October 1, 1998 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Jobs requiring low levels of
educational attainment grow faster in U.S. than in Japan or Europe
Total employment grew by 27.6 percent in the United States
between 1980 and 1996, compared with 17.6 percent in Japan and 3.1 percent in the major
economies of Europe (France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and West Germany). Jobs requiring
high levels of educational attainment grew at comparable rates in all these economies, but
jobs requiring lower levels of education grew fastest in the United States.
NOTE: Time period for France and West Germany is 1980-1993.
[Chart data—TXT]
The United States' growth rate in jobs requiring lower levels of educational attainment
averaged 0.9 percent per year during the period. Japan's growth rate for such jobs was
slightly lower at 0.8 percent. In contrast, all four of the major European economies
averaged an annual decline in such jobs: -0.9 percent in France, -0.7 percent in the
United Kingdom, -0.4 percent in Italy, and -0.1 percent in West Germany.
As a result of these growth rates, the composition of employment across the countries
showed different patterns. Three of the European countries have shifted towards sectors
with higher education. The percentage of those employed working in jobs requiring higher
levels of education rose from 36.6 percent to 46.7 percent in France from 1980 to 1993,
from 35.6 percent to 45.1 percent in the United Kingdom from 1980 to 1996, and from 27.8
percent to 36.9 percent in Italy from 1980 to 1996. In contrast, the composition of
employment by educational attainment has not shifted dramatically in the United States,
Japan, or West Germany.
These data are produced by the Foreign Labor
Statistics program. For additional information, see "Issues in Labor Statistics: Employment Growth Among Sectors in the
United States, Japan, and Europe Based Upon Educational Attainment."
Of interest
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