Despite relative affluence, workplace stress is a prominent feature of the US labour market. To the extent that job stress causes poor health outcomes – either directly through increased blood pressure, fatigue, muscle pain, etc. or indirectly through increased rates of cigarette smoking – policy to lessen job stress may be appropriate. Focusing predominantly on … Continue reading
Although not often associated with injuries and deaths at the workplace, insects, arachnids, and mites were involved in 83 fatal occupational injuries from 2003 to 2010.1 The majority of these workplace deaths were due to bee stings. Annual nonfatal work-related injury and illness case counts involving insects, arachnids, and mites that led to days away … Continue reading
The salary gap between public relations specialists and news reporters has widened over the past decade – to almost $20,000 a year, according to 2013 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data analyzed by the Pew Research Center. At the same time, the public relations field has expanded to a degree that these specialists now outnumber … Continue reading
It is undoubtedly a good time to be a female professional in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) most recent databook on women in the labor force, the unemployment rate for women was lower in 2012 than it was for men, and 38.0% of employed women aged 25 to 64 … Continue reading
The report presents findings from the September 2013 survey. The survey covered a range of topics—including household financial well-being, housing, credit availability, borrowing for education, savings, retirement, and medical expenses—meant to round out the understanding of how households are faring financially. Overall, the survey found that many households were faring well, but that sizable fractions … Continue reading
The economy is getting stronger thanks to the grit and resilience of American workers. Last month, total job growth exceeded 200,000 for the sixth straight month, the first time that’s happened since 1997. In fact, our private sector has added 9.9 million jobs for the last 53 straight months, the longest streak on record. As … Continue reading
The United States is in the middle stage of the economic cycle… While the U.S. economy has grown over time, the growth has not been in a straight line. The variations in the pace of growth around the long-term trend are called economic cycles. Economic cycles have four distinct stages: recession, early (recovery), middle (mature), … Continue reading
John Steinbeck explained that the reason so many of this country’s working- and middle-class vote against their own economic interests is that “Americans are temporarily embarrassed millionaires in waiting.” Researchers at the University of Hannover in Germany have now released data that somewhat supports Steinbeck’s quip. The study measured actual income inequality and upward mobility … Continue reading
Not only is the American population aging, businesses in the U.S. also are growing older. Older firms are increasingly controlling the largest market share in different sectors of the economy, according to a paper by the Brooking Institution’s Robert E. Litan and Ennsyte Economics’s Ian Hathaway. By 2011, the portion of U.S. businesses aged at … Continue reading
If you have a high school degree, you’re better off; if you’ve started some college, you’re doing better; and if you have a college degree, you’re doing the best of all. So, that’s the proof in the pudding: The more education you have, the better off you are. Now, on the other hand, one thing … Continue reading
A new economic impact study finds that pension benefit expenditures provide important economic support to the economy, including more than $943 billion in total economic output and 6.2 million jobs in the United States. Pensionomics 2014: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures reports the national economic impacts of public and private pension … Continue reading
Since the final quarter of 2007, the labor force participation rate has fallen from 65.9 percent to 62.8 percent in the second quarter of 2014, a decline of 3.1 percentage points. In this report, the Council of Economic Advisers estimates that this 3.1 percentage point decline can be attributed to three main sources: About half … Continue reading
The u.s. manufacturing workforce is aging rapidly, with half of the existing workforce only 10-15 years away from retirement. Yet,american manufacturing employers are struggling to build a pipeline of new workers. Some 600,000 positions are currently unfilled, and more than three million additional positions are due to open by 2020. Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate remains … Continue reading
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 209,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, manufacturing, retail trade, and construction. Household Survey Data Both the unemployment rate (6.2 percent) and the number of unemployed persons … Continue reading
Every month since the fall of 2012, the Brookings Institution has published a forecast for the path of the unemployment rate over the next six months. These forecasts are a familiar past-time for economists, but Brookings has a bold claim: their model “can outperform the Fed and professional forecasters.” This is a good time for … Continue reading