1. Labor Market Overview

2. Some Definitions Market is an institution where buyers and sellers interact to determine the price and quantity transacted. The labor market summarizes the interaction of over 140 million workers and over 7 million employers. The are various ways to categorize labor markets –National market – overall employment/unemployment –Local market – Seattle vs. Ellensburg –Occupational market – medical doctors vs. metal workers –Industry market – automobile vs. railroad (SIC codes) –Internal labor market – rules constraining the employment relationship within a firm.

3. www.bls.gov Employment Statistics The Bureau of Labor and Statistics is the federal governmental unit in charge of collecting and reporting employment data. The BLS website is: http://www.bls.gov.http://www.bls.gov The Economic Report of the President is also a good source of data on the US economy http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/download.html http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/download.html Employment data are collected in the Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of 60,000 households across the U.S. conducted by the Bureau of Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It provides a comprehensive body of data on the labor force, employment, unemployment, and persons not in the labor force.

4. www.bls.gov Who is counted as employed? Employed persons consist of: –All persons who did any work for pay or profit during the survey reference week. –All persons who did at least 15 hours of unpaid work in a family-operated enterprise. –All persons who were temporarily absent from their regular jobs because of illness, vacation, bad weather, industrial dispute, or various personal reasons.

5. www.bls.gov Who is counted as unemployed? Unemployed persons are: –All persons who were not classified as employed during the survey reference week, made specific active efforts to find a job during the prior 4 weeks, and were available for work. –All persons who were not working and were waiting to be called back to a job from which they had been temporarily laid off.

6. Figure 2.1 Labor Force Status of the U.S. Adult Civilian Population, June 2000

7. www.bls.gov

8. Flows in Labor Data Employed to Unemployed: Quits (voluntary) or layoffs (involuntary) Unemployment to Employed: Newly hired or Recalled Labor force to Not in the Labor Force: Retiring or Dropping Out Not in Labor Force to Labor Force: Newly Entering or Rentering

10. Figure 3 Labor Force Participation Rates for Men and Women Since 1950 Copyright©2003 Southwestern/Thomson Learning 100 80 60 40 20 0 1950195519601965197019751980198519902000 Labor-Force Participation Rate (in percent) Women Men 1995

11. Figure 2.2 Unemployment Rates for the Civilian Labor Force, 1900–2000

12. Figure 2.3 Employment Distribution by Major Industrial Sector, 1900–2000

15. Figure 2.4 Relationship between Wages, Earnings, Compensation, and Income

17. Figure 2.5 The Markets in Which Firms Must Operate