February 11, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Small establishments employ the
largest share of workers
In March 1997, small establishments—those
with less than 100 workers—employed 55.3 percent of the total U.S. private sector
employment of 100.0 million. Medium establishments (100 to 999 workers) employed 33.1
percent of all private workers, and large establishments (1,000 or more) accounted for
11.7 percent.
[Chart data—TXT]
Four of the nine major industry divisions reported substantially greater
employment shares in small establishments than the average. Small establishments accounted
for about 80.5 percent of employment in construction, 74.8 percent in wholesale trade,
73.3 in agriculture, and 71.2 percent in retail trade.
Two industry divisions—finance, insurance, and real estate and services—had
small establishment employment shares about the same as the average.
The manufacturing division had by far the lowest employment share in small
establishments at 30.4 percent, and the highest shares in both medium establishments (49.0
percent) and large establishments (20.5 percent). Transportation and public
utilities also reported comparatively high shares of employment in medium and large
establishments.
These employment data by size of establishment are produced by the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (ES-202)
program, a virtual census of establishments, employment, and wages of employees on nonfarm
payrolls. Additional information may be obtained from the bulletin, "Employment and
Wages Annual Averages, 1997." An "establishment" is defined as an economic
unit which produces goods or provides services, typically at a single physical location
and engaged in one type of economic activity. For this article, small establishments are
defined as those that employ less than 100 workers; medium establishments as those that
employ between 100 and 999 workers; and large establishments as those that employ 1,000
workers or more. Due to rounding, the overall and some industry division employment
shares by establishment size do not sum to 100 percent.
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 »