Labor month in review
The
April Review
Working women and poverty
Small enterprises big employers
Wages in sports all over the park
Lost-time injuries
The economics of retirement, according to many observers, may well be the key policy issue of the first decades of the 21st century. The eldest members of the enormous baby-boom generation that was born between 1946 and 1964 turn 55 this year and, as William J. Wiatrowski points out, that is an age at which at least one statute permits penalty-free withdrawals from at least one form of retirement account under at least one set of circumstances.
Wiatrowski describes in detail the changing framework within which formal eligibility for retirement benefits is determined and how that affects the structure of retirement income. He concludes: "In 100 years, the Nation has gone from a society that needed few retirement benefits, through a period of closely structured retirement plans and ages, to a more flexible period characterized by varying plans and ages." This leads, as our cover illustration suggests, to a wider range of ages and circumstances at which one might become a "retiree."
A factor that can affect retirement decisions is the "health" of establishments—that is, is your employer expanding or contracting employment. A new longitudinal database from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has the potential for enhancing microdata research into topics such as job creation, job destruction, and the life cycle of establishments. In "Measuring job and establishment flows with BLS longitudinal microdata, " Timothy R. Pivetz, Michael A. Searson, and James R. Spletzer discuss the new database.
Prices and inflation affect far more than retirement and retirees, but for the one-fifth of retirees whose only source of retirement income is Social Security they are critical. Todd Wilson examines the behavior of consumer prices in 2000. The rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 3.4 percent last year, compared with 2.7 percent the year before. This acceleration could be traced in large part to increased charges for shelter, energy, and medical care.
Although the poverty rates for working men and working women both fell in 1999, the rate for women was still higher than the rate for men. The poverty rate for working women was 5.9 percent in 1999, down from 6.3 percent in 1998. For working men, the rate was 4.4 percent in 1999, compared with 4.7 percent in 1998.
The above figures are for individuals who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor force in 1999. Note that poverty status is defined in terms of family unit. The earnings of others in the family and the presence of dependents are important factors in a person’s poverty status. Find out more in A Profile of the Working Poor, 1999, BLS Report 947.
Small enterprises big employers
In March 1999, more than half of workers in private industry were employed at establishments that had fewer than 100 employees. Establishments with fewer than 100 workers accounted for 54.7 percent of private industry employment. Another 16.5 percent worked in establishments employing 100 to 249 workers.
The smallest establishments—those with fewer than five workers—employed 6.4 percent of workers. The largest establishments—those with 1,000 or more employees—accounted for 11.8 percent. Data presented here are for all private industry workers covered by State unemployment insurance programs. Find more information in Employment and Wages, Annual Averages, 1999, BLS Bulletin 2534.
Wages in sports all over the park
Athletes, coaches, sports officials and related workers held nearly 52,000 jobs in 1998. Their earnings ranged from a small, per-game fee to millions of dollars per season. While elite professional athletes and coaches might command salaries at the six-figure level, the earnings of the vast majority in sports are much more modest. Median annual earnings of sports professionals were $22,200 in 1998. The lowest paid 10 percent earned less than $11,900.
Sports and physical training instructors are an example of sports professionals with earnings well below those of professional athletes. In 1998, median hourly earnings of such instructors were about $11, and 90 percent of them earned less than $23 per hour. For more information, see "When the job’s a game: Athletes, coaches, sports officials and related workers," by Henry Kasper, in the Occupational Outlook Quarterly, spring 2001.
A total of 1.7 million injuries and illnesses that required recuperation away from work beyond the day of the incident were reported in private industry workplaces during 1999. Truck drivers had more workplace injuries and illnesses involving time away from work than any other occupation. Truck drivers experienced 141,100 work-related injuries and illnesses that required recuperation away from work beyond the day of the incident.
Nonconstruction laborers suffered the second highest number of occupational injuries and illnesses involving time away from work at 89,100, followed by nursing aides and orderlies at 75,700. For more information, see "Worktime Injuries and Illnesses: Characteristics and Resulting Time Away From Work, 1999," news release USDL 01–71.
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