Showing posts with label BLS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BLS. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Husband and wife employed in 48% of married-couple families in 2015

In 2015, the share of families with an employed member was 80.3 percent, up by 0.2 percentage point from 2014. Families maintained by women with no spouse present remained less likely to have an employed member (75.0 percent) than families maintained by men with no spouse present (82.9 percent) or married-couple families (81.4 percent).

Among married-couple families, both the husband and wife were employed in 48.0 percent of families; in 19.8 percent of married-couple families only the husband was employed, and in 7.1 percent only the wife was employed.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Characteristics of minimum wage workers, 2015

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

In 2015, 78.2 million workers age 16 and older in the United States were paid at hourly rates, representing 58.5 percent of all wage and salary workers. Among those paid by the hour, 870,000 workers earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. About 1.7 million had wages below the federal minimum. Together, these 2.6 million workers with wages at or below the federal minimum made up 3.3 percent of all hourly paid workers.

The percentage of hourly paid workers earning the prevailing federal minimum wage or less declined from 3.9 percent in 2014 to 3.3 percent in 2015. This remains well below the percentage of 13.4 recorded in 1979, when data for hourly-paid were first collected on a regular basis.

This report presents highlights and statistical tables describing workers who earned at or below the federal minimum wage in 2015. The data are obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a national monthly survey of approximately 60,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Information on earnings is collected from one-fourth of the CPS sample each month.

The CPS does not include questions on whether workers are covered by the minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or by individual state or local minimum wage laws. The estimates of workers paid at or below the federal minimum wage are based solely on the hourly wage they report, which does not include overtime pay, tips, or commissions.

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Health care and social assistance to have largest share of total employment by 2024

The health care and social assistance industry is projected to increase its share of total wage and salary employment to 14.5 percent by 2024, up from 12.8 percent in 2014 and 10.8 percent in 2004. The share of employment represented by professional and business services is also projected to increase, rising from 12.3 percent in 2004 and 13.5 percent in 2014 to 13.9 percent in 2024.

The share of total wage and salary employment represented by manufacturing is projected to decline in the coming period, falling from 10.7 percent in 2004 and 8.6 percent in 2014 to 7.6 percent in 2024. The decline in manufacturing’s employment share is the largest of any industry sector for the 2014–24 period.

More from the the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

People who are not in the labor force: why aren't they working?

People who are neither working nor looking for work are counted as “not in the labor force,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since 2000, the percentage of people in this group has increased. Data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and its Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) provide some insight into why people are not in the labor force. The ASEC is conducted in the months of February through April and includes questions about work and other activities in the previous calendar year.

For example, data collected in 2015 are for the 2014 calendar year, and data collected in 2005 are for the 2004 calendar year.1 In the ASEC, people who did not work at all in the previous year are asked to give the main reason they did not work. Interviewers categorize survey participants’ verbatim responses into the following categories: ill health or disabled; retired;2 home responsibilities; going to school; could not find work;3 and other reasons.

This Beyond the Numbers article examines data on those who were not in the labor force during 2004 and 2014 and the reasons they gave for not working.

More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Women in the labor force: a databook

Over the past 70 years, women’s participation in labor force activities has greatly expanded. Immediately following World War II, less than one-third of women were in the labor force. However, women soon began to participate in greater numbers, and their labor force participation rose rapidly from the 1960s through the 1980s before slowing in the 1990s.

Women reached the peak of their labor force participation in 1999, with a rate of 60.0 percent. Since then, labor force participation among women has declined, to 57.0 percent in 2014, which is still relatively high by historical standards.

More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Percent changes in average hourly earnings by state, May 2014 to May 2015

From May 2014 to May 2015, average hourly earnings increased in 45 states and decreased in five states and the District of Columbia. Vermont had the highest percent increase in hourly earnings (5.8 percent). Wyoming had the largest percent decrease (−1.4 percent).

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Part-time private industry workers less likely to have access to benefits in 2013

In March 2013, part-time private industry workers were less likely than full-time workers to have access to employer-provided benefits, such as retirement plans, health insurance, and paid sick leave.

In March 2013, nearly three-fourths (74 percent) of full-time private industry workers had access to retirement benefits, compared with just 37 percent of part-time workers. Similarly, 85 percent of full-time workers had access to health insurance through their employers, compared with only 24 percent of part-time workers. Full-time workers were also much more likely than part-time workers to have access to paid holidays, sick leave, and vacations.

More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Time spent in leisure activities in 2014, by gender, age, and educational attainment

On an average day in 2014, nearly everyone age 15 and over (96 percent) engaged in some sort of leisure activity such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. Among those who engaged in leisure activities, men spent more time in these activities (6.0 hours) than did women (5.2 hours).

Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time, accounting for more than half of leisure time, on average. Men spent 3 hours per day watching TV, while women spent 2.6 hours. Socializing, such as visiting with friends or attending or hosting social events, was the next most common leisure activity, accounting for 0.7 hours per day for both men and women.

On average, adults age 75 and over spent 8.0 hours per day engaged in leisure activities—more than any other age group; 35- to 44-year-olds spent 4.1 hours engaged in leisure and sports activities—less than other age groups.

More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics