An article in the July 2005 edition of the Survey of Current Business, published by the U.S. Commerce Dept.’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, reveals some interesting global capital spending and job creation patterns among U.S. multinationals between 2000 and 2003. In 2003, the value added by those companies’ foreign affiliates increased 17.1 percent, nearly tripling the value-add by their domestic parent companies. Some of this was attributable to currency exchange rates. But parent company share of worldwide capital expenditures still stood at 74 percent, while employment stood at 72 percent. In Ireland, a full 18 percent of the country’s GDP was accounted for by U.S. multinational affiliates.

     According to a July report from the National Academy of Social Insurance, total workers’ compensation payments for injured workers rose by 3.2 percent to $54.9 billion in 2003, while employer costs rose by 9.6 percent to $80.8 billion. When shown relative to aggregate wages of workers, payments rose by just one cent for every $100 of wages in 2003 — or from $1.15 to $1.16. The costs to employers " which include the premiums they pay for workers' compensation insurance (or their administrative costs if they self insure) " rose by 12 cents per $100 of wages, to $1.71 in 2003.

     In late July, the Economic Development Administration made available a Webcast of its recently held event "Building a 21st Century World Class Workforce." Among the participants: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour; Dennis Donovan, executive vice president of human resources, The Home Depot; Emily DeRocco, assistant secretary, Employment and Training Administration, United States Department of Labor; Dr. P. Anthony Zeiss, president, Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, N.C.; and Sandy Baruah, chief of staff, Economic Development Administration.

     Here’s a blog that has more matter and less chatter: TaxProf Blog, edited by Prof. Paul L. Caron of the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Designed as the ultimate scholarship and news resource for tax law professors, the site offers current postings on the tax ramifications of Whirlpool’s offer for Maytag, conservation easements and LLCs, in addition to a multitude of permanent research resources and archives.

     If you haven’t read it yet, check out the April testimony on "The Impact of Regulation on U.S. Manufacturing" by Thomas J. Duesterberg, president and CEO of the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, before the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs of tthe Committee on Government Reform of the U.S. House of Representatives.

     A 142-page assessment of The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 was issued to Congress on June 30 by the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury.

     The number "1,066" has always been a significant one in the U.K., but a new downloadable report from UK Trade & Investment correlates it to an invasion of inward investment capital instead of just an invasion. Of the 1,066 inward investment projects in fiscal year 2004-2005, 464 came from U.S. firms. "As a proportion of total U.S. investment in the European Union, the U.K. hosts as much as Germany, France, the Netherlands and Ireland combined," said Alastair Newton, director investment of UK Trade & Investment USA, noting there are about 14,000 American investors in the UK. Among the report’s year-on-year highlights:

• Total projects increased to 1,066 from 811 projects.
• New jobs increased to 39,592 from 25,463.
• Research and development projects increased 22% to 101 projects.
• Pharmaceutical and biotechnology projects rose 38% to 80 projects.
• IT and software projects jumped 61% to 240 projects.

     Technology companies mulling investment in Quebec will find a multitude of solid information and resources in a recently completed study of Greater Montreal’s Information and Communications Technology sector.

     If you have a few hours and don’t have the chance to spend them on a golf course, be sure to spend some time plowing through the 1,000-plus pages of the newly re-authorized transportation bill, complete with table of contents.