 technicians in the fields in which the Bureau operates, and represented a cross section of the various types of industrial establishments. The council met with the staff of the Bureau three times during fiscal 1959: October 10, 1958, and February 4 and May 5, 1959. Committees were active in the fields of construction statistics, foreign labor conditions, manpower and employment statistics, consumer and wholesale prices, productivity and technological developments, wages and industrial relations, and work-injury statistics. Council members serve on the various committees. In addition to the council members, there were 50 other persons serving on the committees, making a total of 90 individuals participating in the activities of the council and its committees. Appointments to the committees are made outside the membership of the council, when persons with particular skills or knowledge are needed. The Labor Research Advisory Council, now in its 12th year, continued to provide advice on the numerous basic technical problems which arise in the Bureau's activities, and to insure understanding and widespread use of the Bureau's statistical series and analytical reports. The council consists of 12 members nominated by the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. All research directors of international unions represented in the AFL-CIO, Railway Labor Executives' Association, and the railroad operating unions are invited to attend the general meetings of the council. The council functions through its general meetings, its standing committees, ad hoc committees, and interim meetings with the council chairman and the Commissioner. Council meetings are generally reserved for broad policy and technical items, for statements on program development, and for reports of the activities of its committees. Much of the detailed work of the council is performed through its five committees: Consumer and Wholesale Prices, Foreign Labor Conditions, Manpower and Employment Statistics, Productivity and Technological Developments, and Wages and Industrial Relations. The council held one meeting during the fiscal year on March 16, 1959. There were eight committee meetings. Outstanding achievements by the Office of Publications included the production of the west coast issue of the "Monthly Labor Review," which was exceptionally well received by the public, with 3,000 extra copies sold. The Monthly Labor Review's annual paid subscriptions as of the end of the fiscal year were in excess of 7,600 copies. Total single copy sales for the fiscal year were approximately 5,400. The Office also provided the substantive editing and rewriting for the entire departmental yearbook, "How American Buying Habits Change." The Office handled the publication problems attending the transfer of the Monthly Report on the Labor Force to the Department and the establishment of the new publication of that title. The Office planned and put into effect a complete revision of the statistical section of the Monthly Labor Review and prepared plans for the issuance of an annual supplement volume to be published at the end of each calendar year containing statistical details no longer carried in each monthly issue of the Review. Public interest in information on employment, wages, and prices resulted in increases in the volume of requests reaching regional offices. Requests in fiscal 1959 exceeded those for fiscal 1958 by about 22,000. During the latter half of the fiscal year, individual requests to field offices averaged nearly 14,000 per month, the highest level ever experienced by the Bureau's regional offices. Acting in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Labor and the University of Tennessee, the Bureau organized the 17th Interstate Conference on Labor Statistics held in Knoxville, Tenn., from July 7 to July 10, 1959. Conference sessions are scheduled to deal with such topics as rising costs and government functions, developing State statistical programs, living cost statistics in 1960, and injury statistics. The Bureau also participated broadly in all phases of planning for the manpower management aspects of Operation Alert 1959. This work included the development of labor force estimates by OCDM regions, and, in the same categories, estimates of labor force survivors and non-labor-force survivors by sex and age group. Further, the Bureau took full responsibility for obtaining from claimant Federal agencies estimates of manpower required by them to carry out their assigned tasks under the exercise assumptions. These requirements data were obtained in final form from 8 of the 10 major resource areas. In the case of the production area, the Commerce Department furnished sufficient assumptions from which the Bureau developed manpower requirements estimates, and in the case of the military area, manpower estimates were simulated by the Bureau in deference to the Defense Department's need for security restrictions. These manpower supply and demand data, complete with explanations for their use, were sent by the Bureau to the field. Bureau personnel assigned to each of the eight OCDM regions processed these data along with other departmental field staff. Under the auspices and with the help of the regional OMA, Bureau field representatives proceeded over a 2-month period to work with field representatives of the delegated claimant agencies and the OCDM in their respective regions on the manpower supply-demand analysis problem. The considerable volume of work thus prepared was to become one of the major facets of the regional phase of the exercise. |