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No new increase (Thursday, 6/29/00)
The Federal Reserve has left interest rates where they have been for a while, but many economists expect additional increases before the end of the year. George Hager of USA Today says that experts expect interest rates to reach 7 percent before the dawn of 2001. A convincing reason might be the final government report on the American economy during the first quarter, which shows continued growth, but also stronger price inflation than expected.

L.A. traffic snarled by home-care workers (Thursday, 6/29/00)
A tight labor market has been encouraging workers who used to be fairly meek and poorly paid to assert themselves to a greater extent. There have been recent gains by janitors, hotel and restaurant workers, and others. Now, Johnathon Briggs reports for the Los Angeles Times that government-paid home-care workers have organized and staged a protest over pay and health insurance.

More workplace violence (Thursday, 6/29/00)
This time, two have died at the University of Washington Medical Center where one doctor has killed another and himself.

Hotel workers approve new five-year contract (Thursday, 6/29/00)
The strike of hotel and restaurant workers in the Twin Cities has ended with the ratification of a new contract. Here's more from Terry Fiedler of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Dominic Papatola of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes about another labor dispute in the Twin Cities, in this case at the renowned Guthrie Theater.

Workforce report will call for workforce education (Thursday, 6/29/00)
A report from the 21st Century Workforce Commission is expected this week, and will call for adult learning and early-childhood education initiatives, among other things, to deal with high-technology workers shortages.

The economic consequences of human rights (Thursday, 6/29/00)
A new report from the United Nations says that civil and political rights are an essential ingredient for economic development. Evelyn Leopold has details.

No dot.comedy for more than 5,000 people (Thursday, 6/29/00)
Internet companies have cut about 5,400 jobs since December, indicating a change of climate for Internet businesses.

Insecurity as an attribute of the new economy (Thursday, 6/29/00)
Kansas City Star columnist Diane Stafford says there are no guarantees, particularly in an economy characterized by turbulence and change.

New summertime career reading (Thursday, 6/29/00)
Columnist Amy Lindgren has some interesting book suggestions for your summer reading.

Interns not just gofers now (Thursday, 6/29/00)
A tight labor market is working to the advantage of interns who are far more likely to be able to have things their way than previously. Rachel Konrad has details from CNET News.

Your boss my be reading your mail (Thursday, 6/29/00)
Email, that is, and it does not offer the privacy of a First Class conventional letter. Moreover, email on the job isn't your own to use as you like. A growing number of employers are not only monitoring the web sites that their workers are visiting, but are also getting very concerned about email that may not be to your boss' taste and may also make company lawyers nervous. Your employer may be legally liable for your choices in some cases.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: CollegeDegree.com (Thursday, 6/29/00)
If you're looking for distance learning courses or degree programs, you may find exactly what you want on CollegeDegree.com, although we don't know if it's a complete list or not, given the rapid changes that are occurring. Also, this site will help you locate colleges in your area that do not offer distance learning programs.

Breakthrough in hotel-restaurant worker strike (Wednesday, 6/28/00)
A tentative agreement has been reached that may end the strike of hotel-restaurant workers in the Twin Cities. Among those who will be pleased are the 50,000 delegates to the big Alcoholics Anonymous convention that it beginning in Minneapolis.

You WILL get a job (Wednesday, 6/28/00)
It's both a threat and a promise. The Australian government is telling the unemployed that there will be plenty of employment opportunities in Sydney during the Olympics, so there won't be any excuse for being unemployed.

Bush has plans for helping persons with disabilities get to work (Wednesday, 6/28/00)
Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush wants to spend $145 million over a five-year period to provide transportation for workers with disabilities if he becomes president.

How the new economy's doing in Asia (Wednesday, 6/28/00)
Business Week offers a report on 50 leaders of Asia's exploding Internet economy.

France revs up (Wednesday, 6/28/00)
The French economy is beginning to surge, much to the astonishment of many experts, particularly in the United States, who haven't approved of the way the French have been going about it. Interestingly, as additional evidence that we really don't understand the new economy very well, many Asian economies, which were hit by the "Asian contagion" about three years ago, are recovering nicely, even though some have been doing very different, even contradictory things to bring it about. Nearly anything seems to be working.

Can the U.S. economy tolerate faster growth? (Wednesday, 6/28/00)
Alan Greenspan sometimes appears to be phobic about inflation, but it's important to keep in mind that he hasn't been known for being unrealistic or ignorant of economics. Still, how new is the new economy, really? There is a body of responsible opinion that is asserting that the American economy might be safe at higher speeds now. Here's an opinion piece from the current edition of Business Week. Incidentally, the Fed is expected to leave interest rates where they are for the time-being.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Joint BIS-IMF-OECD-World Bank statistics on external debt (Wednesday, 6/28/00)
If you want to see the latest on the external debt of developing nations, here are the latest quarterly statistics from the World Bank.

China trade agreement may not be a done deal after all (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
Anne Kornblut of the Boston Globe reports that, even though it's been more than a month since the House of Representatives approved the trade agreement with China, progress toward approval has slowed in the Senate, and it's making many business people nervous.

Violence in Paraguay (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
Hundreds of workers strike to protest government privatization plans. At least 20 persons have been injured in a violent outbreak. Here's more from Pedro Servin from Asuncion.

The impact of globalization on Mideast peace (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
The Daily Star from Lebanon examines globalization and what it means for peace throughout a volatile region of the world.

Australian union advocates a 48-hour work week (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
The ACTU is breaking with the past by suggesting that the maximum work week be changed in order to make it more in line with current realities. The work week is presently 38 hours, but many people are working more, either for paid or unpaid overtime.

Safire says we must re-think the standard retirement age in the United States (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
The noted columnist and former presidential speech writer says the key to Saving the Social Security system lies in deciding the age at which people will be eligible for benefits.

Automating part of the hiring process (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
If you're applying for a job, you may be asked to interview with a computer rather than with a real live human being. Columnist Diane Stafford explains why.

Boeing plans to shift work from California plant to Colorado and Alabama (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
Chris Stetkiewicz reports from Seattle that 900 jobs will be cut from Boeing's plant in Huntington Beach.

Austin's public sector can't keep up (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
Austin, Texas is one of the world's leading hi-tech centers outside Silicon Valley. Austin is also home of one of the world's great universities, as well as capital of one of America's most economically significant states. All this is to say that a lot of people in Austin work in public sector jobs. The shortage of technical people and the high rate of pay in the private sector technology sector is putting the squeeze on the public sector, which is having difficulty competing for workers. Here's more from the Austin American-Statesman.

Don't use unemployment dollars for paid parental leave, says the Chamber (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
The United States Chamber of Commerce wants the repeal of new regulations that enable states to use their unemployment compensation funds to support paid parental leave, has filed suite to prevent it. It jeopardizes a program intended to help the unemployed, they say, and, sooner or later, there will be a lot of them who will need help again.

Hey, stop that! You're too expensive to spend time on personal things (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
If you have high-demand skills, an employer may be willing to provide you with the services of a concierge in order to obtain your services, according to Claire Furia Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Intern in Asia (Tuesday, 6/27/00)
If you're a student or a recent graduate, you may be able to do a 6-12 month internship with a corporation in Asia. Intern in Asia requires competency in the local language, however.

The rich part of the world is trying to have it both ways when it comes to illegal workers (Monday, 6/26/00)
Illegal immigrants are, after all, illegal. However, people from poor countries who cross into rich countries in an effort to find economic opportunity and security are getting very mixed messages from their host countries. Paul Montgomery reports from Lausanne, Switzerland on the schizy attitude toward undocumented workers that seems to predominate across much of the developed world.

Israeli doctors' strike continues, but most aren't participating, according to the Finance Ministry (Monday, 6/26/00)
Government officials in Israel say that the doctors' strike that has been going on for more than three months hasn't been as broadly-based as many have assumed. Here's more from Haim Shadmi of Ha'aretz.

Hotel workers' strike spreads (Monday, 6/26/00)
Hotel and restaurant workers at a sixth Twin Cities hotel have joined the strike. Minneapolis' mayor has been trying to get the sides together, but a 13-hour session on Saturday didn't produce encouraging results. Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton says talks will resume today. Meanwhile, Doug Grow writes about the "new Minnesota," and, for the most part, a new America. Take a look at the striking workers and you will see a new American melting pot, he says. These are people who have come together from very different points of origin. Approximately one-tenth of the persons living in the United States now were born someplace else, which is about the same as it was following that other great period of immigration extending from the 1880s until the 1920s.

However, the result this time is that the American population is coming to more accurately reflect the reality of humanity as it is and always has been, making it more difficult for Caucasian racists to maintain the fiction that blue eyes and brown hair are essential elements of the definition of a human being. Incidentally, the official announcement of the "rough draft" mapping of the human genome this week is a good time to reiterate what we now know, or should know, that our ancestors did not know. "Race" is not a viable biological concept. Instead, it is a social construct, which is to say that "racial" categories are things that people have simply gotten together and made up. When you look at a person's DNA, you can't tell what "race" he or she is.

To put it into statistical terms, biological variance within "racial" categories is as great as variance across these categories, which is to say that they are not real biological categories. Humanity has had it all wrong for centuries, as wrong as it could possibly be, and the consequences for multitudes of people have been devastating. The only alternative to systematically verifiable knowledge is ignorance, and ignorance has had a very, very bad record throughout the history of civilization and probably before. The bottom-line is that people are people. We're all made out of the same stuff.

For those who haven't read quite enough about technology this week (Monday, 6/26/00)
Today's Wall Street Journal has a special section on technology in today's edition. Many articles, and, as usual, all worth reading.

Many passengers may be left hanging over Paris (Monday, 6/26/00)
If French air traffic controllers strike, it won't be pretty and is likely to result in not quite enough fun for travelers. Stay tuned.

The difficulties inherent in trying to influence WTO policy if you're a poor nation (Monday, 6/26/00)
The world's big have vs. have not gap is reflected among the World Trade Organization delegates and the kinds of obstacles they face.

A productive way high school students might spend part of their summer (Monday, 6/26/00)
Mark Schwanhausser says that Benjamin Kaplan has some advice for people who are only a bit younger than he. Spend some time locating scholarships this summer, and you may be able to change your entire economic future. The difference can make a very great difference. Mr. Kaplan managed to graduate from Harvard without a mountain of student debt, while many other college grads face decades of paying off student loans. Many are likely to be kept out of the housing market because their student loan payment may be about as large as a house payment would otherwise be and may last about as long.

Many job-changers shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to their 401(k) plans (Monday, 6/26/00)
Neil Downing of the Providence Journal writes about the self-defeating behavior of many people who change jobs who never experience the full benefit of their 401(k)s, through every fault of their own. Maybe it's because some of these people are reconsidering the idea of retirement. James Challenger of the New York Times says that the change in the law which enables people over 65 to collect full Social Security benefits while working as much as they like is changing a lot of older people's plans.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Productivity Institute (Monday, 6/26/00)
Professor and consultant Donald Wetmore has been helping people make more efficient use of their time for nearly two decades. Here's information about his time management and personal productivity seminars from the Productivity Institute.

German workers will benefit from Airbus' new "cruise ship of the air" (Sunday, 6/25/00)
The construction of the new Airbus' A3XX will result in the creation of 40,000 jobs in Germany, according to a major German newspaper.

Newspaper strike ends in Israel (Sunday, 6/25/00)
Workers at Yedioth Ahronoth have objected to implications for them of the use of new technologies, and this led to a shutdown of operations. Haim Bior of Ha'aretz reports that an agreement has been reached and that papers will soon be on the streets as usual.

Agreement at Con Ed (Sunday, 6/25/00)
A strike that would have affected 3.3 million New York City customers has been averted. Consolidated Edison has reached a tentative agreement with its largest union. The deal came at 4 AM.

It's time to get serious about long-term care, paper says (Sunday, 6/25/00)
The editorial writers at the Minneapolis Star Tribune why it's difficult to get political leaders to put long-term care near the top of their agendas. The fact that it's called "long-term" may be deceiving, they say. If we keep putting it off, we will suddenly be faced with a huge elderly population for which we have not prepared.

Day laborers become more militant (Sunday, 6/25/00)
People who sign on to work for a single day at a time haven't benefited much from the strong American economy, except that a broadly-based labor shortage can strengthen their positions and make them potentially more influential. Kate Grossman reports on the touch lives of day laborers in America. David Phelps of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that many people who have worked at the bottom of status and pay scales have gained more leverage because of labor shortages. He writes from Minneapolis and has the current hotel-restaurant workers' strike in mind, but recent contracts obtained by janitors in Chicago and Los Angeles are also examples.

Coping with monotony (Sunday, 6/25/00)
Boring jobs aren't new. A lot of them were created with the invention of the assembly-line approach to manufacturing when the worker was made part of the machinery, doing the same simple thing over and over. Tedious jobs are part of the new economy too. Here's more from Terry Lee Goodrich on how workers cope with bone-crunching monotony on the job.

Some perspective on the new industrial revolution (Sunday, 6/25/00)
Toronto Star columnist David Crane has some thoughts on what really does appear to be one of history's periods of transformation, and we're in it right now.

What to do if you're perceived as an unproductive old geezer when you're not (Sunday, 6/25/00)
Quite a lot of people once had to cope with stereotypical thinking when they were young. Now that they're somewhat closer to the end than the beginning, many are finding that others commonly can't see behind their wrinkles or gray hair. Geoffrey Brewer examines the stereotypes underlying the urge to discriminate against older workers. Nationally syndicated columnist Carol Kleiman offers a somewhat different example of people who want employers to get to know THEM, rather than having their perceptions prejudiced by others. Carol writes about what isn't new in the new hiring climate.

What it takes to hold on to good employees (Sunday, 6/25/00)
Columnist Amy Gage says that the formula is not surprising, and it isn't necessary to come up with a new bag of tricks. Most employees want what they've always wanted from employers: opportunity and loyalty.

Time out to meditate (Sunday, 6/25/00)
Call it prayer, call it meditation, call it a momentary retreat, remembering that a retreat isn't a surrender. A few minutes out of a stress-filled work day can help workers fill their tanks and prevent burnout, which is in everybody's enlightened self-interest.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Pronet (Sunday, 6/25/00)
Pronet is a search engine for the new global economy. It's multilingual and enables you to do business searches based on a variety of criteria.

Possible problems for the Republicans in Philadelphia (Saturday, 6/24/00)
The Republican National Convention is scheduled to be held in Philadelphia next month, but labor problems could make things inconvenient. David Morgan reports on the possibility of a strike during that period. Meanwhile, the big convention center in New York City faces different problems. Joan Gralla reports on a $1 billion discrimination suit that's been filed against the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

Settlement at Silicon Valley newspaper (Saturday, 6/24/00)
A strike has been averted at the San Jose Mercury News. Here's more from May Wong reporting from San San Jose Mercury News. On the other side of the continent, a judge will rule Monday on whether the Boston Globe can enforce a July 1 deadline for a new "license agreement" with freelance writers. The writers don't like the proposed agreement, because it would enable the paper to use their work online without additional payment. In other labor news, American Airlines seems to have resumed negotiations with its pilots again about a contract extension. Rumor is that the airline wants to pave the way toward an effort to acquire Northwest Airlines, headquartered in the Twin Cities where the big strike of hotel and restaurant workers is going on. Jon Tevlin of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes about a key leader in that conflict, Jaye Rykunyk.

More Internet company layoffs (Saturday, 6/24/00)
Pseudo Programs Inc. presents video on the web, but it will be doing so with fewer workers for a while. It is cutting 58 people, which is 16 percent of its work force. Nervousness about the prospects of Internet companies is influencing at least one very big name as well. Amazon.com's stock has taken a big hit following some discouraging words from analysts.

Youthful energy can be stretched only so far (Saturday, 6/24/00)
Student workers are much in demand in a tight labor market in which employers are having particular difficulty filling the kinds of jobs that part-timers traditionally have filled. But, as Kathryn Tong reports in the Boston Globe, many high school students are working too much, and, in many cases, it's impacting negatively on grades.

Making use of that college course in fictional writing (Saturday, 6/24/00)
A human resource consultant says resumes are often filled with things that aren't true, so it pays to check.

Here's why performance reviews may not be worth the time and trouble (Saturday, 6/24/00)
Carol Pine says that a recent edition of Harvard Management Update suggests getting rid of performance reviews and provides some reasons.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: World Rulers (Saturday, 6/24/00)
Wanna know who's in charge? And also who's been in charge all the way back to the beginning? This strange but interesting site is worth a browse if you're trying to enhance your global perspective for the new era. World Rulers lists all of the top political leaders for most of the world's countries throughout their histories.

No more strike, and no lockout (Friday, 6/23/00)
The Norwegian government has stepped in and ordered an end to the strike of off-shore oil workers, and the threat of a lockout has ended as a consequence. The labor conflict had threatened to bring Norwegian oil and gas production to a halt. In other labor news, a strike is looking like a real possibility at the San Jose Mercury News, and unions are trying to get temp firms to stop supplying substitute workers to Twin Cities hotels where workers are on strike.

Government proposal gets a frigid reception from striking doctors (Friday, 6/23/00)
More than 10,000 hospitals and clinics in South Korea have been shut down by a physicians' strike. Medical professors have joined in, and strikers have rejected a government for ending the walkout.

U of Minnesota to teach China how to do capitalism (Friday, 6/23/00)
The University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management will begin offering an MBA program in China. Here's more from Mike Myers in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune. Meanwhile, top leaders from China and Iran have been meeting and have agreed to broaden economic ties.

New worker safety rules hit a snag in the Senate (Friday, 6/23/00)
Republicans control the United States Senate, and they've voted to block the Administration's proposed rules to give workers new protections against repetitive stress injuries. On the other side of the Capitol building, much criticism is heard of the Administration's plans for changing the number of hours that truckers can keep on truckin'.

Job cuts at a dot.company (Friday, 6/23/00)
Stephanie Stoughton of the Boston Globe reports that Furniture.com has obtained another $27 million in financing but will cut 40 percent of its workforce anyway.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Speeches and Interviews from Federal Reserve Officials (Friday, 6/23/00)
What have members of the Fed being saying lately? Here are speeches and interviews from Federal Reserve officials.

Strike vote scheduled over Ford's plans to shut down UK plant (Thursday, 6/22/00)
The Dagenham plant is Ford's largest in Britain, and it has not been doing well. The company apparently would like to shut it down, and unions say that would cost thousands of jobs, so they will vote on whether to strike. Meanwhile, an announced plant closing in Ohio, USA will separate 1,400 people from their jobs in a region of Appalachia that offers few alternatives for most of them.

Deadlock may encourage more South Korean physicians to join strike (Thursday, 6/22/00)
Doctors who work in intensive-care wards and emergency rooms may join the strike of more than 40,000 physicians in South Korea. Thousands of miles to the south and west, a striking garment worker has been shot in the head at a Malaysian-owned factory in Cambodia.

Court of Appeals finds that United Airlines discriminated against women flight attendants (Thursday, 6/22/00)
United had a different weight code for women than for men, according to the Court. Many female flight attendants and former flight attendants will receive money, but it's unclear at this point how many. Elsewhere in the airline industry, customer service workers at regional carrier Mesabi Airlines have chosen not to unionize.

First-time claims increase (Thursday, 6/22/00)
The number of persons applying for first-time unemployment benefits increased last week, according to the latest Labor Department data, and some analysts are surprised.

Five Twin Cities hotels now affected by strike (Thursday, 6/22/00)
The latest hotel to be affected is the Marquette in downtown Minneapolis. About 1,160 workers are on strike so far. No additional talks are scheduled. The strike has attracted national attention, as well as the attention of at least one major politician who happens to be running for president. He stopped by to chat with people on the picket line yesterday when he was in town to get to know a noted former wrestler and his family, and to be photographed, of course. In Europe, Norwegian oil workers want to compromise in order to end the labor conflict there that threatens to shut down oil production from Norway at a time that various factors have been conspiring to raise gasoline prices into the rarefied air in the U.S.

Knowing too much about workers (Thursday, 6/22/00)
With a complete mapping of the human genome on the horizon, the possibilities for employers or insurance companies to discriminate against workers on the basis of their genetic information seem endless. Maggie Fox reports that a growing number of people are seeing the need for protective legislation, including most researchers in the field and some politicians.

America looks in the mirror (Thursday, 6/22/00)
Today's Wall Street Journal contains a special public opinion section today.

Canadians told to innovate (Thursday, 6/22/00)
Columnist David Crane of the Toronto Star says that innovation is what it will take to keep the Canadian economy growing. In the new economy, simply providing more of the same doesn't cut it.

Dot.com-down (Thursday, 6/22/00)
Downsizing has come to the world of the Internet. Matt Richtel reports form San Francisco for the New York Times on a new word for many formerly high-flying Internet companies: "layoff."

Cutback on overtime in Argentina (Thursday, 6/22/00)
In an effort to control unemployment, the Argentine government has announced that it will limit the amount of overtime that workers can put in.

Integrity highly valued in the American workplace (Thursday, 6/22/00)
A new survey conducted by the Ethics Resource Center in Washington finds that most American workers think that integrity is more important than income.

What are "unfair profits?" (Thursday, 6/22/00)
There's an old axiom in economics that, in an open, competitive economy, something is worth what somebody is willing to pay for it. Prices are set by supply-demand relationships, so there is no such thing as "gouging," according to columnist Doron Levin. Let the market decide, because the only alternative is for some heavy-handed political authority to decide what price is "fair," and there have been some spectacular failures of that sort of experiment, most notably during the 20th century. However, politicians know that most voters have not studied economics seriously, so political rhetoric is often disingenuous. We can only hope that our political leaders are more sophisticated than their rhetoric.

Of course, market mechanisms can operate only in a system where there is competition. Cartels and monopolies are something else again. Gasoline prices in the United States are high compared to what they were fairly recently. On the other hand, crude oil is selling for about three times what it was not so long ago, and gas prices certainly haven't tripled during this period. Rather than asking why the price of gas has gone up in the U.S. recently, a more basic question might be why gasoline has cost so much LESS in America than it has nearly every place else in the world for years and years and years.

Incidentally, how accurate are common public beliefs about anything? Not so much. In fact, it's probably fair to say that most people's beliefs about most things lack systematic factual foundation, and this brings up some very interesting questions about the conditions under which genuine verifiable knowledge really makes a difference in social life.

Demographics: how many Jew are there in the world? (Thursday, 6/22/00)
Also, is their number increasing or decreasing? The Jews' influence on world history, both ancient and modern, has been far out of proportion to their numbers, and, of course, Jews have suffered a barrage of persecution and abuse over millennia, of which the Holocaust is only one of the latest and most spectacular examples. Yair Sheleg of Ha'aretz writes about new research from Hebrew University of Jerusalem indicating that there are about 13.2 million Jews in the world, which represents a very slight increase from a couple of years ago. Compare this number to more than a billion Chinese in China (with many additional living elsewhere in the world), almost a billion Indians, and so on. Jews continue to have a profound influence on intellectual, spiritual, political, and other aspects of life over much of the world.

Sending out search parties to locate students (Thursday, 6/22/00)
Not because they're missing, but because employers want to hire them. Catherine Holahan of New Jersey's Bergen Record reports on how radically things have changed in the summer job market.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Minorities' Job Bank (Thursday, 6/22/00)
If you're a member of one of the underrepresented minority groups in the U.S., Minorities' Job Bank may be able to help you find just the right job. The site also contains a variety of helpful articles having to do with career development and other issues.

Microsoft case is sent to the Supreme Court (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has decided to bypass the U.S. Court of Appeals and send the Microsoft antitrust case directly to the Supreme Court, which is free to decide whether or not to accept it. Microsoft had opposed this move, preferring instead to argue its case in the Court of Appeals, where it has won earlier, and also thinking that this would give it more than one chance to overturn Judge Jackson's order that the company be broken in two. However, Microsoft also won a round when Judge Penfield delayed for a year restrictions on the company's operations. So, for the moment, at least, Microsoft is free to conduct business as usual, and this will mean an aggressive move to integrate its products with the Internet, which is what got it in trouble with the Justice Department in the first place. Gates and Balmer of Microsoft are gambling that they will win on appeal so they're intending to stay on the path they've chosen. It's a high-stakes gamble, but most self-made billionaires haven't gotten rich by being timid.

Meeting of poor nations ends in Cairo (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
A two-day conference of representatives from 15 of the world's poorer nations has ended with an appeal to rich nations to help by providing debt relief.

One of the better places to get sick (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
One-hundred-ninety-one countries belong to the World Health Organization, and France has been identified as having the best overall health care. Elizabeth Olson has more from the Paris-based International Herald Tribune, continental Europe's leading English-language newspaper.

This is the 6th day of the hotel and restaurant workers' strike (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
Here's Scott Carlson's St. Paul Pioneer Press report on the Twin Cities strike that has been getting national attention. Four major hotels and 1,000 workers have been affected so far, and no new talks are scheduled. The hotels are saying that they will wait for a counter-offer from the union. Mike Hughlett tells why this may turn out to be more than your garden-variety strike. It has all the ingredients for becoming a social landmark, he says.

Good indications from Southeast Asia (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
According to the Japanese government, Southeast Asian economies greatly affected by the "Asian contagion" about three years ago are recovering more rapidly than most experts had expected. Japanese leaders probably wish they could say the same about their own country's economy. Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun wonders if the Japanese economy really has bottomed out, as government officials have been claiming.

Some questions about hi-tech's impact on productivity (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
For years, particularly during the mainframe/mini-computer era, American companies made huge investments in computer technology without producing any detectable increases in productivity, according to a famous MIT study. At the time, we thought it was more a "people problem" than a "technology problem," and that, sooner or later, we would learn how to use all that technical gear in productive ways. Eventually, that seemed to happen. Now, the American economy seems driven by hi-tech, and productivity levels have been increasing nicely. However, with a major share of the work being done with desktop computers now, many of which are attached to the Internet, what will be the future relationship between tech and productivity? Will the easily accessible computers mostly make it possible for workers to waste time more efficiently than ever before? David Francis of the Christian Science Monitor examines these and other relevant issues.

The new economy helps older workers (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
The new economy, with its voracious appetite for labor, is providing nice opportunities for older workers. In fact, one elderly gentleman's career seems to have been helped by the new economy as well, but in very different ways. Alan Greenspan may be the oldest saxophone player occupying a high position in the American government, and he's been sworn in for another four-year term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The new economy has provided work for him because it has needed his guidance, apparently.

What the Fast 500 are doing to attract workers (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
In case you're wondering, the Fast 500 is a list of the fastest-growing tech companies in the U.S. A recent survey finds that the majority are finding that attracting and holding on to technically-skilled workers is their toughest job at the moment, so unorthodox incentives are often used to attract those most-valued persons.

More evidence of a shift away from governmental responsibility (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
Otto von Bismarck is credited as the inventor of the modern welfare state, and over many of the years since the period of German unification in the 19th century, the notion that government's responsibilities extend beyond punishing crime and waging war has been in the ascendancy throughout many parts of the world. Since the mid-20th century, European countries have tended to provide the most elaborate social safety nets, Asian countries the most minimal, and the U.S. somewhere in between, with Franklin Roosevelt being the architect of social support programs in the United States. Abraham McLaughlin writes that the two major presidential candidates are presenting plans for modifying Social Security that seem to reflect a change of public attitude about the relative responsibilities of the government and the individual in providing for economic security.

New SBA program to help gays start businesses (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
Homosexuals are now officially recognized by the federal government as a minority group, and, as one consequence of this, the Small Business Administration is starting a new lending program to assist gay small business owners. Here's more from Marsha Austin of the Denver Post.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Migration Dialogue (Wednesday, 6/21/00)
Migration Dialogue comes from the University of California at Davis and intends to promote informed discussion in migration, immigration, and integration issues during a time when large numbers of people are migrating from one part of the world to another in search of economic security or political freedom.

Greece makes it into the European Monetary Union (Tuesday, 6/20/00)
Greece will be the Union's 12th member, and its poorest one, but membership in the single-currency zone is expected to help Greece modernize its economy.

Twin Cities hotel strike spreads (Tuesday, 6/20/00)
Workers at a third major Twin Cities hotel have joined the strike of hotel and restaurant workers. Contract talks broke down Friday and there are no signs on either side of an urge to resume them. David Phelps writes in the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that low unemployment and a strong economy are on the side of the strikers. In other labor news, a lockout is possible which could shut down the Norwegian oil fields, and Israel is not the only country with striking physicians, even though Israeli doctors have been on strike for more than 100 days. In South Korea, as many as 35,000 doctors went out on strike on Tuesday in order to protest a new law that can affect them economically. Finally, a partial strike has been going on at Israeli ports, according to Zvi Zrahiya of Ha'aretz, but a Histadrut representative said it will be resolved within a few days.

Too good to be true? (Tuesday, 6/20/00)
The Federal Reserve took the May increase in unemployment as a strong sign that interest rate increases were beginning to have an impact and that the possibly-too-hot American economy was beginning to tap on the brakes. Now, they're not so sure. As Dina Temple-Raston of USA Today reports, there are signs that the Labor Department may have gotten it wrong last month.

Where support for the opposition is coming from in Mexico (Tuesday, 6/20/00)
The PRI has been in power for 70 years, but change is in the wind. For instance, an alternative is looking good to young, educated, prosperous people in Aguascalientes, where the quality of life is high and nearly anyone who wants a good job can find one.

The (surrogate) mother of all child-care facilities (Tuesday, 6/20/00)
Here's a company that believes in on-site child-care for its workers. In fact, their tremendous facility can care for 430 children all at once. It includes 16 playgrounds, for instance. Here's more from Lane Hartill.

Human resource services for individuals (Tuesday, 6/20/00)
An experienced human resource consultant has opened a firm to advise employees, rather than employers. Diane Stafford of the Kansas City Star has some details.

Healthcare is being changed, but not at the national level (Tuesday, 6/20/00)
The Christian Science Monitor's Paul Van Slambrouck reports on the flurry of activity at the state in changing the way healthcare services are delivered.

Losing Medicaid because of welfare reform (Tuesday, 6/20/00)
A study by a private consumer organization concludes that a million low-income people have lost Medicaid coverage as a result of welfare reform. Robert Pear of the New York Times has the story.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Seniors Search (Tuesday, 6/20/00)
Here's an online search engine specifically intended for finding the things people over 50 are likely to be interested in. What better name for it than Seniors Search.

Another step in the domestication of North Korea (Monday, 6/19/00)
The recent historic summit between leaders of the two Koreas offered signs of hope for a reduction of tensions on the Korean peninsula and possibly some degree of normalization of relations between two countries that have been looking at one another down gun barrels for a half century. Anti-American rhetoric from North Korea hasn't diminished greatly during the past few days, but that may be mostly for domestic consumption. The fact is that North Korea's economy has been a catastrophe for a long time but has finally reached a point where the country's repressive regime is willing to seek out help and support, if only in an attempt to save itself. Anything that can reduce the likelihood of a second Korean War, this time with missiles, is probably worth doing, and the U.S. government is trying to take an additional step by relaxing economic sanctions that have been in place for 50 years.

An unfamiliar hot-bed of job creation (Monday, 6/19/00)
France. Yes, France has been creating new jobs at a furious rate. The French economy, long hobbled by one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe, has awakened, and companies are hiring like crazy. The French economy created more new jobs during the 1st quarter of this year than during any quarter since they started to keep records.

China says WTO membership is near (Monday, 6/19/00)
China has been trying to gain membership to the World Trade Organization for 14 years and now believes it is in the final stages of the process. Meanwhile, apparently in answer to various critics, a new WTO report says that free trade helps to reduce poverty throughout the world. Speaking of poverty, the world's wealthiest nation still has its share, or, perhaps more than its share, given its circumstances. The Christian Science Monitor reports that there has been a shift away from government in the direction of the churches in trying to do something about it. The trend is about to accelerate, given at least 10 bills in Congress which would channel federal money through church organizations in order to help America's poor.

China's dangerous mines (Monday, 6/19/00)
Injuries and fatalities are common in the coal mines of northern China. Here's more from Erik Eckholm of the New York Times reporting from the scene.

Labor Department finds labor violations at California racetracks (Monday, 6/19/00)
According to the San Francisco Examiner, a surprise sweep of four California racetracks has uncovered multiple violations, including grooms and other workers who are being paid less than the minimum wage.

Reflections on Hoffa at the halfway point in his term (Monday, 6/19/00)
The younger James Hoffa has been president of the Teamsters for 15 months, and he can look to some successes. However, his re-election is by no means assured. Here's more from Business Week.

Something new in a very old society (Monday, 6/19/00)
Robert Marquand reports from Mussoorie, India that some Indians are taking time off, something new for them. Vacations have not been a familiar part of the Indian culture. In the United States, people have been taking vacations for a long time, and some would like to find ways to deduct the cost of a nice time from their taxes. Gary Klott has some guidelines on how the tax code can help subsidize your vacation. Yes, there are some ways. Honest.

How many illegal immigrants are in the United States? (Monday, 6/19/00)
According to the INS, there are about 6 million. Lynda Mapes of the Seattle Times has more on the 52,000 or so who live and work in Washington state. Many of the workers' families remain in Mexico, however. In Dover, England, authorities have made a horrible discovery: the corpses of 58 illegal immigrants were found packed into a truck that had crossed the English Channel from Belgium on a ferry.

What does the devil do for a living? (Monday, 6/19/00)
Scott Burns says he may be an economist, given the devilish tradeoffs which are supposed to be unavoidable. But wait! This is a new economy. Do some of the rules no longer apply? Mr. Burns considers the Phillips Curve as an example of a principle whose time seems to have come...and gone. In the new economy, it appears that one can have low unemployment and low inflation at the same time, he says.

Senator Wellstone gains some support in his effort to derail the new bankruptcy bill (Monday, 6/19/00)
The bankruptcy reform bill that has been moving through Congress has had a lot of support, but not from Senator Wellstone. He's been trying to head it off, and, for the most part, it's been a lonely quest. However, Tom Webb reports from Washington that he's beginning to get some support, and one of the people who can help a lot has a lot of influence over things like bills passed by Congress. Hint: his initials are B.C., or, if you want to be formal about it, W. J. C.

Formal work wear has a constituency (Monday, 6/19/00)
At least some folks haven't been happy with the trend toward less formal dress in work settings, and they're trying to do something to reverse it. Danielle Furfaro tells about the unhappiness of the tailored clothing industry and its campaign to get people to dress up at work again.

Do they also offer health insurance for people? (Monday, 6/19/00)
Amy Gage reports that quite a number of employers are trying to attracted needed workers by offering health insurance for pets.

The big shift (Monday, 6/19/00)
Over the next half-century or so, an enormous amount of wealth will be transferred from one generation to another. Gail Marksjarvis says that estimates are that $73 trillion in assets will be shifted from older to younger generations during the next 55 years. That's "trillion" with a "t.".

The top Internet employers (Monday, 6/19/00)
Here's the first list of the top 60 Internet employers from the Internet Job Source.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: A New Workplace at Home (Monday, 6/19/00)
A New Workplace at Home urges you to believe that it is possible to work at home in a way that is satisfactory to you, and their site provides advice, resources, and more of what you will need to get launched.

Fathers say families take priority over careers (Sunday, 6/18/00)
Kathryn Hopper of the Fort Worth Star Telegram reports on the results of a new study that finds many fathers aren't as inclined toward workaholism as many think. However, a couple of journalists who happen to be married to one another say it's harder for fathers to keep work and family life in balance. On the other hand, mothers have their own problems on the job, and, sometimes, have difficulty getting the job in the first place because they're mothers. Diane Lewis of the Boston Globe tells about one who is suing.

A little violence on the picket lines (Sunday, 6/18/00)
Lisa Donovan says that the hotel-restaurant workers' strike is expanding in the Twin Cities, and organizers have been in conflict with police. No resumption of talks is scheduled at the moment. In other labor news, striking doctors in Israel are threatening to intensify their strike, which, so far, has lasted more than 100 days, if mediation fails to win results. In Los Angeles, formerly striking janitors got a chance to see a documentary film on their recent struggle.

Living with America's ambivalence toward undocumented workers (Sunday, 6/18/00)
On the one hand, the tremendous number of illegals working in the United States are here, after all, illegally. On the other hand, some American industries depend on them. Lynda Mapes of the Seattle Times shares some stories about people who work in the fields of Washington state, far from home. Meanwhile, Michael Janofsky tells about growing tensions along the Arizona-Mexico border as people flood in from the south.

Why the new economy may mean the need for new politics (Sunday, 6/18/00)
Strategists in the campaigns of the two candidates for president are thinking that the rules may have changed. People don't necessarily vote their pocketbooks anymore. Here are details and an explanation from Alison Mitchell of the New York Times.

A major newspaper doesn't think plans to privatize Social Security add up (Sunday, 6/18/00)
The Minneapolis Star Tribune's editorial writers say that those who would like to privatize the Social Security system usually leave out some of the arithmetic.

Fears of possible corruption at Harvard (Sunday, 6/18/00)
The dean of the Kennedy School believes that Harvard faculty should keep their distance from student business enterprises.

Cheapter, faster, personalized (Sunday, 6/18/00)
Jane Larson of the Arizona Republic tells why an enormous surge in online learning is expected, and how Arizona intends to get in on it.

The summer workforce has been shrinking (Sunday, 6/18/00)
Fewer teens and young adults have been going after summer jobs, according to this report from Mary Willams Walsh.

Cutting off its head (Sunday, 6/18/00)
The massive middle-management layoffs are mostly behind us, and, even though layoffs continue in a churning new economy, they're not occurring in the numbers of a few years ago, given the tightness of the labor market. However, Challenger, Gray & Christmas finds that corporate chiefs are being pruned like almost never before.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Best Places to Live in America (Sunday, 6/18/00)
Money Magazine explains the criteria for its choices for Best Places to Live in America. You can also compare any two communities on the list in terms of cost of living.

Twin Cities hotel workers strike (Saturday, 6/17/00)
Many people in the Twin Cities had been holding their breath as contract talks with a mediator continued yesterday, but union negotiators rejected a final contract offer from hotel and restaurant representatives, and the strike began. In other labor news, the strike at a Twin Cities Pepsi-Cola bottling plant continues, and Teamsters officials are calling for a boycott of Pepsi products. Elsewhere in the Twin Cities, labor-management relations are better, apparently, given that the Ford assembly plant in St. Paul has the highest worker productivity among American truck assembly plants, according to The Harbour Report.

Rules for Teamsters elections rejected (Saturday, 6/17/00)
U.S. District Judge David Edelstein doesn't believe that the rules proposed for the 2000-2001 elections would insure open and democratic processes as alleged. For many years, the government has been trying to remove the influence of organized crime from the troubled union's affairs.

U.S. warns Vietnam about the consequences of leaving trade barriers in place (Saturday, 6/17/00)
Vietnam has backed off from a 1999 "agreement in principle" with the United States which would remove trade barriers. The American government warns that Vietnam may be "left behind" if it does not follow through on the elimination of the barriers.

One reason Brazil is a violent place (Saturday, 6/17/00)
The tremendous gap between haves and have-nots in South America's largest country seems to have something to do with it, according to the Washington Post. There might be something to learn from this for at least one very large country on the continent to the north. People who are led to believe that they are not included tend to be less loyal to a social system's rules and expectations. If you reject people or treat them as enemies, watch out.

Budget cuts at New York hospitals (Saturday, 6/17/00)
Funding cuts have led to cost cuts which are leading to personnel cuts at New York City hospitals. Here's more from Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times.

Sheltering money under your home's protective roof (Saturday, 6/17/00)
Why would people who are about to crash and burn financially rush to Florida and buy expensive homes? Tony Pugh has the answer. Under Florida law, an unlimited amount of home equity can be protected from creditors if you are declaring bankruptcy.

Compensating perks for childless workers? (Saturday, 6/17/00)
Columnist Amy Gage says that workers without children are beginning to resent the special attention being paid in work settings to those who have them.

Women enter the skilled trades in greater numbers (Saturday, 6/17/00)
The skilled trades used to be considered "men's work," rather than work that should be performed by anyone who is capable of doing it. Contrary to earlier beliefs, the skilled trades appear to be mostly unisex now that we're recognizing that, so far as talents and abilities are concerned, men and women are made out of mostly the same stuff. But what if heavy lifting is required? Follow a nurse around for a while, and you'll learn about heavy lifting, keeping in mind that nursing used to be considered "women's work." Columnist Amy Lindgren has more.

What to do when you find yourself managing former peers (Saturday, 6/17/00)
Nationally syndicated Chicago Tribune columnist Carol Kleiman has some advice if you're suddenly your old friend's new boss.

Labor shortages are raising the price of a meal (Saturday, 6/17/00)
Restaurants are having to pay more to get the workers they need and are passing those increased costs on to people who eat out.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Salary Source (Saturday, 6/17/00)
What is the market value of your job or the job you would like to fill? Salary Source may be able to tell you if it is included among 350 types of positions for which survey information from multiple sources is collected.

Doctors' strike hits 100-day mark (Friday, 6/16/00)
Haim Shadmi of Ha'aretz writs about the doctors' strike in Israel that has gone on and on and on.

Settle one, face another (Friday, 6/16/00)
Coca-Cola recently settled a racial discrimination lawsuit, but has been hit with another. This time, the suit is for $1.5 billion. Incidentally, while the strike continues at the Twin Cities Pepsi plant, workers at the Coke plant have settled on a new contract. In other Twin Cities labor news having nothing to do with soft drinks, a strike of 1,500 hotel workers could come today.

Merger leads to big job cuts in the UK (Friday, 6/16/00)
BAE Systems has purchased Marconi Electronic Systems and 3,800 jobs will be cut as the two companies come together, according to the Paris-based International Herald Tribune.

Minnesota governor pitches for taconite workers on national TV (Friday, 6/16/00)
Governor Jesse Ventura recently completed a taped guest appearance on his favorite TV soap, "The Young and the Wrestler...er, Restless," and last night he appeared with Jay Leno on NBC's "The Tonight Show." He used the latter opportunity to make employers around the country aware of the imminent availability of 1,400 taconite workers who will soon lose their jobs because of a plant closing. "Taconite" is a way of processing low-grade iron ore. The iron mines of northeastern Minnesota helped supply the industrial revolution with needed ore beginning early.

Violence at Toronto demonstration (Friday, 6/16/00)
A rally in support of the homeless and in opposition to policies of the Ontario government resulted in violence and some injuries yesterday.

Where's Dad? (Friday, 6/16/00)
As many as forty percent of American children are still growing up in households lacking fathers. Here's more from Sara Terry of the Christian Science Monitor. Meanwhile, a University of Washington study finds that fathers in the home tend to work harder after the birth of a child, particularly if that child is male.

The case for getting rid of the estate tax (Friday, 6/16/00)
Here's a Democrat who agrees with a lot of Republicans on at least one issue. Nydia Velazquez wants to see the estate tax abolished. On the other hand, you might want to consider giving your money to your heirs while you're still around to see the expression on their faces.

Language skills key for hi-tech career success (Friday, 6/16/00)
President Clinton wants to see more Hispanics in high-paying hi-tech jobs, and that will mean proficiency in English. He wants every Hispanic high school graduate to be able to demonstrate English language competency within ten years.

Bill's still the top billionaire (Friday, 6/16/00)
With the slippage of Microsoft's stock, Chairman Bill has lost almost as much net worth as Larry Ellison has total net worth, and Larry's the second-richest person in the world. Still, even after losing $40 billion, Bill Gates remains the richest of the rich.

Columnist asks contractors about health insurance benefits (Friday, 6/16/00)
L. M. Sixel of the Houston Chronicle was annoyed to find that many of the skilled workers doing remodeling work and other construction don't have health coverage. If you're intending to employ a contractor, you might want to make this one of your selection criteria, this writer says.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Workforce Online (Friday, 6/16/00)
Workforce is a major human resources print publication, and Workforce Online offers a lot of similar content.

Agreement reached in Germany; union leaders urge acceptance by membership (Thursday, 6/15/00)
Nationwide strikes in Germany may be averted. Union members will vote on a tentative contract next week, and their leadership is urging ratification.

Ireland's hot economy threatened a bit (Thursday, 6/15/00)
Many generations of Irish who went elsewhere in search of economic security and opportunity would be astonished to hear about their home country's hot economy recently. For sometime now, Ireland has had one of the strongest economies in Europe, to the extent of attracting some persons of Irish ancestry back to their ancestral home, because that's where the really good jobs have been. However, Tom Buerkle of the International Herald Tribune reports that inflation is becoming a threat. The economy continues strong growth, but a labor shortage is putting the squeeze on.

Strong demand for workers in Israel (Thursday, 6/15/00)
Haim Bior of Ha'aretz reports that demand for workers was up 38.5 percent in May compared to a year earlier. Also in Israel today, Eilon Ganor writes about how increased competition and the decline of the monopolistic state are giving people more options and making some services less expensive.

Bias suit settled at Coca-Cola (Thursday, 6/15/00)
Coke has been accused of discriminating against minorities. An agreement to settle the case was announced yesterday.

No agreement, but no strike either (Thursday, 6/15/00)
Mike Hughlett reports that talks have broken down, and the strike deadline has passed, but 1,450 Twin Cities hotel workers have not gone out on strike. Stay tuned.

Another interest rate increase probably won't be necessary soon (Thursday, 6/15/00)
The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler and John M. Berry cite additional evidence that the American economy is slowing and that inflation has not become more threatening, all of which should mean that the Fed will leave interest rates where they are, at least for the time being.

More on that Supreme Court ruling and age bias claims (Thursday, 6/15/00)
Kansas City Star columnist Diane Stafford looks at the implications of a new ruling by the Supreme Court that means that circumstantial evidence alone may sometimes be enough to win an age discrimination suit.

What workers think about the schools (Thursday, 6/15/00)
A new survey from Rutgers University and the University of Connecticut finds that American workers aren't impressed with how well American high schools are preparing young people for the work world, although they think the colleges are doing a bit better. Also, they seem to think that general skills are more important than specific occupational skills, at least so far as what the schools should be doing is concerned.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: National Education Association: Higher Education (Thursday, 6/15/00)
For many years, the National Education Association has been the best-known teachers union at K-12 levels. However, the NEA has involvement in higher education as well, and contains many people who have been giving serious thought to higher ed's future. If you're concerned about issues relation to higher education and technology, work, or life in general during the new century, the NEA's higher education web site is worth a look.

Hey, who's in charge here? (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
The FBI is more than curious about what happened to two computer hard drives containing highly delicate information at Los Alamos. It's only the latest in a string of security fumbles during the Clinton administration. Six managers at Los Alamos have been suspended.

Greenspan on productivity (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
Worker productivity has been on the increase in the American economy, and Fed Head Alan Greenspan says that hi-tech is a major reason, so we can expect the productivity increases to be permanent.

What Syria's young people want (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
Syria's youth are looking to a youthful new leader for change, particularly in the country's economic life. Here's more about the hunger for prosperity from Scott Peterson writing from Damascus for the Christian Science Monitor.

Is "pork barrel" an old Japanese expression? (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
English-language writers at Tokyo's Asahi Shimbun think that the expression is appropriate as a description of what some critics of the Japanese government think is behind Japan's difficulties in achieving meaningful economic growth as the post-war "Japanese miracle" slips more and more into history.

A bad smell escapes from Moscow (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
Russian President Putin has jailed one of his principal critics, who also happens to be a major media mogul. If Putin is trying to convince the world that he's really a democrat, rather than some sort of closet fascist, this probably isn't the way to do it. Here's more on this story from Michael Wines and Michael Gordon of the New York Times.

Do you brag about not having time to eat breakfast or sleep? (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
You may need some time off to put things into perspective. Americans are working too much, and it's likely to be counterproductive for everyone involved in the long-run. Actually, your "long-run" may not be as long as you think, because the workaholism may be killing you. Jim Avila of NBC News says Americans aren't getting enough vacation time. Incidentally, while more time off may become a major incentive that employers will use to attract workers in a tight labor market, USA Today says that stress-reduction training, message therapy, a nap during the workday, and self-defense training are being offered by many employers presently.

Oh, sure, Bill (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
Every company should hope for an anti-trust suit and the threat of corporate smithereening in order to boost morale among its workers. And pigs can fly. But, what else can he say? Bill Gates' position is much like that of major political leaders. He can't simply describe conditions without influencing them, so he has to put on a happy face. As he tours Asia, Bill is consistently denying persistent reports of morale problems and defections at Microsoft.

Self-serve at American hospitals? (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
If you've been in a hospital lately, have you had any difficulty getting somebody's attention? The nursing shortage is getting serious, according to a Vanderbilt University study and is likely to get worse over the next decade.

Social scientists want to know what makes some people able to achieve no matter what (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
Patricia Leigh Brown has some inspiring stories about some amazing students.

Okay, now let's settle this once and for all: is the American economy slowing or isn't it? (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
Well, maybe; maybe not. There are indications, but, as Louis Uchitelle reports, the Federal Reserve thinks these are ambiguous. The Fed has been trying to slow things a bit with repeated interest rate increases. Why? Because of what they see as the threat of inflation in an over-heated economy, and inflation can give everyone a lot of bad days.

The Europeans may have their own way of reducing unemployment (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
Two Morgan Stanley Dean Witter economists think it possible that European unemployment rates could descend to U.S. levels without most of the politically painful structural changes that most economists have been saying would be necessary. Is this heresy, or not? Penny MacRae has more from London.

Claims that the University of California is an anti-union employer (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
At Harvard during recent months, there has been a movement to insure that anyone who works for the university should be able to earn a "living wage." On the other side of the continent, labor issues are much on the minds of many people at world-class universities as well, and, as Anne Benjaminson of UC-Berkeley's Daily Californian reports, the University of California system's labor practices have been called into question in the State Assembly.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: TrailBreaker (Wednesday, 6/14/00)
With much of business moving to the web in one way or another, shopping opportunities for consumers abound, but some are better than others. TrailBreaker intends to help you sort through and separate the good online shopping opportunities from the bad.

Big boost for HMOs at the fed level (Tuesday, 6/13/00)
The United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that individuals cannot sue under federal law if their HMOs provide financial incentives for physicians to limit treatment costs. However, many observers believe that this still amounts to a blatant conflict of interest for physicians, and Congress is considering new laws that could broaden the right to sue. Also, the Supreme Court ruling applies only to suits under federal law and does not restrict suits at the state level. Here's more on the Court's ruling from today's Washington Post.

Strike ends in Nigeria (Tuesday, 6/13/00)
Nigerian labor unions have reached a compromise agreement with the government over the price of gasoline and have called off a general strike. One strike ends, while another begins. In the United States, about 1,200 production plant workers have walked out at a Maytag factory in Illinois.

The new global economy changes Europe (Tuesday, 6/13/00)
Reginald Dale of the Paris-based International Herald Tribune writes about the big increase in corporate mergers and hostile takeovers in Europe and why Europe seems to be developing a new economic model for itself.

Business Week's annual report on information technologies (Tuesday, 6/13/00)
Here's Business Week's top 100 list plus additional analyses of the info-tech industry.

Cities helped by hi-tech (Tuesday, 6/13/00)
The growth in the number of technology-related jobs is helping many American cities, according to the new report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. But, it's making it harder for lower and middle-income people to find suitable housing as purchase prices and rentals head for the stratosphere in many regions.

Family leave law expands (Tuesday, 6/13/00)
Jim Barlow says that President Clinton's latest expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act seems to contradict what he said six years ago, and more is to come.

Focusing on fathers (Tuesday, 6/13/00)
Paul Offner of the Washington Post writes today about welfare reform and the conditions under which most Americans would be happy to see mothers stay home with their children. It's not so much about getting mothers into the workforce as about getting fathers to support their families, he says.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Senior Economist (Tuesday, 6/13/00)
The Senior Economist is intended to help those who teach economics and is published by the National Council on Economic Education. Their web site is also a good resource for teachers of economics at any level.

Bottling plant workers strike (Monday, 6/12/00)
Now that a strike has shut down the Pepsi bottling plant that supplies the Twin Cities, many Minnesotans may find that things go better with Coke, except that the Coca-Cola bottling plant may be next. More than 400 Teamsters walked out yesterday at Pepsi in Burnsville, a southern suburb of Minneapolis. In other labor news, a strike has been avoided at Bell Helicopter Extron where workers have ratified a new three-year contract.

High Court ruling will make discrimination suits easier (Monday, 6/12/00)
From now on, a plaintiff will not have to prove illegal intent on the part of the employer.

Manufacturing: new economy vs. old (Monday, 6/12/00)
Among those who helped invent the old-style industrial production model were a couple of men named Taylor and Ford. The idea was to make it as efficient as possible by making the workers interchangeable parts in the machine, each performing a simple set of tasks over and over that would require little skill or training. This led to a lot of anguish on the job, including efforts to sabotage the system simply in order to stop and gain relief from the incessant, inhumane assembly line. Columnist Amy Lindgren says things have changed. Manufacturing in the new economy is very hi-tech and requires highly-skilled workers who command high pay. Also, if you grew up in the old industrial economy, you're probably used to the idea of factories producing products. How about factories that produce new companies? Here's more about business incubators.

Thousands protest for undocumented workers (Monday, 6/12/00)
Anthony Breznican tells about the big rally in Los Angeles. The big L.A. Sports Arena was packed so an additional 2,000 to 3,000 persons remained outside.

Farmers who have gone fishin' (Monday, 6/12/00)
Not for recreation, though. These are farmers who are looking for alternative cash crops to help them stay in business during a rough period for American agriculture. Rex Huppke reports on farmers who are replacing soil with water and getting into the fish production business.

Much competition for homes means higher prices (Monday, 6/12/00)
There's more money out there looking for houses, so a new report from HUD says that demand is exceeding supply, and that means higher prices. Rents have been driven up too. At the same time, the government would like to find ways of increasing the rate of home ownership among American minorities, according to Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo.

Statement issued following women's conference (Monday, 6/12/00)
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan feels that the just-concluded UN women's conference, five years after the meeting in Beijing, has made important gains. Representatives from 180 nations participated.

Universal health-care coverage for children (Monday, 6/12/00)
The City of San Jose, California seems about to provide health-care coverage for all of the city's children. Many people are reminded that many national trends have started in California. Incidentally, for the benefit of our readers in other parts of the world, San Jose is on the southern end of the corridor popularly known as "Silicon Valley," perhaps the world's premiere high-technology region with thousands of hi-tech companies. The technology revolution that is sweeping the world has many origins here.

Another former governor takes on a tough job (Monday, 6/12/00)
At least a couple of former governors are not basking in retirement. Former Colorado governor Roy Romer is the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, widely acknowledged to be one of the toughest jobs in the United States. Meanwhile, former California governor Jerry Brown is mayor of Oakland, California, also considered a very tough job, given the community's problems. Among other things, Mayor Brown is pushing the development of a very high-octane high school organized along military academy lines where some of the most disadvantaged students in the country will be able to learn self-discipline, among many other highly desirable personal attributes, excel academically, and prepare for the best colleges in the world.

The new economy may require new ways of looking at monopoly (Monday, 6/12/00)
Alan Murray of PBS' "Washington Week in Review" and the Wall Street Journal has been thinking about some of the implications of the Microsoft case, and says that monopoly may be one of the attributes of the new economy.

TV and web converge for job shopping (Monday, 6/12/00)
Many may find useful assistance in locating the right job through the help of Britain's new TV Job Shop which makes use of both television and the web in order to provide interactivity. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal's Kris Maher has taken a look at the way some American hi-tech firms recruit, and finds it to be just a little wacky.

Canadian students face improved summer employment prospects (Monday, 6/12/00)
Robin Harvey of the Toronto Star writes about the new report from Statistics Canada showing an increase in the number of jobs available to students this summer.

The cost of a good relationship with your boss (Monday, 6/12/00)
Old Dominion University psychologist Debra Major has been researching work/family issues, particularly as they apply to working women. She thinks the cost of maintaining a good relationship may be higher for many women, given their usually larger responsibilities at home.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: ImproveNow (Monday, 6/12/00)
ImproveNow offers you an opportunity to evaluate your boss anonymously and share your thoughts with him/her. If you're a boss, you can initiate the process.

Japan's new PM passes judgment on his nation's economy (Sunday, 6/11/00)
The worst is over, he declares. However, expansionary policies will be needed for another year.

False dichotomy: environmental vs. economic priorities (Sunday, 6/11/00)
An environmental disaster in Ontario should lead to a greater consideration of sustainable development, according to this writer with the Toronto Star. A healthy economy requires a healthy environment, which is not how the issues are often framed.

More Americans are attending college (Sunday, 6/11/00)
President Clinton was the commencement speaker at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota yesterday, where Senator Paul Wellstone served on the faculty for more than 20 years. The President used the occasion as an opportunity to present a new report from the Education Department indicating that Americans are attending college in record numbers.

Clinton wants to strengthen family leave (Sunday, 6/11/00)
President Clinton would like states to pay unemployment benefits to people who take unpaid leave from work in order to take care of newly-born or newly-adopted children. He also announced that employees of the federal government will be able to take paid sick leave in order to care for a seriously ill family member. Meanwhile, Mary Jane Smetanka reports that opportunities for taking sabbaticals from work seem to be declining in a tight labor market at the same time that more people are working longer, harder, and becoming more vulnerable to burnout.

Retiring and not retiring at the same time (Sunday, 6/11/00)
A tight labor market is leading employers to offer older workers an unusually attractive array of options, in some cases. For instance, how about working full-time while still collecting full retirement benefits? Here's more from Todd Mason of the Fort Worth Star Telegram. This Toronto Star article suggests careful consideration and examination of the right things before leaping into early retirement.

The privileges of the frequently traveled (Sunday, 6/11/00)
Business travelers are finding that airlines and hotels competing for their regular business are finding ways to please those who would prefer not to delay gratification.

The case for softer cases (Sunday, 6/11/00)
The growing ubiquity of laptop computers among business professionals has led to the near-exinction of the hard leather briefcase.

Reich reconsiders (Sunday, 6/11/00)
A former Labor Secretary anticipated many attributes of the current economy in his influential 1991 book, The Work of Nations. For instance, in addition to the "digital divide," Dr. Reich described some key differences between corporations in the old industrial economy and those of the new information economy in the 1991 book. Along those lines, David Pescovitz tells about companies with no infrastructure at all, just constantly changing human parts.

Why do medical schools try to kill their young doctors, while also perhaps putting patients at risk? (Sunday, 6/11/00)
You can make good doctors into sleepy doctors who could become hazardous to the health of their patients if you make them work long enough hours. For reasons that bewilder many outsiders who have been led to believe that medical schools are run by smart people, doctors-in-training traditionally have been compelled to cope with abusive work-days and work-weeks. Now, as Robert Pear of the New York Times reports, a major accreditation agency is beginning to crack down.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: ebusinessforum (Sunday, 6/11/00)
ebusinessforum.com is a business intelligence service intended for senior management and comes from The Economist magazine and its e-biz collaborators.

Best unemployment news in nearly a quarter century in Canada (Saturday, 6/10/00)
Unemployment in Canada has hits its lowest level in 24 years. Here's more from Rob Ferguson of the Toronto Star.

UN women's' rights conference ends (Saturday, 6/10/00)
Representatives from 180 countries have been meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. The conference has ended with an agreed-upon plan for achieving greater equality of the sexes, and, despite some rough going at times, many delegates believe that the meeting was worthwhile and should result in some practical consequences. Newsday's Sheryl McCarthy considers the significance of the conference and examines the long road still to be traveled.

And you thought the Middle Ages had ended sometime ago (Saturday, 6/10/00)
The past can either be incorporated into the present and help guide us into the future, or it can become an increasingly lengthy and heavy burden that we continue to drag behind us. Germany has been trying to make the transition from an old industrial economy to a new information economy, but they're also still trying to cope with lingering effects of the Medieval period. Lucian Kim of the Christian Science Monitor examines the effect of craft guilds on the formation of new-economy companies.

Hotel workers strike expected in the Twin Cities (Saturday, 6/10/00)
Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone and noted activist Jesse Jackson have joined in a protest march in downtown Minneapolis.

Clinton threatens to veto bankruptcy bill (Saturday, 6/10/00)
A bill to make it more difficult for individuals to walk away from debts may soon be on its way to the White House, but President Clinton has threatened to veto it if it is "unfair."

Why many Koreans regularly visit China (Saturday, 6/10/00)
It's all illegal, of course. China is not trying to attract the steady flow of people from famine-stricken North Korea, but large numbers of them are crossing the border anyway, some temporarily. Meanwhile, Indonesia's economy isn't as bad as North Korea's, but it's bad, and politics have been getting in the way of a recovery.

Trade may be the soft spot (Saturday, 6/10/00)
Richard Stevenson says that experts fear that the trade deficit may be the point of vulnerability in the otherwise historically strong American economy.

Here's another candidate who would like to make the government work better (Saturday, 6/10/00)
George W. thinks that too many people work for the government. He'd like to reduce the governmental workforce and increase privatization.

Judge rules that dockworker's test is lacking in validity (Saturday, 6/10/00)
The Test of Adult Basic Education has been widely used as an employment selection device, but a federal judge has ruled that it discriminates against minorities because it measures skills that are largely unrelated to those skills needed to perform longshore work successfully. This has to do with what psychometricians and statisticians refer to as "test validity." Does the test measure what it is supposed to be measuring, or are its results relevant to our purposes? In effect, the judge is saying that there are lot of people who may be able to do the job just fine, but not do well on the test, which means that the test should not be used in deciding who should be hired for the job.

Ford faces harassment suit (Saturday, 6/10/00)
A woman who works in a Ford Motor Company factory claims that she has been the victim of repeated sexual harassment and that managers have not done anything about it, despite her complaints. She's suing Ford for $50 million.

Will things go to hell at Bell...temporarily? (Saturday, 6/10/00)
Bells makes helicopters, and UAW members are set to vote on a new contract. If it's rejected, Bell will experience its first strike in 13 years. In other labor news today, patterns of life have been disrupted in Argentina because of a general strike, and some violence has broken out. There has also been a general strike in Nigeria, but the government has banned civil servants from participating it in.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Time Work (Saturday, 6/10/00)
Time Work comes from the Shorter Work Time Network of Canada. They advocate a shorter work week, not for the typical reason of creating more jobs, but to enable workers to have more time for family and other life activities.

Public sector workers prepare to strike in Germany (Friday, 6/9/00)
Germany has about 3.1 million government workers, and they have voted to strike. If it happens, it will be their first strike since 1992.

Detroit's "big three" join in (Friday, 6/9/00)
Three of the world's largest automotive manufacturers will offer health care coverage to same-sex partners. More than 90 other companies are adopting similar policies. Also, there has been a major change of attitude toward gay employees where you may not have expected it. The Central Intelligence Agency has held a "gay pride" celebration. Not long ago, gay workers could not receive a security clearance because of claims that they would be subject to blackmail.

Labor protests in Latin America (Friday, 6/9/00)
Union members have been marching in protest in Argentina, and Uruguay has been attempting to cope with a one-day general strike.

A major county learns that a lot of its "temps" really haven't been temps (Friday, 6/9/00)
There are strong financial incentives for employers to regard workers as temporary or contract personnel, as opposed to full-time employees. King County in Washington state will settle a class-action suit by paying $18.6 to workers who have been mislabeled. King County is where Seattle is located, incidentally. Some months ago, Washington state's most influential company, which many regard as the world's most influential company as well, lost a similar suit. Any guesses as to which company we're talking about? It's been in the news a lot during the past several days, and the boss' initials are "B.G." He used to be the richest man in the world. His foundation is still the largest in the world and is run by his father, who is a retired Seattle attorney. Enough clues.

Corel cuts a fifth of its workforce (Friday, 6/9/00)
Corel has been a familiar name in software for a long time, but has been having serious problems recently which threaten the company's continued existence. As part of a plan to reduce yearly expenses by $40 million, Corel is cutting 320 jobs.

Ergonomics rule gets snagged in Congressional politics (Friday, 6/9/00)
The House of Representatives has voted to block a rule that would protect workers from repetitive stress injuries. Here's more from Vicki Allen from Washington, D. C.

Rancor at global women's conference (Friday, 6/9/00)
Representatives from around the world have been participating in a UN-sponsored conference intended to advance the status of women. As the conference winds down, consensus still is lacking on some issues, in particular sexual rights for women and the handling of domestic violence.

Longaberger cuts some salaries, raises others (Friday, 6/9/00)
The big Ohio basketmaker is changing its pay scales. For instance 121 workers will be receiving less pay, in some cases, a lot less.

Wage gap not necessarily a consequence of gender bias (Friday, 6/9/00)
On average, men working outside the home continue to earn less than women working outside the home. However, some economists say that this gap is often misinterpreted and may not mean what many people think it means.

More on the growing popularity of connecting with the office by phone line (Friday, 6/9/00)
If you're working on a computer that's connected to other computers at the office, do you have to be in the office yourself in order to get your work done? Actually, you may not even have to be on the same continent. Jeffrey Leib writes in the Denver Post about the growing popularity of "telecommunting."

Good works and forgiveness (Friday, 6/9/00)
Japan's Education Ministry intends change its system for providing financial support for college students. For instance, students who achieve at high levels may have their student loans forgiven, meaning that tuition will be free, contingent upon their performance.

If you really know how to run a company, a lot of people are looking for you (Friday, 6/9/00)
There are serious labor shortages in many sectors, occupations, and regions of the United States, but we tend to hear most about the tech skills shortage, because of the growing importance of technology in driving the American economy. However, as Barbara Powell reports in today's Kansas City Star, the shortage of executive talent is also getting to be very serious.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: refer.com (Friday, 6/9/00)
Here's an unusual jobs site. Refer.com is willing to pay referral bonuses if you are able to help them find the people they're looking for, and those bonuses can be substantial.

The tech world's principal topic of conversation today (Thursday, 6/8/00)
Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has ruled, with reluctance, he says, that the world's most influential company be broken into two companies. He would still like to see the Justice Department and Microsoft Corporation come to a settlement that would enable the Bill Gates empire to remain intact but not end up ruling the world.

As one might expect, many of Microsoft's competitors like the idea of its being weakened. Duncan Martell reports that many industry leaders expect a more open and competitive tech market from now on. The U.S. government will ask the Supreme Court to take the case immediately, as opposed to allowing it to run through the regular appeals process. Bill Gates says a quick final resolution of the matter would be best for his company, although he vows to appeal. One might expect that he would really prefer that the case not go directly to the Supreme Court, because that would give Microsoft only one chance to have the ruling overturned rather than several chances along the way. If Judge Jackson's ruling stands and Microsoft becomes two companies, the hi-tech economy, which is driving the entire American economy now, could become quite different. Microsoft isn't the world's most highly valued company anymore, as it was only a few months ago, and Bill Gates doesn't appear to be the world's richest individual anymore either.

However, the AT&T experience would not necessarily suggest pessimism on behalf of Microsoft's stockholders, including Mr. Gates. The combined value of two Microsoft companies could quickly amount to more than the market cap of the current one. But, will old Harvard buddies Gates and Balmer end up being competitors? Would a new Republican administration throw out the case? Can Microsoft still avoid breakup by moving to nearby British Columbia? Stay tuned. What do Americans think about the whole affair? Opinion is divided, probably, and we're likely to hear much more about it from polls. However, John Cunniff thinks Americans are confused about success. So much that seems good is said to be bad for them, he says.

Major strike coming to Israel (Thursday, 6/8/00)
Negotiations have broken down, so Histadrut expects to launch a general strike on Monday, and Israeli teachers may join in. Meanwhile, the legal workweek has been reduced to 43 hours beginning July 1.

Here's an update on one of Europe's strongest economies (Thursday, 6/8/00)
Business Week reports that, despite an unimpressive first-quarter increase in the Netherlands' gross domestic product, this is one of the strongest economies in Europe, and its labor market is very tight.

First-time jobless claims increase (Thursday, 6/8/00)
New claims hit their highest level of the year last week, according to the latest Labor Department figures. It's more evidence that efforts on the part of the Federal Reserve to slow the economy a bit are beginning to have an effect. A number of the nation's governors are concerned about uncontrolled growth as well, saying that it could threaten hi-tech jobs. You may feel that this requires explanation, so Mike Soraghan has been studying the new report released by the National governors Association so you won't have to.

The AIDS epidemic is beginning to look more and more like the 14th century's black death in some regions (Thursday, 6/8/00)
A new study from the International Labor Organization forecasts a workforce decline in sub-Saharan Africa of a fifth or more by the year 2020, all because of AIDS.

Who ever said that women's opinions are monolithic? (Thursday, 6/8/00)
A UN meeting has been going on for a week to deal with issues relating to equality for the world's women. Evelyn Leopold reports that the women in attendance certainly aren't all of one mind on some of those issues. Incidentally, here's a report card from some at the conference on how America has been doing. Not so good on attempts to reduce poverty among American women, but pretty good on moving women into key positions where important decisions are made, according to them.

Donna Karan International is sued (Thursday, 6/8/00)
The designer clothing firm is accused of cheating workers out of minimum and overtime wages under what amounts to sweatshop conditions. The five immigrant garment workers are seeking class-action status for their suit.

America may be looking at itself in a "fun-house mirror" (Thursday, 6/8/00)
Sociologists are saying that the various indexes and measurements commonly used to tell Americans about themselves may provide a distorted view of American society overall. Paul Van Slambrouck reports from San Francisco from the Christian Science Monitor.

Outsiders invade the schools (Thursday, 6/8/00)
There are many troubled school districts across the United States containing many troubled schools, and many of these are in troubled neighborhoods. Ramar Lewin writes from San Diego for the New York Times on the growing number of outside professionals who are being brought in to fix things. ARE they fixing them? Again, stay tuned.

The Crimson editorializes on the living wage movement (Thursday, 6/8/00)
There has been a highly publicized movement going on at Harvard which, according to organizers, is intended to insure that anyone who works for the great university will be able to make a living. Harvard's own newspaper, the Harvard Crimson has been reporting the story all along. Now, it has some editorial thoughts.

Tech isn't all about young males (Thursday, 6/8/00)
Recent studies have shown a significant demographic shift among those accessing the Internet, including older people, even many elderly, many minorities, and so on. What about the people on the other end? Some of those working at dot-com companies aren't so young either, and many certainly aren't males. Here's more from Rachel Konrad of CNET.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: U.S. Department of State: Economic Issues (Thursday, 6/8/00)
The United States Department of State maintains a website dealing with economic issues of concern to the American foreign ministry, and some of these may also be of concern to you. You can access various online economics journals on the site, among other things.

Medicare will cover the cost of clinical trials (Wednesday, 6/7/00)
Clinical trials which can determine the value of drugs and other treatments for the elderly can be costly. President Clinton is ordering that Medicare begin paying for them.

Poverty and prostitution (Wednesday, 6/7/00)
One of the more disturbing attributes of the new global economy is the international trafficking in human beings, and poverty can push even very young children into the international sex trade, according to Deborah Zabarenko who reports on the big U.N. global women's conference. Meanwhile, women's organizations around the world are supporting a new treaty that would guarantee working women more maternity leave as well as the right to breast-feed their infants during working hours. Finally, Barbara Crossette reports th