January, 2001, Vol. 124, No. 1
Labor month in review
The January
Review
Most students work
Multifactor productivity gains
San Jose again tops pay list
We were very pleased to have Charles J. Muhl, formerly our workplace law editor and now a Chicago-based attorney, contribute a full-length article. He surveys the growing exceptions to the "employment-at-will" doctrine. Employment-at-will asserts that workers and employers should be able to enter specific employment contracts of any (or no) fixed duration, but that there is no obligation on either side if an employee was hired without such a contract. Exceptions to this assumption began to become a visible part of common law in the 1950s. However, it was not until the 1980s that the bulk of the exceptions were developed in both statutory and common law.
The most common exception to employment-at will is for public policy. This holds that an employee is wrongfully discharged if the termination is counter to an explicit policy of the government. One example is the discharge of an employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim. Another exception is an implied contract. Here, the usual case involves an employee handbook or similar document that states, for example, that discipline or termination will only be for "just cause." The most expansive (and least widespread) exception is the "covenant-of-good-faith" exception. Under this doctrine, a covenant of good faith is assumed in every employment relationship, thus broadening the prohibition of wrongful discharge beyond the narrow boundaries of the public policy exception or cases where an implicit contract could be adduced.
Richard R. Nelson continues his long-running series of annual reports on developments in State labor law. Although he avers that enactments were less numerous last year, the Northern corners of the Nation managed to break new legal ground. Washington passed the first indexed State minimum wage and Maine is the first State to place limits on the amount of mandatory overtime an employer may require.
Glenn Whittington looks at changes in workers’ compensation laws and finds that several States have increased their maximum benefits for disability or death. In addition, some States extended coverage to new or more clearly defined classes of injury or concepts of employee.
Robert Kenyon, Jr., and Loryn Lancaster team up to summarize legislation affecting unemployment insurance. In this arena, some actions were in response to Federal enactments. The Labor Department issued a rule allowing States to provide benefits when employees take leave or otherwise suspend employment following the birth or adoption of a child. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 addresses separations due to circumstances of domestic violence. Four States passed legislation making exceptions to the voluntary quit provisions of their unemployment insurance systems for such separations.
Working a job while enrolled in school is the norm among older high school students. Nearly three out of every five students who were 16 years old when the 1997–98 school year began worked for an employer at some point during the academic year.
Among all students who were 16 at the start of the 1997–98 school year, 58 percent had an employee job during the academic year. Among female students, the proportion with an employee job was 60 percent, while among male students the proportion was slightly lower (57 percent).
Students in Grade 11 were considerably more likely to work for an employer during the school year than those in Grade 10. Of students who were 16 at the start of the fall term, 63 percent of those in Grade 11 held an employee job, compared with 50 percent of those in Grade 10. Note that jobs such as babysitting or yard work done on an as-needed basis or for multiple employers are considered to be "freelance" jobs rather than "employee" jobs. Additional information is available from "Employment Experience of Youths: Results from a Longitudinal Survey," news release USDL 00–353.
Multifactor productivity gains
Multifactor productivity—measured as output per unit of combined labor, capital, and intermediate purchases inputs—increased between 1987 and 1996 in 63 of the 108 industries for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes data. Most of the gains were at relatively modest rates. Average annual increases of between 0.1 and 1.0 percent were recorded in 32 industries. In another 21 industries, multifactor productivity rose by between 1.1 and 2.0 percent. Ten industries had productivity growth rates exceeding 2.0 percent. Two industries whose average annual gains far exceeded those of all other manufacturers were electronic components and accessories (14.8 percent) and computers and office equipment (14.4 percent). Find additional information in "Multifactor Productivity Measures for Three-digit SIC Manufacturing Industries," (PDF 25K), BLS Report 948.
In 1999, San Jose, California, led the nation in highest average annual pay among metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Annual pay in the San Jose area averaged $61,110, well above the national average of $34,868.
New York, New York, had the second highest pay level at $52,351, followed by San Francisco, California ($50,169), New Haven-Bridgeport-Stamford-Waterbury-Danbury, Connecticut ($47,142), and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Washington ($43,921). The first four of these five MSAs occupied the same slots last year. Seattle moved up from sixth to fifth. Find additional information in "Average Annual Pay Levels in Metropolitan Areas, 1999," news release USDL 00–349.
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) 691–7890.
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