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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.)

Additional topics

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