Recent statistical investigations indicate that labor market imbalance has increased during the past decade and has had important deleterious effects on the nation's inflation and productivity growth records. A growing difficulty in filling skilled jobs at a given unemployment rate is reflected. Business community analysts attribute the growing imbalance to changes in technologies and geographic dispersion of jobs and to changes in education and training of the workers that are out of step with the economy's needs. The business community clearly recognizes the magnitude of imbalance. Employers' responses to this problem have caused significant increases in wage growth and significant declines in productivity growth. One response for the imbalance is the attempt to get skilled workers from competitors. Bidding wars that raise wages and prices often result. Alternatively, firms accept a poorer fit between workers and jobs than has been customary, which serves to lower productivity. (YLB)