• Smoking Employees Cost U.S. Employers $6,000 a Year More

---

”Smokers cost their employers nearly $6,000 a year more than staff who don’t smoke, researchers said on Monday in what they say is the first comprehensive look at the issue.” Source: NBCNews.com

---

• U.S. Balance of Trade – April 2013 (Deficit, import, export)

---

Total April exports of $187.4 billion and imports of $227.7 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $40.3 billion, up from $37.1 billion in March, revised. April exports were $2.2 billion more than March exports of $185.2 billion. April imports were $5.4 billion more than March imports of $222.3 billion. In April, the goods deficit increased $3.2 billion from March to $58.6 billion, and the services surplus increased $0.1 billion from March to $18.3 billion. Exports of goods increased $1.8 billion to $131.1 billion, and imports of goods increased $5.0 billion to $189.7 billion. Exports of services increased $0.4 billion to $56.3 billion, and imports of services increased $0.3 billion to $38.0 billion. The goods and services deficit decreased $6.3 billion from April 2012 to April 2013. Exports were up $3.1 billion, or 1.7 percent, and imports were down $3.2 billion, or 1.4 percent. Source: USDOC-BEA

---

• U.S. Construction Spending – April 2013

---

Construction spending during April 2013 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $860.8 billion, 0.4 percent (±1.6%) above the revised March estimate of $857.7 billion. The April figure is 4.3 percent (±2.0%) above the April 2012 estimate of $825.1 billion. During the first 4 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $250.7 billion, 4.5 percent (±1.5%) above the $239.8 billion for the same period in 2012. Source: USDOC-Census

---

• U.S. Purchasing Managers’ Manufacturing Index – May 2013

---

”Manufacturing contracted in May as the PMI™ registered 49 percent, a decrease of 1.7 percentage points when compared to April's reading of 50.7 percent. ”This month's reading reflects the second month of contraction in the manufacturing sector since July 2009, when the index registered 49.9 percent. It is also the lowest reading for the PMI™ since June 2009, when the index registered 45.8 percent. ”A reading above 50 percent indicates that the manufacturing economy is generally expanding; below 50 percent indicates that it is generally contracting.” Source: Institute for Supply Management

---

• Quarterly Survey of U.S. Public Pensions

---

The Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions is a quarterly survey that provides national summary data on the revenues, expenditures, and composition of assets of the largest defined benefit public employee retirement systems for state and local governments. This survey currently consists of a panel of 100 retirement systems, which comprise 89.4 percent of financial activity among such entities, based on the 2007 Census of Governments. Source: USDOC-Census

---

• U.S. Spring 2013 Statistics of Income Bulletin Now Available

---

The Internal Revenue Service today announced the availability of the spring 2013 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin, which features information on high-income individual income tax returns filed for tax year 2010. Source: IRS

---

• Facts About U.S. Father's Day - June 16, 2013

---

“The idea of Father's Day was conceived slightly more than a century ago by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., while she listened to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who was left to raise his six children on a farm. ”A day in June was chosen for the first Father's Day celebration, June 17, 1910, proclaimed by Spokane's mayor because it was the month of Smart's birth. ”The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Father's Day has been celebrated annually since 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it permanent. ”How Many Fathers? There were 70.1 million fathers across the nation in 2008, the most recent year for which data are available.” Full report: USDOC-Census

---