National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C.            Vol. 31, No. 12 * June 21, 1999

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A Snapshot of Labor Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal fact-finding agency for the federal government in the field of labor economics and statistics. BLS is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other federal agencies, state and local governments, business and labor. This article highlights some of the recent data collected by BLS.

Self-employed workers
In 1996, 17 percent of all self-employed workers were in executive, administrative and managerial occupations. BLS projects that the percentage of these self-employed workers will increase to 18.7 percent by 2006.
Eleven-and-a-half percent of self-employed workers worked in service occupations, such as child care workers, building service workers, and home health aides. By 2006, their percentage in service occupations is expected to increase to 12.6 percent. More detailed information regarding this data will be available in the summer edition of BLS’ Occupational Outlook Quarterly.

Families and unemployment
The percentage of families reported having an unemployed member dropped from 7 percent in 1997 to 6.4 percent in 1998. Of the 4.5 million families with an unemployed member in 1998, 71 percent, or 3.2 million, had at least one member employed.
In 1997 and 1998, the percentage of these families was highest among blacks, 13.3 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively. Hispanics ranked second, 11.6 percent and 10.6 percent respectively, while whites represented 6.1 percent and 5.6 percent.

Parents and married couples in the labor force
In 1998, four-fifths of parents with children under the age of 18 worked. Overall, a greater percentage of fathers, 94.6 percent, than mothers, 71.8 percent, worked. Fathers participated in the labor force to a greater extent when their youngest child was under the age of six. Of these fathers, 96 percent were working. By comparison, the percentage of women who participate in the labor force when their youngest child was under the age six, was 64.9 percent.
In 1998, there were 53.7 million married couple families in the United States. In the majority of these families, 53 percent, both the husband and wife worked. In the remaining families, the husband was the sole breadwinner, 19 percent of the families, compared to the wife as the sole breadwinner, 5 percent. An additional 16 percent of the families reported that no members were employed.
More information about families and unemployment, parents and married couple families can be found in BLS’ Employment Characteristics of Families in 1998.

Youth in the workplace
From a longitudinal survey, entitled Employment Experience and Other Characteristics of Youths, BLS discovered that more than a third of teenagers ages 14 to 16 who were enrolled in school worked at a job during the school year. Twenty-eight percent of these children worked both while school was in session and during the summer, while eight percent worked only during the school months, and an additional six percent worked only during the summer months.

Women’s earnings and education
BLS reports in its publication, Highlights of Women’s Earnings, that in 1998, women earned 76 percent as much as men did. The median weekly earning of female fulltime wage and salary workers were $456 compared to men’s $595.
In 1998, the highest ratio of female to male weekly earnings was reported in the District of Columbia (92 percent), California (86 percent), New York (82 percent), Missouri (81 percent), Florida (81 percent), Minnesota (80 percent) and Arizona (80 percent).
This report also provides women’s median weekly earnings based on level of education.
In 1998, women ages 25 and older without a high school diploma earned $283 a week; compared with earnings of women with a high school diploma, $396; earnings of women with some college or an associate’s degree, $476; and those of women college graduates, $707.
For additional information on any of above reports, go to BLS’ Web site at http://www.bls.gov/whatsnew.htm.

(Research News was written by Peggy Beardslee, research associate.)