Labor month in review
The
August Review
Productivity database expanded
Work fatalities
Fewer workers displaced
Economic globalization and global economic change are phrases that have been used so much lately that eyes are glazing over. This issue of the Review brings some of their implications back to real life. The lead article follows a chain of price movements, ostensibly in the domestic grain and foodstuffs markets. The precipitating incident was an extreme drought in the Midwest, and the authors roadmap the article as tracking "food prices from the grain fields of the farm belt to kitchen tables across America." But, as Jerry Light and Thomas Shevlin explain later in the article, strong foreign demand for grain was an underlying factor. Grain exports rose by almost a quarter in value between 1994 and 1995, then rose again in 1996. We have come a long way in the past quarter century—in 1973 undergraduates were still told that the trade account was an interesting, but relatively small part of national income. Of course, that was also the year in which there were major international shocks affecting markets in which the United States was the major customer (oil) and in which we were the major supplier (grain).
Retirement decisions and pension policies also masquerade as purely domestic issues. Murray Gendell’s main objective, in fact, was to refine measures of the average ages at retirement within the four countries he studied. However, his discussion makes it clear that the average age of retirement has a significant impact on a nation’s economic dependency ratio, which in turn has an impact on the nation’s economic flexibility.
Robert J. Gitter and Markus Scheuer have contributed a more standard international comparison article. The point to note here is that the replacement of command-and-control economics with market forces means that there are now that many more countries whose economic dynamics must be understood. Gitter and Scheuer give us a start on a key central European nation, the Czech Republic.
Productivity database expanded
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has announced a major expansion in the information available from the industry productivity program. The Bureau now publishes data on labor productivity for 499 industries. Previously, productivity series were published for 182 industries. Productivity series for an additional 230 industries are available, but due to data limitations are not published. The expanded industry productivity database now covers 100 percent of employment in manufacturing, 96 percent of employment in mining, 90 percent in communications and utilities, 78 percent in trade, 57 percent in transportation, and 17 percent in finance and services.
Data are available at the two-, three-, and four-digit SIC levels. Currently, the series for most industries cover the period 1987–96. Data for some industries are available for years prior to 1987, in many cases beginning in 1958 and, in a few cases, in 1947. The published productivity series and underlying data are available on the BLS Industry Productivity web site: /lpc/.
Most of the industry series will also be published in table 42 of the Current Labor Statistics section. The published and unpublished industry productivity series are available from the Division of Industry Productivity Studies at 202-691-5618; the e-mail address is dipsweb@bls.gov.
For more information, see news release USDL 98-310, Productivity By Industry, 1987–1996.
There were 6,218 fatal work injuries in 1997, roughly the same number as in the previous year. Highway accidents were again the leading cause of death on the job, accounting for 22 percent of the fatal work injury total. Workplace homicides continued to be the second leading cause of job-related deaths, despite falling to their lowest level in the past 6 years. Occupations with large numbers of fatal injuries included truckdrivers, construction trades, farm occupations, and salesworkers. Industry divisions with large numbers of fatalities relative to their employment include agriculture, forestry, and fishing; construction; transportation and public utilities; and mining.
For more information, see news release USDL 98-336, National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 1997.
In the period between January 1995 and December 1997, just under 3.6 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years. The number of displaced workers had declined from 4.2 million in a previous survey that covered the period January 1993 to December 1995. Among those displaced in 1995–97, about three-fourths of the displaced were re-employed at the time of the survey (February 1998).
All regional divisions of the Nation had fewer displaced workers during 1995–97 than they had in the earlier survey period. Displaced workers living in the West North Central and Mountain divisions were most likely to be re-employed as of February 1998: Those living in the Middle Atlantic division were least likely to have found new jobs.
For more information, see news release USDL 98-347, Worker Displacement, 1995–97.
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