Displaced Workers in US – From January 2011 through December 2013, 4.3 million workers were displaced from jobs

From January 2011 through December 2013, 4.3 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics… This was down from 6.1 million workers for the prior survey period covering January 2009 to December 2011. In January 2014, 61 percent of workers displaced from 2011 to 2013 were reemployed, up by 5 percentage points from the prior survey in January 2012.

Since 1984, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor has sponsored surveys that collect information on workers who were displaced from their jobs. These surveys have been conducted biennially as supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of households that is the primary source of information on the nation’s labor force.

Displaced workers are defined as persons 20 years of age and older who lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, there was insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished. The period covered in this study was 2011-13, the 3 calendar years prior to the January 2014 survey date. Most of this period was characterized by employment growth. The following analysis focuses primarily on the 4.3 million persons who had worked for their employer for 3 or more years at the time of displacement (referred to as long-tenured). An additional 5.2 million persons were displaced from jobs they had held for less than 3 years (referred to as short-tenured). Combining the short-and long-tenured groups, the number of displaced workers totaled 9.5 million from 2011 to 2013. In the prior survey, which was conducted in January 2012 and covered 2009-11, this group numbered 12.9 million.

Highlights from the January 2014 survey include:

–In January 2014, 61 percent of the 4.3 million long-tenured displaced workers were reemployed, up from 56 percent in January 2012 and 49 percent in January 2010.

–Thirty-five percent of long-tenured displaced workers from the 2011-13 period cited that they lost their job because their plant or company closed down or moved; an additional 33 percent cited insufficient work, and 32 percent said their position or shift was abolished. (See table 2.)

–Eighteen percent of long-tenured displaced workers lost a job in manufacturing.

–Among long-tenured workers who were displaced from full-time wage and salary jobs and were reemployed in such jobs in January 2014, 52 percent had earnings that were as much or greater than those of their lost job, up from 46 percent in the prior survey.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Displaced Workers Summary.