Labor month in review
The
April Review
20 million worked at home
Few days lost to work stoppages
Respirators used in 10 percent of workplaces
The Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks out goods- versus service-producing employment as far back as 1919. Even in those days, well before anyone had heard of the service economy or of a new information-based economy, service-producing employment exceeded goods-producing employment. Back then, however, the two were roughly even, while today the service-producing sector is the larger by a factor of roughly four.
Furthermore, as Bill Goodman and Reid Steadman lead their report by stating, about 97 percent of the last dozen years’ employment growth came in the service-producing sector. Within that sector, it has been business-oriented industries that have been driving an increasing share of growth, as the payrolls of computer, personnel supply, and management and public relations establishments have expanded.
In the shorter term, even the business services industries have been caught in the recent economic downdraft. Rachel Krantz briefs us on what has proven to be the sharpest decline in business services in the 43-year record of its employment figures. Personnel services establishments were especially affected during the period covered by this study.
In the context of exploring the methods and procedures suitable for placing United States and Japanese unemployment statistics on roughly the same conceptual footing, Toshihiko Yamagami’s article suggests that labor underutilization in Japan may currently be greater than that in the United States. This would represent the first time that Japan’s unemployment rate, as calculated using U.S. definitions, exceeded the U.S. rate.
In addition to the impacts on employment structure, the shift to services has had an impact on the structure of individual workweeks as well. John P. Robinson, Alain Chenu, and Anthony S. Alvarez reason that in the service sector, the measured unit of work is more likely to be projects completed rather than hours worked. In addition, factors such as globalization, more frequent transfers and schedule changes, and the blurring distinction between work and nonwork makes measuring work hours a more complex job. The article goes on to describe a grid reporting approach used in Europe with some success.
Alain Chenu and John P. Robinson also contribute a piece that outlines the additional insight such a grid reporting system can lend to understanding the time-use patterns within dual-earner families.
In May 2001, 19.8 million persons usually did some work at home as part of their primary job. These workers, who reported working at home at least once per week, accounted for 15 percent of total employment. A little more than half of those who usually worked at home were wage and salary workers who took work home on an unpaid basis. Another 17 percent had a formal arrangement with their employer to be paid for the work they did at home. The remainder were self-employed.
Of those who reported working at home at least once per week in 2001, almost two-thirds (64 percent) were managers and professionals. The next most common occupation was technical, sales, and administrative support, at 24 percent.
Among wage and salary workers who work at home at least once per week, the most common reason is to "finish or catch up on work" (46 percent). An additional 33 percent report that they work at home because it is the "nature of the job." Find out more in "Work at Home in 2001," news release USDL 02–107.
Few days lost to work stoppages
The number of days idle because of strikes and lockouts was at a historic low in 2001. There were 1.2 million workdays of idleness in 2001 due to major work stoppages. Major work stoppages are defined as strikes or lockouts that idle 1,000 or more workers and last at least one shift. The previous low for days of idleness due to work stoppages was 2 million in 1999.
Fifty-three percent of last year’s work stoppage days of idleness (608,300 days) stemmed from four major disputes. The one with the most days was between the State of Minnesota and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (242,500 days); and the second was between the State of Hawaii’s Department of Education and the National Education Association (161,200 days). The third was between Comair and the Airline Pilots Association (116,600 days), and the fourth involved the Midwest Generation Company and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (88,000 days). Learn more from news release USDL 02–153, "Major Work Stoppages, 2001."
Respirators used in 10 percent of workplaces
Respirators had been used by employees in about 10 percent of the private industry workplaces surveyed in late 2001. The term "respirator" refers to any device designed to provide the wearer with respiratory protection against inhalation of a potentially hazardous atmosphere. Dust masks, full-facepiece respirators, and self-contained breathing apparatuses (where air or oxygen is carried in a tank on the worker’s back) are examples of respirators.
In nearly half of the 619,400 establishments where respirators were used, they were used by employees on a voluntary basis only, and, in about 12 percent, they were used only when required because of emergencies. These data are from a special survey conducted by BLS for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Find more information in news release USDL 02–141, "Respirator Use and Practices."
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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