Productivity, job reports boost economic outlook

Productivity of America’s companies rose solidly in the opening quarter of this year, and new filings for jobless benefits plunged last week to their lowest level in more than three years, which is good news for the country’s economic health.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that productivity — the amount an employee produces for every hour on the job — rose at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the January-to-March quarter, up from a 2.5 percent pace registered in the previous quarter.

In a second report from the department, new applications filed for unemployment insurance dropped by a seasonally adjusted 25,000 to 315,000, for the week ending May 1. That marked the lowest level since Oct. 28, 2000.

Labor

SBC, union resume talks

SBC Communications and a union representing 100,000 workers resumed talks Thursday in hopes of reaching a new contract at the nation’s second-largest local phone company before Saturday’s strike deadline.

The linemen, call-center employees and other workers in 13 states, including Kansas, have been without a contract since April 3.

SBC officials have said they would bring in nonunion workers in the event of a strike to make sure operations run smoothly.

Negotiations between SBC and the Communications Workers of America were under way in Washington with the help of a federal mediator. The biggest issues — wages, job security, health care and pensions — were unresolved.

Investigation

Former Enron chief’s wife receives prison sentence

The wife of former Enron Corp. finance chief Andrew Fastow pleaded guilty Thursday to helping her husband hide ill-gotten income from some of his myriad financial schemes and was sentenced to the maximum of one year in prison.

Attorneys for Lea Fastow had asked Judge David Hittner to sentence her to five months in prison and five months of home confinement. Hittner rejected the pleas and handed down the maximum sentence.