The American Workplace - Worker Displacement

Displaced workers are defined as people twenty years and older who lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, because there was insufficient work for them to do, or because their position or shift was abolished. According to the BLS in Worker Displacement, 2001–03 (July 30, 2004), 5.3 million workers aged twenty and over had been displaced between January 2001 and December 2003. Of these, 64.8% had found other employment (67.7% men, 61.1% women), 20.2% had remained unemployed (20.8% men, 19.3% women), and 15% were no longer in the labor force (11.5% men, 19.6% women; leaving the workforce means that a worker is no longer actively seeking work or receiving unemployment benefits). (See Table 2.14.)

Manufacturing, with 1.7 million worker displacements, accounted for the largest proportion of displacements in January 2004 (31.8%). Nearly 1.2 million (69.1%) of these losses occurred among workers in the durable goods manufacturing industries. These industries tend to be among those most affected by cyclical changes in economic conditions. At the time of the survey, 59.8% of workers displaced from manufacturing were reemployed. (See Table 2.15.)

In Worker Displacement, 2001–03, the BLS reported that the displacement of 1.7 million managerial and professional specialty employees (32.4% of all displaced

TABLE 2.11 Job-related work at home on primary job by demographic characteristics, May 2004 "Table 1. Job-related Work at Home on Primary Job by Sex, Occupation, Industry, Race, Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity, Educational Attainment, Class of Worker, and Pay Status, May 2004," in Work at Home in 2004, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 22, 2005, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/homey.pdf (accessed January 9, 2006)

TABLE 2.11
Job-related work at home on primary job by demographic characteristics, May 2004
[Numbers in thousands]
Characteristic	Total employeda	Persons who usually worked at homeb
		Total	Percent of employed	Percent distribution by class of workerc
				Total	Wage and salary		Self-employedd
					Paid work at home	Unpaid work at home
aIncludes persons who did not provide information on work at home.
bPersons who usually work at home are defined as those who work at home at least once per week as part of their primary job.
cUnpaid family workers and wage and salary workers who did not report pay status are included in the total but are not shown separately.
dIncludes both the incorporated and unincorporated self-employed.
eData not shown where the base is less than 75,000.
fIncludes persons with a high school diploma or equivalent.
gIncludes persons with bachelor's, master's, professional, and doctoral degrees.
Note: Data refer to employed persons in nonagricultural industries. Estimates for the above race groups (white, black or African American, and Asian) do not sum to totals because data are not presented for all races. In addition, persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race and, therefore, are classified by ethnicity as well as by race. Dash represents or rounds to zero.
SOURCE: "Table 1. Job-related Work at Home on Primary Job by Sex, Occupation, Industry, Race, Hispanic or Latino Ethnicity, Educational Attainment, Class of Worker, and Pay Status, May 2004," in Work at Home in 2004, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 22, 2005, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/homey.pdf (accessed January 9, 2006)
Total, 16 years and over	136,602	20,673	15.1	100.0	16.2	49.3	33.7
Men	72,417	10,780	14.9	100.0	14.7	47.3	37.6
Women	64,185	9,893	15.4	100.0	17.8	51.4	29.4
Occupation
Management, professional, and related occupations	47,829	13,445	28.1	100.0	13.9	59.9	25.7
Management, business, and financial operations occupations	19,205	5,602	29.2	100.0	16.2	46.6	36.9
Professional and related occupations	28,623	7,842	27.4	100.0	12.2	69.5	17.7
Service occupations	22,752	1,414	6.2	100.0	20.6	20.9	54.8
Sales and office occupations	35,133	4,291	12.2	100.0	24.1	36.1	38.6
Sales and related occupations	15,886	3,137	19.7	100.0	21.8	35.4	42.2
Office and administrative support occupations	19,247	1,154	6.0	100.0	30.5	38.0	28.9
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations	13,111	1,036	7.9	100.0	10.2	15.1	73.8
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	195	3	1.5	100.0	e	e	e
Construction and extraction occupations	7,927	705	8.9	100.0	6.1	13.3	80.6
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	4,989	329	6.6	100.0	18.4	19.1	59.6
Production, transportation, and material moving occupations	17,777	488	2.7	100.0	10.6	26.6	62.8
Production occupations	9,240	276	3.0	100.0	12.8	22.1	65.0
Transportation and material moving occupations	8,538	212	2.5	100.0	7.7	32.5	59.8
Industry
Mining	491	44	9.0	100.0	e	e	e
Construction	10,316	1,491	14.5	100.0	7.1	19.4	72.8
Manufacturing	16,626	1,488	8.9	100.0	26.3	55.3	18.2
Wholesale and retail trade	20,766	2,416	11.6	100.0	21.1	36.2	41.8
Transportation and utilities	6,845	459	6.7	100.0	14.7	43.7	39.5
Information	3,520	638	18.1	100.0	30.0	41.6	28.4
Financial activities	9,874	2,210	22.4	100.0	21.3	39.9	38.4
Professional and business services	13,905	3,401	24.5	100.0	17.6	33.2	48.8
Education and health services	29,290	6,189	21.1	100.0	9.2	76.0	14.3
Leisure and hospitality	12,078	731	6.0	100.0	10.7	27.5	61.8
Other services	6,971	1,113	16.0	100.0	18.4	41.0	33.7
Public administration	5,918	493	8.3	100.0	31.4	67.6	—
Race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity
White	111,756	18,255	16.3	100.0	16.4	49.0	33.8
Black or African American	15,800	1,245	7.9	100.0	14.2	53.0	31.0
Asian	5,630	718	12.7	100.0	14.2	52.1	33.7
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity	17,577	1,255	7.1	100.0	19.1	45.0	34.4
Educational attainment
Total, 25 years and over	117,610	20,024	17.0	100.0	16.0	49.1	34.0
Less than a high school diploma	10,979	539	4.9	100.0	15.7	24.0	58.9
High school graduates, no collegef	34,760	2,631	7.6	100.0	15.4	28.7	54.0
Some college or associate degree	32,772	4,482	13.7	100.0	19.4	32.8	46.7
Bachelor's degree and higherg	39,099	12,372	31.6	100.0	15.0	60.5	24.1

TABLE 2.12 Hours of paid job-related work at home on primary job among wage and salary workers by selected characteristics, May 2004 "Table 3. Hours of Paid Job-related Work at Home on Primary Job among Wage and Salary Workers by Selected Characteristics, May 2004," in Work at Home in 2004, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 22, 2005, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/homey.pdf (accessed January 9, 2006)

TABLE 2.12
Hours of paid job-related work at home on primary job among wage and salary workers by selected characteristics, May 2004
[Numbers in thousands]
Characteristic	Paid work at homea	Percent distribution b hours worked at homeb					Mean weekly hours usually worked at home
		Total	Hours vary	Less than 8 hours	8 hours or more
					Total	35 hours or more
aIncludes persons who worked at home at least once per week but did not report the number of hours usually worked.
bPersons who did not report the number of hours worked are included in the total but are not shown separately.
cData not shown where the base is less than 75,000
dIncludes persons with a high school diploma or equivalent.
eIncludes persons with bachelor's, master's, professional, and doctoral degrees.
Note: Data refer to employed persons in nonagricultural industries who reported that they usually work at home at least once per week as part of their primary job and exclude the incorporated and unincorporated self-employed. Estimates for the above race groups (white, black or African American, and Asian) do not sum to totals because data are not presented for all races. In addition, persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race and, therefore, are classified by ethnicity as well as by race.
SOURCE: "Table 3. Hours of Paid Job-related Work at Home on Primary Job among Wage and Salary Workers by Selected Characteristics, May 2004," in Work at Home in 2004, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 22, 2005, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/homey.pdf (accessed January 9, 2006)
Total, 16 years and over	3,349	100.0	29.0	21.1	49.5	14.8	18.6
Men	1,589	100.0	30.0	22.2	47.2	14.7	18.3
Women	1,760	100.0	28.0	20.0	51.6	14.8	18.9
Occupation
Management, professional, and related occupations	1,866	100.0	27.8	23.0	48.7	12.2	16.5
Management, business, and financial operations occupations	908	100.0	25.9	19.2	54.5	15.9	18.8
Professional and related occupations	958	100.0	29.7	26.6	43.2	8.7	14.3
Service occupations	292	100.0	27.8	13.0	58.4	29.3	28.2
Sales and office occupations	1,035	100.0	31.6	16.7	51.4	16.0	20.8
Sales and office occupations	682	100.0	33.9	14.2	51.6	17.4	22.4
Office and administrative support occupations	352	100.0	27.3	21.5	51.2	13.3	18.1
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations	105	100.0	31.3	44.1	24.7	4.1	8.8
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	2	100.0	c	c	c	c	c
Construction and extraction occupations	43	100.0	c	c	c	c	c
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	60	100.0	c	c	c	c	c
Production, transportation, and material moving occupations	52	100.0	c	c	c	c	c
Production occupations	35	100.0	c	c	c	c	c
Transportation and material moving occupations	16	100.0	c	c	c	c	c
Industry
Mining	6	100.0	c	c	c	c	c
Construction	106	100.0	21.1	27.7	51.1	7.9	13.7
Manufacturing	391	100.0	20.6	23.2	56.2	11.8	16.2
Wholesale and retail trade	511	100.0	33.4	17.8	48.8	12.8	19.0
Transportation and utilities	68	100.0	c	c	c	c	c
Information	191	100.0	27.9	22.6	49.5	17.0	19.5
Financial activities	471	100.0	37.7	11.0	49.8	16.0	22.2
Professional and business services	598	100.0	26.4	18.4	54.5	22.2	21.8
Education and health services	571	100.0	23.0	29.7	47.2	13.8	17.7
Leisure and hospitality	78	100.0	12.9	18.5	68.6	19.6	18.2
Other services	205	100.0	41.1	22.6	35.1	11.4	16.4
Public administration	155	100.0	39.0	23.8	37.2	2.3	11.7
Race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity
White	2,999	100.0	28.1	20.9	50.8	15.3	19.0
Black or African American	176	100.0	36.8	33.6	29.6	5.4	11.7
Asian	102	100.0	32.5	3.5	58.9	18.6	22.7
Hispanic or Latino ethnicity	240	100.0	32.7	12.6	54.7	16.9	21.1
Educational attainment
Total, 25 years and over	3,214	100.0	29.2	20.5	49.9	15.0	18.9
Less than a high school diploma	85	100.0	12.1	19.8	67.1	35.6	26.7
High school graduates, no colleged	405	100.0	35.4	16.7	47.6	16.3	20.2
Some college or associate degree	870	100.0	28.2	25.5	46.2	14.9	17.9
Bachelor's degree and highere	1,845	100.0	29.1	19.0	51.3	13.8	18.7

workers) and 1.3 million sales employees (25%) accounted for nearly 60% of the displaced workers by occupation at the time of the January 2004 survey. Two-thirds (66.8%) of the managerial and professional specialty group and 65.5% of the sales force were reemployed at the time of the survey. (See Table 2.16.)