Full text of 1996 : Text File, USDL 97-389
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Technical information: (202) 606-6378 USDL 97-389
For release: 10:00 A.M. EST
Media contact: 606-5902 Monday, November, 10, 1997
WORK EXPERIENCE OF THE POPULATION IN 1996
The number of persons who worked at some time during the year increased
by more than 2 million in 1996 to 141.4 million, according to data from the
annual survey of work experience released by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. At the same time, the number who
experienced some unemployment declined by 1.3 million to 16.8 million.
These data are derived from supplemental questions asked each March as
part of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about
50,000 households conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of
Labor Statistics. Additional information on the annual survey on work
experience, including concepts and definitions, and a discussion on data
comparability is provided in the Explanatory Note beginning on page 3.
Highlights from the annual survey for 1996 are:
--Persons with some work activity during the year accounted for
69.8 percent of the working-age population, 16 years of age and
older, up 0.3 percentage point from 1995. This proportion was
the highest for the nation since 1990.
--Of those employed, 78.9 percent worked full time, that is they
usually worked 35 hours or more a week. In addition, 72.8
percent were employed year round (50 to 52 weeks) either full or
part time, compared with 72.0 percent during 1995. Approximately
63.3 percent worked year round and full time, a 0.4 percentage
point increase from the prior year.
--In 1996, 16.8 million persons experienced at least 1 week of
unemployment. About 86.1 percent of those reporting unemployment
also were employed at some time during the year.
--Unemployment declined among all major worker groups in 1996.
Persons with Employment
In 1996, the share of persons with employment continued its long-term
upward climb, rising 0.3 percentage point to 69.8 percent. For the past
three decades, the share of persons with some employment during the year
generally has trended upward except during recessionary periods. In 1966,
66.9 percent of the population age 16 years and older had a job at some
point during the year; by 1989, the proportion was 70.3 percent. The
recession in the early 1990s caused the share of persons with employment to
drop to 69.0 percent in 1992 and 1993 before increasing to 69.5 percent in
1994 and 1995, as the economy recovered. This long-term rise in work
activity reflects the increasing likelihood that women will work outside
the home. While women are still less likely than men to engage in market
work, the proportion of women who work rose from 50.4 percent in 1966 to
63.1 percent in 1996. In contrast, employment activity among men, at 85.4
percent in 1966, was 77.0 percent in 1996.
In 1996, 78.9 percent of persons with employment activity worked full
time--35 hours or more per week--up slightly from the prior year. (See table
1.) While shifts in the share of full- and part-time workers have been
quite small over the years, shifts between full- and part-year work have
been more noteworthy. In 1996, 72.8 percent of persons with work
experience were employed year round either full or part time, and 63.3
percent worked year round and full time. Both measures have been trending
upward, almost entirely reflecting the increasing likelihood of women who
work to do so throughout the year. In fact, the proportion of men working
year round and full time was relatively unchanged from 70.0 percent in 1966
to 70.8 percent in 1996, while the proportion of women working year round
and full time rose from 40.1 to 54.8 percent.
Whites continued to be more likely to work during 1996 than blacks or
Hispanics (70.5 percent versus 64.8 and 67.6 percent, respectively). The
proportion of workers employed full time, however, was lower among whites
than blacks and Hispanics. (See table 2.)
Persons with Unemployment
Of the 143.7 million persons who participated in the labor force in
1996, 16.8 million experienced some unemployment during the year, resulting
in a "work-experience unemployment rate" of 11.7 percent. (See table 3.)
At the height of the recession in 1991 and as the economy began to recover
in 1992, nearly 16 percent of all labor force participants experienced some
unemployment during the year.
During 1996, 13.9 percent of labor force participants who experienced
some unemployment did not engage in any work activity during the year.
Since 1993, this ratio has been declining steadily; however, it has
remained above the 1989 level of 9.1 percent recorded just prior to the
recession.
Among the 14.5 million persons who had worked during the year and also
experienced unemployment, 29.3 percent encountered at least two spells of
joblessness. The median number of weeks spent looking for work was 13.8,
about the same as in 1995.
The "work-experience unemployment rate" continued to be higher for
blacks (18.0 percent) and Hispanics (16.6 percent) than for whites (10.8
percent). Whites also had the shortest duration of unemployment as well as
the smallest proportion of workers with multiple spells of unemployment
during the year. (See table 4.)
Explanatory Note
Data collection
The data presented in this release were collected in March supplements
to the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of about
50,000 households conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of
Labor Statistics. Data from the CPS are used to obtain the monthly
estimates of the nation's employment and unemployment levels. Each March,
additional questions are asked about work activity during the prior
calendar year. For instance, data collected in March 1997 refer to the
1996 calendar year. Because the reference period is a full year, the
number of persons with some employment or unemployment greatly exceeds the
average levels for any given month, which are based on a 1-week reference
period, and the corresponding annual average of the monthly estimates. As
shown below, for example, the number experiencing any unemployment during
1996 was about 2-1/3 times the number unemployed in an average month during
the year.
Employed Unemployed
1996 estimates (in thousands)
Annual average of monthly estimates 126,708 7,236
March supplement data 141,379 16,786
In addition, estimates from the March supplement differ from those
obtained in the basic CPS because the questions used to classify workers as
either employed or unemployed are different. More important, perhaps, is
that fewer questions are asked in the supplement by which to categorize
respondents. In particular, the March supplement has no questions on the
type of job search activity or on the respondent's availability to work.
Also, individuals can be counted as both employed and unemployed in the
work experience data, whereas for a specific reference week, each person is
only counted in one category and employment activity takes precedence over
job search activity.
Data comparability
In January 1994, a major redesign of the CPS was introduced,
incorporating a completely revised basic questionnaire and an automated
data collection process. In addition, 1990 census-based population
controls, adjusted for the estimated undercount were incorporated into the
estimation process. (New population controls are introduced after each
decennial census.) Questions used in the March supplement were not changed
as part of the redesign. As a result, only the change in collection
technology and the introduction of the 1990 population controls would
affect comparisons of 1996 work experience data with that collected prior
to 1994. The impact of the change in collection technology is difficult to
gauge, but at this point is believed to be negligible; the change in
population controls does affect the estimated levels, but has little impact
on percentages.
Work experience data for 1996, collected in March 1997, are not strictly
comparable with those for 1995 because of minor adjustments made to the
population controls in January 1997. The effect of this adjustment on work
experience estimates is unknown. However, the effect of the change on the
monthly CPS estimates was to increase January 1997 employment levels by
about 300,000 relative to December 1996 levels. The effect on monthly
unemployment estimates was negligible.
Concepts and definitions
Persons who worked. In the March supplement, persons are considered to
have worked if they responded "yes" to either the question "Did you work at
a job or business at any time during 1996?" or "Did you do any temporary,
part-time, or seasonal work even for a few days during 1996?"
Unemployed persons. Persons who worked during the year but not in every
week are counted as unemployed if they also reported looking for work or
being on layoff from a job during the year. Those who reported no work
activity during the year are considered unemployed if they responded "yes"
to the question "Even though you did not work in 1996, did you spend any
time trying to find a job or on layoff?"
Labor force participants. Persons who either worked or were unemployed
during the year.
Usual full- and part-time employment. These data refer to the number of
hours a worker typically works during most weeks of the year. Workers are
classified as full time if they usually worked 35 hours or more in a week;
part-time employment refers to workers whose typical workweek was between 1
and 34 hours.
Year-round and part-year employment. Workers are classified as year
round if they worked 50 to 52 weeks. Part-year employment refers to
workers who worked fewer than 50 weeks.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-606-STAT; TDD phone: 202-606-
5897; TDD message referral phone: 1-800-326-2577.
Table 1. Work experience of the population during the year by sex and extent of employment, 1995-96
Total Men Women
Extent of employment
1995 1996 1995 1996 1995 1996
Numbers (in thousands)
Civilian noninstitutional population............................ 199,925 202,515 95,867 97,388 104,058 105,127
Total who worked or looked for work........................... 141,659 143,708 74,982 76,035 66,677 67,673
Percent of the population................................... 70.9 71.0 78.2 78.1 64.1 64.4
Total who worked during the year(1)........................... 138,971 141,379 73,667 75,009 65,304 66,371
Percent of the population................................... 69.5 69.8 76.8 77.0 62.8 63.1
Full time(2)................................................ 109,329 111,512 63,446 64,625 45,882 46,887
50 to 52 weeks............................................ 87,446 89,491 51,976 53,101 35,471 36,390
48 to 49 weeks............................................ 2,363 2,381 1,349 1,387 1,014 994
40 to 47 weeks............................................ 5,522 5,798 2,877 3,041 2,645 2,756
27 to 39 weeks............................................ 5,081 4,804 2,744 2,449 2,336 2,355
14 to 26 weeks............................................ 5,041 5,091 2,576 2,641 2,465 2,451
1 to 13 weeks............................................. 3,876 3,946 1,925 2,005 1,951 1,941
Part time(3)................................................ 29,643 29,868 10,221 10,384 19,422 19,484
50 to 52 weeks............................................ 12,711 13,379 4,023 4,318 8,688 9,061
48 to 49 weeks............................................ 888 851 276 232 611 619
40 to 47 weeks............................................ 2,787 2,774 870 899 1,917 1,876
27 to 39 weeks............................................ 3,155 3,017 1,109 1,004 2,045 2,012
14 to 26 weeks............................................ 4,742 4,680 1,789 1,861 2,953 2,819
1 to 13 weeks............................................. 5,360 5,167 2,153 2,071 3,207 3,097
Percent distribution
Total who worked during the year(1)............................. 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Full time(2).................................................. 78.7 78.9 86.1 86.2 70.3 70.6
50 to 52 weeks.............................................. 62.9 63.3 70.6 70.8 54.3 54.8
48 to 49 weeks.............................................. 1.7 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.5
40 to 47 weeks.............................................. 4.0 4.1 3.9 4.1 4.1 4.2
27 to 39 weeks.............................................. 3.7 3.4 3.7 3.3 3.6 3.5
14 to 26 weeks.............................................. 3.6 3.6 3.5 3.5 3.8 3.7
1 to 13 weeks............................................... 2.8 2.8 2.6 2.7 3.0 2.9
Part time(3).................................................. 21.3 21.1 13.9 13.8 29.7 29.4
50 to 52 weeks.............................................. 9.1 9.5 5.5 5.8 13.3 13.7
48 to 49 weeks.............................................. .6 .6 .4 .3 .9 .9
40 to 47 weeks.............................................. 2.0 2.0 1.2 1.2 2.9 2.8
27 to 39 weeks.............................................. 2.3 2.1 1.5 1.3 3.1 3.0
14 to 26 weeks.............................................. 3.4 3.3 2.4 2.5 4.5 4.2
1 to 13 weeks............................................... 3.9 3.7 2.9 2.8 4.9 4.7
1 Time worked includes paid vacation and sick leave.
2 Usually worked 35 hours or more per week.
3 Usually worked 1 to 34 hours per week.
NOTE: Data refer to persons 16 years and over. Data for 1996, which were collected in the March 1997 supplement
to the Current Population Survey (CPS), are not strictly comparable with data for 1995 and earlier years because of
the introduction in January 1997 of revised population controls used in the survey. For additional information, see
"Revisions in the Current Population Survey Effective January 1997" in the February 1997 issue of Employment and
Earnings.
Table 2. Work experience of the population during the year by race, Hispanic origin, and sex, 1995-96
(Numbers in thousands)
Total Men Women
Extent of employment, race, and Hispanc origin
1995 1996 1995 1996 1995 1996
WHITE
Civilian noninstitutional population.......................... 167,865 169,555 81,253 82,324 86,612 87,230
Total who worked or looked for work......................... 119,833 121,113 64,289 65,152 55,545 55,962
Percent of the population................................. 71.4 71.4 79.1 79.1 64.1 64.2
Total who worked during the year(1)......................... 118,107 119,579 63,478 64,484 54,630 55,094
Percent of the population................................. 70.4 70.5 78.1 78.3 63.1 63.2
Percent who worked during the year(1)....................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Full time(2).............................................. 78.2 78.3 86.2 86.3 68.9 69.0
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 62.8 63.3 71.0 71.5 53.3 53.7
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 9.3 9.1 9.4 9.1 9.1 9.2
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 6.1 5.9 5.8 5.7 6.5 6.2
Part time(3).............................................. 21.8 21.7 13.8 13.7 31.1 31.0
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 9.5 9.8 5.5 5.8 14.1 14.6
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 5.1 4.9 3.1 2.9 7.4 7.3
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 7.2 6.9 5.1 5.0 9.7 9.1
BLACK
Civilian noninstitutional population.......................... 23,482 23,893 10,515 10,709 12,967 13,184
Total who worked or looked for work......................... 15,855 16,140 7,567 7,484 8,288 8,656
Percent of the population................................. 67.5 67.6 72.0 69.9 63.9 65.7
Total who worked during the year(1)......................... 15,059 15,485 7,153 7,206 7,905 8,279
Percent of the population................................. 64.1 64.8 68.0 67.3 61.0 62.8
Percent who worked during the year(1)....................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Full time(2).............................................. 81.8 82.3 85.3 85.1 78.6 79.8
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 63.4 63.2 66.3 65.3 60.7 61.3
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 10.1 9.8 10.3 10.4 9.9 9.2
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 8.3 9.3 8.7 9.3 8.0 9.3
Part time(3).............................................. 18.2 17.7 14.7 14.9 21.4 20.2
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 7.1 7.0 5.1 5.5 8.9 8.3
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 3.6 3.1 2.7 2.2 4.4 3.9
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 7.5 7.6 6.8 7.2 8.1 8.0
HISPANIC ORIGIN
Civilian noninstitutional population.......................... 19,028 20,114 9,518 10,257 9,510 9,857
Total who worked or looked for work......................... 13,081 13,973 7,640 8,256 5,442 5,717
Percent of the population................................. 68.7 69.5 80.3 80.5 57.2 58.0
Total who worked during the year(1)......................... 12,627 13,600 7,422 8,084 5,205 5,516
Percent of the population................................. 66.4 67.6 78.0 78.8 54.7 56.0
Percent who worked during the year(1)....................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Full time(2).............................................. 81.2 81.4 87.0 87.0 73.0 73.2
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 60.9 62.1 66.2 67.9 53.2 53.5
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 10.7 10.7 11.7 11.2 9.3 10.0
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 9.6 8.7 9.0 7.9 10.5 9.8
Part time(3).............................................. 18.8 18.6 13.0 13.0 27.0 26.8
50 to 52 weeks.......................................... 8.1 8.5 5.2 5.7 12.4 12.5
27 to 49 weeks.......................................... 3.3 3.5 2.3 2.5 4.6 5.1
1 to 26 weeks........................................... 7.4 6.6 5.5 4.7 10.0 9.2
1 Time worked includes paid vacation and sick leave.
2 Usually worked 35 hours or more per week.
3 Usually worked 1 to 34 hours per week.
NOTE: Detail for the above race and Hispanic origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other
races" group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Data refer
to persons 16 years and over. Also, see Note, table 1.
Table 3. Extent of unemployment during the year by sex, 1995-96
Total Men Women
Extent of employment
1995 1996 1995 1996 1995 1996
Numbers (in thousands)
Total who worked or looked for work............................. 141,659 143,708 74,982 76,035 66,677 67,673
Percent with unemployment..................................... 12.8 11.7 13.3 12.0 12.1 11.3
Total with unemployment....................................... 18,063 16,786 9,992 9,153 8,070 7,632
Did not work but looked for work............................ 2,688 2,329 1,315 1,026 1,373 1,303
1 to 14 weeks............................................. 1,223 1,137 482 434 740 704
15 weeks or more.......................................... 1,465 1,191 833 592 633 599
Worked during the year...................................... 15,374 14,457 8,677 8,128 6,697 6,330
Year-round workers(1) with 1 or 2 weeks of unemployment... 715 589 462 395 253 194
Part-year workers(2) with unemployment.................... 14,660 13,868 8,215 7,732 6,444 6,135
1 to 4 weeks............................................ 2,812 2,547 1,398 1,269 1,413 1,279
5 to 10 weeks........................................... 2,723 2,671 1,432 1,478 1,291 1,192
11 to 14 weeks.......................................... 2,146 2,020 1,253 1,258 893 762
15 to 26 weeks.......................................... 4,013 3,662 2,439 2,076 1,574 1,586
27 weeks or more........................................ 2,965 2,968 1,693 1,651 1,272 1,317
Median weeks of unemployment for all workers.................... 13.7 13.8 14.3 13.9 12.8 13.6
With 2 spells or more of unemployment........................... 4,468 4,237 2,793 2,555 1,675 1,682
2 spells...................................................... 1,963 1,982 1,110 1,109 853 872
3 spells or more.............................................. 2,505 2,255 1,683 1,445 822 810
Percent distribution
Did not work but looked for work................................ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1 to 14 weeks................................................. 45.5 48.8 36.7 42.3 53.9 54.0
15 weeks or more.............................................. 54.5 51.2 63.3 57.7 46.1 46.0
Worked during the year.......................................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Year-round workers(1) with 1 or 2 weeks of unemployment....... 4.6 4.1 5.3 4.9 3.8 3.1
Part-year workers(2) with unemployment........................ 95.4 95.9 94.7 95.1 96.2 96.9
1 to 4 weeks................................................ 18.3 17.6 16.1 15.6 21.1 20.2
5 to 10 weeks............................................... 17.7 18.5 16.5 18.2 19.3 18.8
11 to 14 weeks.............................................. 14.0 14.0 14.4 15.5 13.3 12.0
15 to 26 weeks.............................................. 26.1 25.3 28.1 25.5 23.5 25.1
27 weeks or more............................................ 19.3 20.5 19.5 20.3 19.0 20.8
With 2 spells or more of unemployment......................... 29.1 29.3 32.2 31.4 25.0 26.6
2 spells.................................................... 12.8 13.7 12.8 13.7 12.7 13.8
3 spells or more............................................ 16.3 15.6 19.4 17.8 12.3 12.8
1 Worked 50 or 51 weeks.
2 Worked less than 50 weeks.
NOTE: Data refer to persons 16 years and over. Also, see Note, table 1.
Table 4. Extent of unemployment during the year by race, Hispanic origin, and sex, 1995-96
(Numbers in thousands)
Total Men Women
Extent of employment, race, and Hispanc origin
1995 1996 1995 1996 1995 1996
WHITE
Total who worked or looked for work........................... 119,833 121,113 64,289 65,152 55,545 55,962
Percent with unemployment................................... 11.9 10.8 12.4 11.2 11.3 10.3
Total with unemployment..................................... 14,206 13,084 7,950 7,308 6,256 5,776
Did not work but looked for work.......................... 1,726 1,534 811 667 915 867
Worked during the year.................................... 12,480 11,550 7,139 6,641 5,341 4,909
Median weeks of unemployment for all workers............ 13.2 13.1 13.9 13.3 12.1 12.8
Percent who worked during the year(1)..................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Year-round workers(2) with 1 or 2 weeks of unemployment. 4.8 4.4 5.5 5.3 3.9 3.3
Part-year workers(3) with unemployment.................. 95.2 95.6 94.5 94.7 96.1 96.7
1 to 4 weeks.......................................... 18.8 18.1 16.6 16.2 21.8 20.6
5 to 14 weeks......................................... 32.6 34.7 31.7 35.6 33.7 33.4
15 weeks or more...................................... 43.8 42.8 46.2 42.9 40.6 42.7
With 2 spells or more of unemployment................... 28.8 29.2 31.6 31.5 25.0 26.0
BLACK
Total who worked or looked for work........................... 15,855 16,140 7,567 7,484 8,288 8,656
Percent with unemployment................................... 19.0 18.0 20.9 18.4 17.3 17.7
Total with unemployment..................................... 3,013 2,910 1,580 1,381 1,433 1,530
Did not work but looked for work.......................... 797 655 414 278 383 377
Worked during the year.................................... 2,217 2,255 1,167 1,102 1,050 1,152
Median weeks of unemployment for all workers............ 16.5 20.6 17.2 20.2 15.9 21.0
Percent who worked during the year(1)..................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Year-round workers(2) with 1 or 2 weeks of unemployment. 4.0 2.6 4.8 3.3 3.1 2.0
Part-year workers(3) with unemployment.................. 96.0 97.4 95.2 96.7 96.9 98.0
1 to 4 weeks.......................................... 15.1 14.5 12.4 12.7 18.1 16.3
5 to 14 weeks......................................... 27.5 21.4 28.1 23.0 26.9 19.9
15 weeks or more...................................... 53.4 61.4 54.8 61.0 51.9 61.9
With 2 spells or more of unemployment................... 31.1 30.4 34.9 31.5 26.8 29.3
HISPANIC ORIGIN
Total who worked or looked for work........................... 13,081 13,973 7,640 8,256 5,442 5,717
Percent with unemployment................................... 17.9 16.6 18.6 17.0 16.8 16.1
Total with unemployment..................................... 2,335 2,322 1,419 1,403 916 919
Did not work but looked for work.......................... 454 373 218 172 236 201
Worked during the year.................................... 1,881 1,949 1,202 1,231 679 718
Median weeks of unemployment for all workers............ 17.4 16.4 17.2 15.3 17.7 18.0
Percent who worked during the year(1)..................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Year-round workers(2) with 1 or 2 weeks of unemployment. 4.1 3.6 4.6 4.2 3.4 2.5
Part-year workers(3) with unemployment.................. 95.9 96.4 95.4 95.8 96.6 97.5
1 to 4 weeks.......................................... 13.2 15.3 12.6 14.3 14.2 17.1
5 to 14 weeks......................................... 27.4 28.1 27.6 30.9 27.0 23.3
15 weeks or more...................................... 55.3 53.0 55.2 50.6 55.4 57.1
With 2 spells or more of unemployment................... 31.5 30.5 33.4 32.3 28.1 27.4
1 Time worked includes paid vacation and sick leave.
2 Worked 50 or 51 weeks.
3 Worked less than 50 weeks.
NOTE: Detail for the above race and Hispanic origin groups will not sum to totals because data for the "other races"
group are not presented and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups. Data refer to persons 16
years and over. Also, see Note, table 1.