April 9, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

1996-98 growth fastest among jobs with highest earnings

Total employment increased by about 6 percent from January 1996 to December 1998. The growth rate for jobs in occupation-industry groups with the highest earnings was over 10 percent. This was roughly twice the increase recorded for jobs in the middle earnings group and three times that for jobs in the lowest earnings group.

[Chart data—TXT]

Employment in the highest earnings group, primarily made up of managers and professionals in a broad range of industries, grew at about the same rate in 1997 and 1998. Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations in construction and in transportation and public utilities showed the largest employment increases.

The rate of employment growth in the middle earnings group was comparable to that of the highest earnings group during 1997, but began to subside by the summer of 1998. The decline in employment of operators, fabricators, and laborers in manufacturing industries was instrumental in dampening the group’s growth.

Job growth in the lowest earnings group also slowed in 1998, most notably in clerical occupations in the services industry and sales occupations in retail trade.

These data are a product of the Current Population Survey. The earnings categories were defined by ranking the 90 major industry by major occupation groups by earnings and dividing them into three groups, each accounting for roughly one-third of total employment in 1996. Obtain more information from, "Job growth slows during crises overseas," Monthly Labor Review, February 1999.