Bureau of Labor Statistics Report

News from the BLS

RELEASED MARCH 11: More than 21 million persons did some work at home as part of their primary job in May 1997. (Note: that's about one-sixth of the total USA workforce.) The overall number of persons doing job-related work at home did not grow dramatically between 1991 and 1997, but the number of wage and salary workers doing paid work at home did.

AND THIS: Despite their smaller numbers, members of the "baby bust" generation have not enjoyed the labor market success that their baby boom counterparts did two decades ago, according to an article in the February issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The article, "Comparing the Labor Market Success of Young Adults from Two Generations," by Kurt Schwammel, economist in the Office of Employment Projections, BLS, points out that, between 1979 and 1996, the largest gains in employment and earnings among adults aged 25 to 34 occurred when most members of the cohort were baby boomers. Observers had predicted that the baby bust cohort would have an easier time finding good jobs than baby boomers, but Schwammel found baby bust workers were more likely to be employed in lower-paying jobs.