Look for improvement in the job market for purchasing pros by late fall. Buyers were hammered by the double-whammy of recession and a big drive to reduce corporate headcounts using technology and outsourcing. General unemployment will peak at 6% in July, then fall slowly.

Protect your future with increased technical training. The face of purchasing is changing dramatically as demands on buyers escalate. PURCHASING's research finds that one in five buyers now have technical degrees, particularly in engineering and chemistry. The requirement will burgeon. One reason is the race to outsource manufacturing. Previously, expertise was a precious internal resource. With outsourcing, materials expertise is in danger of migrating outside the company unless corralled by purchasing technologists.

Hot-rolled sheet steel capacity in the US dropped 11% over the past two years as producers shuttered unprofitable plants. LTV alone dropped 2.6 million tons. See full report on this trend from Tom Stundza at www.purchasing.com.

It'll take more than a photo ID. The National Association of Chemical Distributors took action last month to boost security, including increased verification of customer identity. Exact steps were not disclosed.

Metalworking companies are telling the Bush administration they'll suffer irreparable damages if certain foreign steel products aren't exempted from 30% tariffs. History suggests the companies' pleas will be ineffective. However, Commerce already has received 1,500 requests for exemptions, more that expected and it must decide on each request individually by July 3. Tariffs have been levied against individual steel products or countries in the past, but not in the across-the-board approach chosen by Bush.

First-class mail rate will rise 3¢ to 37¢ on June 30, when most other U.S. Postal Service prices—priority mail, express mail, parcel post and certified mail—will rise as well. Postmaster General John Potter promises that rates won't rise again until at least 2004.

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