Women’s Earnings by Occupation from the 2014 American Community Survey

The U.S. Census Bureau released today a new table showing median earnings by detailed occupation from the 2014 American Community Survey. The table shows ratios indicating the percentage of women in an occupation, as well as the male-to-female earnings ratio in the occupation for full-time, year-round workers in the past 12 months. Internet address: http://www.census.gov/people/io/publications/table_packages.html.

Fastest growing occupations

When looking for labor projections, look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Here are Fastest growing occupations, 2012 and projected 2022 and Occupations with the most job growth for the same time frame.

For state data, check ProjectionsCentral.com for Short Term Occupational Projections (to 2016) and Long Term Occupational Projections (to 2022).

Access to retirement and medical benefits by occupation, March 2015

Retirement benefits were available to 66 percent of private industry workers in the United States in March 2015. Access to benefits differed among some occupational groups. Among workers in management, professional, and related occupations in private industry, 80 percent had access to retirement benefits—compared with 39 percent in service occupations.

Medical care benefits were available to 69 percent of private industry workers in March 2015. Within private industry, 87 percent of workers in management, professional, and related occupations had access to medical care, compared with 41 percent in service occupations.

More, including charts, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities in public transportation

Injuries and illnesses to bus drivers endanger not only their lives but also the lives of their passengers. In 2013, approximately 5,780 transit and intercity bus drivers experienced a days-away-from-work injury or illness while on the job.

This article from the Bureau of Labor Statistics explores occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities to bus drivers and urban transit workers and examines how individual transit systems are collecting and analyzing their own employee safety data. The findings reveal that mass transit systems have taken steps to protect their employees from harm on the job and that injuries and illnesses to bus drivers and urban transit workers have declined in recent years.

Majority of STEM College Graduates Do Not Work in STEM Occupations

The U.S. Census Bureau reported this week that 74 percent of those who have a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering and math — commonly referred to as STEM — are not employed in STEM occupations. In addition, men continue to be overrepresented in STEM, especially in computer and engineering occupations. About 86 percent of engineers and 74 percent of computer professionals are men.

      “STEM graduates have relatively low unemployment, however these graduates are not necessarily employed in STEM occupations,” said Liana Christin Landivar, a sociologist in the Census Bureau’s Industry and Occupation Statistics Branch. 

       According to new statistics from the 2012 American Community Survey, engineering and computer, math and statistics majors had the largest share of graduates going into a STEM field with about half employed in a STEM occupation. Science majors had fewer of their graduates employed in STEM. About 26 percent of physical science majors; 15 percent of biological, environmental and agricultural sciences majors; 10 percent of psychology majors; and 7 percent of social science majors were employed in STEM.

      Approximately 14 percent of engineers were women, where they were most underrepresented of all the STEM fields. Representation of women was higher among mathematicians and statisticians (45 percent), life scientists (47 percent) and social scientists (63 percent). The rates of mathematicians and statisticians, and life scientists are not statistically different from each other.

Labor Force: Urban to Rural

Workforce Skills across the Urban-Rural Hierarchy
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Report No0. 552
Jaison R. Abel, Todd M. Gabe, Kevin Stolarick
February 2012

Abstract
This paper examines differences in the skill content of work throughout the United
States, ranging from densely populated city centers to isolated and sparsely populated rural areas. To do so, we classify detailed geographic areas into categories along the entire urban-rural hierarchy. An occupation-based cluster analysis is then used to measure the types of skills available in the regional workforce, which allows for a broader measure of human capital than is captured by conventional measures. We fi nd that the occupation clusters most prevalent in urban areas—scientists, engineers, and executives—are characterized by high levels of social and resource-management skills, as well as the ability to generate ideas and solve complex problems. By contrast, the occupation clusters that are most prevalent in rural areas—machinists, makers, and laborers—are among the lowest in terms of required skills. These differences in the skill content of work shed light on the
pattern of earnings observed across the urban-rural hierarchy.

Key words: human capital, skills, occupations, urban-rural, earnings

This paper presents preliminary findings and is being distributed to economists
and other interested readers solely to stimulate discussion and elicit comments.
The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and are not necessarily
reflective of views at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal
Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the authors.

Occupational Outlook Handbook

Welcome to the Nation′s premier source for career information! The profiles featured here cover hundreds of occupations and describe What They Do, Work Environment, How to Become One, Pay, and more. Each profile also includes BLS employment projections for the 2010–20 decade.

Occupational Pay Comparisons Among Metropolitan Areas 2007

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Occupational Outlook Quarterly

Summer 2008

In this issue:
+ Working in politics (PDF; 881 KB)
+ The class of 1993: Earnings and occupations by college major, 1 and 10 years after graduation (PDF; 2.1 MB)
+ Healthcare jobs you might not know about (PDF; 664 KB)
+ Brief items of interest to counselors and students
+ You’re a what? Home stager (PDF; 216 KB)
+ Job openings by industry (PDF; 280 KB)

Occupational wage data

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has occupational wage data for sector, 3-, 4- and 5-digit NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) industries.

Data is for the nation, region, state, and MSA levels.

City Data

The Hill Library's weekly "Business Web Site of the Week" is City-Data.com.

"Enter a county, city, or zip code – or browse by state – to find pages and pages of information on U.S. places. Included are statistics on everything from age and income to ancestral heritage; from population change due to commuting to crime rates; from most common occupation to climate trends."

HOWEVER, it goes on to say, "The page just keeps scrolling, and the mind reels about where all this information comes from. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t make that clear. Because of this, please do attempt to verify any City Data you plan to use."

Earnings By Occupation and Education...

...by state and gender.

Educational Characteristics of the Workforce (Chapter 5).