Every day, the media covers hundreds of stories on jobs, income, unemployment and the U.S. economy. But what happens when we step back and ask a few bigger, simpler questions: What do Americans do for a living? And in what way has the employment landscape changed over the last 30 years? Planet Money has answered these questions with two graphs. Jobs where people manufacture goods now constitute significantly fewer of the total employment landscape. Americans still made a lot of … [Read more...]
Job openings in February rose to their highest level since the economic downtown in May 2008, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last week. There were 4 million job openings at U.S. companies on the last day of February, up from 3.5 the previous month. Hiring and separation rates did not show much change, coming in at 3.3% and 3.1% respectively. With 52 million hires and 50.1 million separations in the 12 months ending in February 2013, the net employment gain came out to 1.9 … [Read more...]
Trends in the job market show an increasing number of men entering jobs traditionally dominated by women: teaching, nursing, dental assisting, bank telling, reception work and waiting tables. The shifting terrain of the American labor market is driven by many factors, including financial issues, quality-of-life concerns and a steady erosion of gender stereotypes. Census data show that from 2000 to 2010, occupations that are more than 70% female made up almost one-third of all job growth for men … [Read more...]
CareerCast.com just published its list of the 10 most stressful jobs for 2013, and once again military careers topped the list. 1. Enlisted Military Personnel 2. Military General 3. Firefighter 4. Commercial Airline Pilot 5. Public Relations Executive 6. Senior Corporate Executive 7. Photojournalist 8. Newspaper Reporter 9. Taxi Driver 10. Police Officer In today’s volatile geopolitical landscape, the men and women serving the U.S. military not only provide services to ensure the … [Read more...]
Almost one million low-wage workers will receive modest raises this year. Ten states across the U.S. have raised the minimum wage, including Rhode Island, the most recent to address these low income workers with a minimum wage boost of 35 cents an hour (bringing the hourly rate to $7.75). This works out to an extra $510 a year for 11,000 Rhode Island residents. In 9 other states, including right here in Washington, laws that link the minimum wage to inflation will give workers an increases of 10 … [Read more...]
