BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2000
The National Association of Home Builders notes in a new report that the
relative pay of construction workers has been falling for two decades, from
20 percent more than the median weekly wage of all workers in 1983, to just
3 percent more in 1999, even as labor shortages have become acute.
Moreover, the decline has occurred among highly paid plumbers and
electricians, we well as among lower-paid painters and drywall insulators.
What is not clear is the cause of the long-term erosion in hard-hat pay. ...
The NAHB report suggests that the slippage in relative wages may reflect a
drop in the skill levels of workers entering the construction field. The
vicious cycle is that a less-skilled labor force fosters low wages, and low
wages, in turn, attract less-skilled workers. In that case, raising pay
levels would probably help. ... A chart uses median weekly earnings from
BLS (Business Week, May 29, page 42).
Private economists participating in the Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia's quarterly survey are more concerned about the near-term
inflation outlook now than they were three months ago. ... (Daily Labor
Report, May 23, page A-3).
A majority of employees are happy with their jobs, but many dislike the
system for setting pay, according to WorldatWork, a human resource
professional organization formerly known as the American Compensation
Association. ... Employees at small to midsize companies (100 to 1,000
employees) were the most uniformly dissatisfied. Satisfaction is highest
with work content (82 percent satisfied) and lowest with career opportunity
(68 percent). Seventy-four percent said they receive a fair share of the
rewards in exchange for their work. But 20 percent said they did not
receive what they deserved for their efforts. ... (Daily Labor Report, May
23, page A-2).
The number of union elections, the union win rate, and the number of
eligible voters in elections won by unions all decreased in 1999 from the
totals in 1998, according to preliminary findings based on National Labor
Relations Board data analyzed by BNA. ... (Daily Labor Report, May 23, page
C-1).
College enrollments will swell by some two million students -- to 19 million
-- over the next 15 years, with black, Hispanic and Asian-American students
accounting for 80 percent of the growth, according to a study by the
Educational Testing Service. The proportion of white students on campuses
nationwide will drop from 71 percent in 1995 to 63 percent in 2015, the
study predicts. Over that same 20-year stretch, Hispanic-Americans will
increase their presence to 15 percent from 11 percent, and Asian-Americans
to 8 percent from 5 percent, while African-American enrollment will remain
steady at about 13 percent. ... (New York Times, page A14).
A coalition of labor unions, civic activists, and advocates for minority
rights announced the formation of a nationwide organization to address what
they allege is abuse and unfair treatment of a growing class of employees
called "contingent workers". The group, called the National Alliance for
Fair Employment, said it wants to call attention to what it sees as a
growing dichotomy amid a booming economy: While highly paid "knowledge
workers" enjoy stock options and other increasingly lavish perks, many lower
level workers categorized as "temporaries" face a future with little upward
mobility and only slim chances of obtaining full health insurance and
retirement benefits. ... The senior vice president and general counsel of
the American Staffing Association, which represents about 75 percent of
temporary staffing firms, said many people choose to work for staffing
agencies because they prefer the independence. ... Even the size of the
contingent work force is the subject of dispute. According to the new
group, contingent employees make up 30 percent of the U.S. work force. The
employers' group has said they make up, at most, 5 percent. ... (Washington
Post, page E1).
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