Consumer Confidential: More jobs, bad fish oil, BIG coffees

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Here’s your think-fast Thursday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Not to be too wonky, but the latest labor stats suggest a forecast of partial sunlight in the job market. Productivity is up by 6.9%, while labor costs are down by 5.9%. What’s that mean? It means employers are still demanding more work from fewer workers. But it also means, if history is any guide, that this can’t last much longer and that businesses are going to have to start hiring again to meet demand for products and services. In other words, more jobs. Not a sure thing, of course, but this is how the pencil pushers make their predictions.

--Do you take fish oil as a nutritional supplement? Lots of people do, primarily as a source of Omega-3, which is said to help fight heart disease and other ailments. But a new lawsuit alleges that many fish oil capsules contain dangerously high levels of PCBs, a chemical linked to birth defects and cancer. The plaintiffs in the case say they tested 10 different fish oil products and found varying levels of PCBs in each. They say the PCBs put fish oil on the wrong side of California’s Proposition 65, which requires disclosure of ‘any detectable amount’ of certain chemicals, including PCBs.

--Yesterday it was Starbucks and guns. Today it’s Starbucks and REALLY BIG cups of iced tea and iced coffee. The new ‘Trenta’ cups will contain a full 31 ounces of tasty beverage, compared with those now-wimpy Venti cups that offer a pitiful 24 ounces of satisfaction. Starbucks is testing out the Trenta cups in Phoenix and Tampa. If they catch on there -- and why wouldn’t they? -- we can expect to see industrial-size drinks at Starbucks nationwide.

-- David Lazarus