Category: Labor data

Employment and Wage & Hour Statistics Focus: Consumer Expenditure Survey

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) is conducted for the US Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CE is important because it is the only Federal survey to provide information on the complete range of consumers’ expenditures and incomes, as well as the characteristics of those consumers.  It studies the expenditures, income, and household characteristics of American consumers.  The CE is often used in wrongful death cases to estimate a personal consumption factor.

The personal consumption factor is the amount of income the decedent would have spent on personal expenditures as opposed to income going to the household or other members of the household.  Personal consumption includes expenditures on food, clothing, alcohol, transportation, etc.  This factor is generally estimated using the expenditure data from CE and regression analysis.

2012 statsitcs about American spending

For more information, see http://www.bls.gov/cex.

Image Source: http://www.creditloan.com/media/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/paycheck-of-the-average-american-2013.png

Using Microlevel BLS data to study aggregate wage dispersion

Can Microlevel BLS data be used to study how and why employees are paid differently at US employers ?  This paper and the work ultimately looks to provide a method to use the Microlevel, i.e. individual level survey observations, to match dispersion measures like, the standard deviation, in big data BLS employment data. The first step for the researchers is to try and match the aggregate numbers to the micro numbers. 

FLSA OT report for RN’s working in hospitals

In this post, we look at the weekly overtime (OT) hours typically worked by registered nurses who work in hospitals. Many of the employees that work in these jobs are not exempt from FLSA overtime pay and earn 1.5 times pay for hours worked over 40 in a given week. The tabulations below are based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey data. The BLS job title groups are insightful, generally containing more specific job titles with similar knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA), but can be more broad than a particular company’s job title listing. Also, some companies may have the job title listed here as exempt from FLSA or state OT due to their specific job assignments. The BLS does not make a distinction as to if the job title is exempt or non-exempt from OT.

Occupational Group Title Percent of OT Workers Average Hours of OT 1 out of every 4 (25%) OT workers works at least:
Registered Nurses in Hospitals 15.44% 10.29 hours 52 hours

U.S. BLS data indicates that approximately 15.44% of registered nurses in hospitals work overtime hours in a given week.  On average, these workers that have FLSA overtime work approximately 10.29 hours a week in OT. The average regular or straight time pay rate of these workers in the U.S. is approximately $26.15 an hour.  The average FLSA OT rate, not including supplemental pay such as non-discretionary bonus pay, is $39.22 an hour.

Source: BLS (CPS March)

FLSA OT report for police officers

In this post, we look at the weekly overtime (OT) hours typically worked by those who work as police officers. Many of the employees that work in these jobs are not exempt from FLSA overtime pay and earn 1.5 times pay for hours worked over 40 in a given week. The tabulations below are based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey data. The BLS job title groups are insightful, generally containing more specific job titles with similar knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA), but can be more broad than a particular company’s job title listing. Also, some companies may have the job title listed here as exempt from FLSA or state OT due to their specific job assignments. The BLS does not make a distinction as to if the job title is exempt or non-exempt from OT.

Occupational Group Title Percent of OT Workers Average Hours of OT 1 out of every 4 (25%) OT workers works at least:
Police Officers 30.86% 12.6 hours 60 hours

U.S. BLS data indicates that approximately 30.86% of police officers work overtime hours in a given week.  On average, these workers that have FLSA overtime work approximately 12.6 hours a week in OT. The average regular or straight time pay rate of these workers in the U.S. is approximately $27.24 an hour.  The average FLSA OT rate, not including supplemental pay such as non-discretionary bonus pay, is $40.86 an hour.

Source: BLS (CPS March)

FLSA OT report for retail sales workers in electronics stores

In this post, we look at the weekly overtime (OT) hours typically worked by those who work in retail sales occupations, specifically in electronics stores. Many of the employees that work in these jobs are not exempt from FLSA overtime pay and earn 1.5 times pay for hours worked over 40 in a given week. The tabulations below are based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey data. The BLS job title groups are insightful, generally containing more specific job titles with similar knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA), but can be more broad than a particular company’s job title listing. Also, some companies may have the job title listed here as exempt from FLSA or state OT due to their specific job assignments. The BLS does not make a distinction as to if the job title is exempt or non-exempt from OT.

Occupational Group Title Percent of OT Workers Average Hours of OT 1 out of every 4 (25%) OT workers works at least:
Retail Sales Workers in Electronics Stores 17.95% 12.14 hours 60 hours

U.S. BLS data indicates that approximately 17.95% of retail salespersons in electronic stores work overtime hours in a given week.  On average, these workers that have FLSA overtime work approximately 12.14 hours a week in OT. The average regular or straight time pay rate of these workers in the U.S. is approximately $13.89 an hour.  The average FLSA OT rate, not including supplemental pay such as non-discretionary bonus pay, is $20.84 an hour.

Source: BLS (CPS March)

STEM jobs decreased in CA, but increased in TX for June

California experienced a decrease of 549 innovation job openings from May 2015 to June 2015, a decrease of 0.69%. Texas experienced an increase of 79 innovation job openings from May 2015 to June 2015, an increase of 0.16%.

Our definition of STEM jobs: http://www.employstats.com/blog/2014/09/19/growing-national-interest-in-stem-fields-has-focused-our-research/

STEM logo

State Total Openings Monthly Change Yearly Change
CA 79,402 -0.69% 8.76%
TX 48,441 0.16% 9.83%

Source: BLS

Image source: http://projecttomorrowblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/i-am-scientist.html

California job openings decreased from April to May

The number of job openings in California decreased from 657,459 in April 2015 to 610,591 in May 2015. The median number of job searchers per job opening across all MSAs (metropolitan statistical areas) and occupations in California increased from 1.48 in April 2015 to 1.62 in May 2015.

CA_2015_05
Source: BLS