Labor month in review
The August Review
Most work stoppages short-lived
Bigger firms, bigger checks
Refuse collection occupation hazardous
How to approach time-use data collection was a problem posed to a Bureau of Labor Statistics working group. Linda L. Stinson describes some of the methodological decisions that group foresees facing an agency that proposes to conduct such a survey. These issues include the survey mode, the additional or clarifying information to be sought in follow-up probes, and the activity classification system used to code the data.
All of the discussion to this point has involved measuring time and its use in a household context. In the final article, Jurgen Kropf and Patricia Getz examine a technical aspect of converting reports with other than weekly pay periods to weekly hours equivalents in the Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of establishment payrolls. They also describe a method for normalizing such reports in such a way as to reduce noneconomic fluctuations in the data.
Most work stoppages short-lived
Most major work stoppages in the United States in 1998 lasted 2 weeks or less. The four shortest work stoppages lasted for just 1 day, while the longest stoppage of the year lasted for more than 7 months. Fully a third of stoppages in 1998 were less than a week long. An additional 23 percent lasted between 1 and 2 weeks, for a total of 56 percent that were in effect no more than 2 weeks.
The longest work stoppage of the year commenced on May 3, 1998, at Peterbilt Motors Co. This stoppage—involving 1,200 workers represented by the United Automobile Workers—came to an end after 206 days on November 24, 1998.
More about work stoppages can be found in news release USDL 99–33, "Major Work Stoppages, 1998."
Major work stoppages are defined as strikes or lockouts that idle 1,000 or more workers and last at least one shift.
In March 1999, workers in the largest establishments in private industry received by far the highest compensation per hour. Compensation of employees in establishments with 500 or more workers averaged $26.37 per hour, compared with $18.14 in establishments with 100 to 499 workers and $16.27 in establishments with fewer than 100 workers.
Employees in the largest establishments were paid $18.37 per hour in wages and salaries. This was almost 40 percent more than the average wage of $13.17 for workers in medium-sized establishments and nearly 50 percent more than the $12.29 average for workers in the smallest.
Benefits received by employees in the biggest workplaces also outstripped those of other employees. In establishments with 500 or more workers, benefits averaged $8.00 per hour; this was more than 60 percent higher than the $4.97 average received by employees in establishments with 100 to 499 workers and about twice as high as the $3.98 average in establishments with fewer than 100 workers.
More information can be found in news release USDL 99–173, "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, March 1999."
Refuse collection occupation hazardous
Refuse collection is one of the most hazardous jobs in the country. From 1992 to 1997, the fatality rate for refuse collectors was 10 times the overall on-the-job fatality rate. The fatality rate for refuse collectors averaged 46 deaths per 100,000 workers per year. The fatality rate for all occupations was 4.7 deaths per 100,000 workers.
There were 132 fatally injured refuse collectors in the 1992–97 period. The annual number of fatalities ranged from 18 in 1993 to 29 in 1995. Vehicles inflicted most deaths on refuse collectors.
Additional information is available from "Job Hazards in the Waste Industry," Compensation and Working Conditions, Summer 1999.
Communications regarding the Monthly Labor Review may be sent to the Editor-in-Chief at 2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Room 2850, Washington, DC, 20212, or faxed to (202) 606–5899.
News releases discussed above are available at: http://www.bls.gov/bls/newsrels.htm
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