March 25, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Job absence rate higher for
women than for men
In 1998, about 4 percent of full-time workers
were absent from their job during an average workweek—meaning they worked less than
35 hours during the week because of injury, illness, or a variety of other reasons. About
5.1 percent of women (including 5.6 percent of women aged 20 to 24) were absent in the
average week, compared with 2.7 percent of men.
[Chart data—TXT]
Among those absent, women were somewhat more likely to be absent for
reasons other than injury or illness. One third of women’s compared with less than
one-quarter of men’s absences were attributed to other reasons.
Absence rates did not vary as much by age. Those 55 years and older had the highest
absence rate at 4.2 percent, followed by 4.0 percent of those age 16 to 19 and 3.9 percent
of those 20 to 24. The lowest absence rate was 3.7 percent among worker 25 to 54 years of
age.
These data on absences from work are produced by the Current Population Survey. More
information can be found in Tables 44 and
Table 45 of the January 1999 edition of "Employment and
Earnings." The data in this article are 1998 annual averages. The absence rate is
the ratio of workers with absences to total full-time wage and salary employment. Absences
are defined as instances when persons who usually work 35 or more hours per week worked
less than 35 hours during the reference week for one of the following reasons: own
illness, injury, or medical problems; child-care problems; other family or personal
obligations; civic or military duty; and maternity or paternity leave.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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Read more »