Labor month in review
The February
Review
Substantial changes in CPS
Volunteer work measured
Payrolls longest in hospitals, schools, factories
The U.S. labor market remained weak, tentative, and directionless in 2002, although at a somewhat improved level from the year before. Terence M. McMenamin, Rachel Krantz, and Thomas J. Krolik present a straightforward account of employment declines in the beginning of the year, turning up only slightly in the second half, and an unemployment rate that edged up early in the year and fluctuated without a clear trend afterward.
The majority of the employed use a computer at work and a substantial number use the Internet. Steven Hipple and Karen Kosanovich detail these and a wide range of other findings from a September 2001 computer and Internet use supplement to the Current Population Survey. The most frequent activities were e-mail, word processing, desktop publishing, and spreadsheet and database work.
Charles J. Muhl examines the legal context of workplace e-mail and Internet use. In general, his survey indicates that employers have substantial rights to supervise and monitor their employees’ use of these communications media. In turn, employers may often be held responsible if an employee uses these tools inappropriately. Some specific examples of inappropriate use include sexual harassment, racial defamation, and libelous statements.
The January Current Population Survey (CPS) incorporated several significant changes. The questions on race and Hispanic origin were modified to comply with new Office of Management and Budget standards for federal data on race and ethnicity. The tables and databases derived from the CPS now contain data for whites, blacks or African Americans, and Asians. Data for Hispanics are still presented separately.
The Census Bureau provided new and higher estimates of the working age population based on both the 2000 Census and newer information on births, deaths, and migration. Both of these population control revisions were introduced in the January 2003 data, with estimates back to January 2000 adjusted to reflect the former. As a result of the second adjustment, which amounted to 941,000 in aggregate, the data on employment and unemployment levels for January 2003 (and beyond) are not strictly comparable with those for earlier months. The unemployment rate and other ratios, however, were not substantially affected by any of the 2003 population control revisions.
There were especially large impacts of both the questionnaire changes and the update to the surveys population controls, on data for Hispanics. All of the labor force categories and rates increased significantly among workers of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. The estimate working-age population of Hispanic or Latino origin was increased by about 2 million. The effect of the new procedures is, by itself, only statistically significant for the unemployment rate (up 0.4 percentage point). The higher unemployment rate for Hispanics is due to the new question identifying additional and different people as Hispanic or Latino.
The survey also implemented the North American Industry Classification System and the new Standard Occupational Classification. The Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated and applied new seasonal adjustment factors, as is the normal practice, and adopted the Census Bureau X–12 seasonal adjustment program.
About 59 million people did volunteer work at some point from September 2001 to September 2002, according to a supplement to the Current Population Survey in the latter month. Slightly more than 1 in 4 persons age 16 and older volunteered. The incidence of volunteering was higher among women (31.1 percent) than among men (23.8 percent). This relationship held across age groups, education levels, and other major characteristics.
Among persons of working age, 35- to 54-year-olds were the most likely to volunteer in 2002, with roughly 1 in 3 having donated their time. Teenagers also had a relatively high volunteer rate, 26.9 percent, perhaps reflecting an emphasis on volunteer and community service activities in schools.
Volunteer rates were lowest among persons in their early twenties (18.2 percent) and among those age 65 years and older (22.7 percent). Volunteers age 65 and older, however, devoted the most time annually—a median of 96 hours—to volunteer activities. Those age 25 to 34 years spent the least time, volunteering a median of 34 hours during the year.
Among persons 25 years of age and older, 43.6 percent of college graduates volunteered during the year. This was double the volunteer rate of high school graduates with no college experience and more than four times the rate of high school dropouts.
Payrolls longest in hospitals, schools, factories
In March 2001, the education and health services supersector had the most establishments with 1,000 or more workers. The 1,593 largest establishments in this sector employed a total of 3.5 million workers. Manufacturing had the next highest number of the largest establishments (1,479) followed by professional and business services (1,002) and trade, transportation, and utilities (635). In all, there were 6,021 private-industry establishments with 1,000 or more workers in March 2001. Find more information in Employment and Wages, Annual Averages, 2001, BLS Bulletin 2554.
Communications regarding the Monthly Labor Review may be sent to the Editor-in-Chief by e-mail to mlr@bls.gov, by mail at 2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Room 2850, Washington, DC, 20212, or by fax to (202) 691–7890.
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