Spring Semester 2011
ECON 4327/5327-001 -- TR, 9:45am-11:05am, Room 343, Sam Wilson Hall
Student Presentations for Spring 2011.
April 5:
Peter Wilson “Lockout
in the National Hockey League 2004-2005”
April 5:
Sean Ligon “Professional
Wrestlers – Employees or Independent Contractors?”
April 12: Tiffany Harrald “Women in the Labor Force”
April 12: Dan Ligon “Labor Effects of NAFTA”
April 14:
Alba Del Villar
“Income Distribution in Different Nations”
April 14:
Eric Blankenbeckler
??
April 19:
Stacie Clark “The
Solidarity Labor Movement in Poland”
April 19:
Edin Hurem “Labor
Relations in Volkswagen”
April 21:
Yuri Seal “Japanese-Brazilians
in Japan”
April 21:
Jae In Han “Unemployment
Insurance in Different Nations”
April 26:
Kareme Damallie “Movement of Women into the Labor Force
”
April 26:
Matt Dial “Labor
Laws in Asia”
April 28:
Jared Riddle “Labor
Relations in the National Football League”
April 28:
Brandon Walker “Hispanic
Immigration into the United States”
Internet Links
December 2010 U.S. Labor Market Situation
On January 7, 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the monthly report on labor market conditions in the United States. This report covers the month of December 2010. Go to http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.toc.htm to see the report. Note that the report is divided into a group of "A" tables and a group of "B" tables. The "A" tables are the source of monthly data on employment and unemployment, while the "B" tables are the source of monthly data on employment in different industries.
The report is in HTML format which is inconvenient to use, so click on the "PDF version" to see the actual published form of the report. The report is 42 pages long.
The "A" tables are based upon the Current Population Survey
(CPS) which is sometimes called the "Household Survey". During the
second week of each month the BLS conducts a survey
of 50,000 households in the
Go to "Table A-1. Employment status of the civilian population by sex and age" on page "15 of 42”. Note the column headings. The first three columns contain the actual data, while the last six columns contain seasonally adjusted data. With the actual data ("not adjusted") the comparisons must be made on a year-to-year basis. The adjusted data can be compared on a month-to-month basis.
Now look at the row headings. The "Civilian labor force" is the "Employed" and "Unemployed" figures added together. The "Unemployment rate" -- the number everybody looks at -- is "Unemployed" divided by the "Civilian labor force". This general format is used in the "A" tables for different groups. For example, go down to Table A-2 and Table A-3 and find the unemployment rates for White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic groups. In Table A-4, find the unemployment rates for high school graduates and college graduates.
The "B" tables are based on the "Establishment Survey"
which includes most business and government establishments in the
Go to "Table B-1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector" on page "32 of 42". Note the column headings. The first four columns contain the actual data, while the last five columns contain seasonally adjusted data. With the actual data ("not adjusted") the comparisons must be made on a year-to-year basis. The adjusted data can be compared on a month-to-month basis.
Now look at the row headings. The first row is "Total nonfarm" which shows the total employment in all the establishments covered by the report. Compare this figure with the "Employed" number in Table A-1. The CPS based figure is larger than the establishment figure! Why? The CPS figure includes workers in agriculture and the self employed, while the establishment figure excludes these groups.
Look down Table B-1 at all the industry groupings. These groupings are based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) which our government adopted as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). At the top of Table B-1 you will find "Goods-producing" which includes mining, construction, and manufacturing. At the bottom of the first page, you will find "Private service-providing" which includes wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation, utilities, information, finance, professional services, education & health services, leisure services, and other services. Government is at the end of the table. The word "services" is used several times in this list. In the first application it refers to all employment that does not produce goods, and includes over 80% of all payroll jobs. In the second application it refers to specific categories. When someone is talking about jobs in "services" you need to find out which term they are referring to.
Finally, browse through the report to see all of the tables that are included. Be sure to look at the news release at the beginning of the report -- this will be the information used by the media.