Tag Archives: labor force

11.29.2012 | Power and Pantsuits

Today, some thoughts about pantsuits and power.

One scholarly analysis of Hillary Clinton’s pantsuits concluded that they displayed her toughness.

In a Harper’s Bazaar interview, Nancy Pelosi is asked, “How many pantsuits do you have?” Her answer: “I don’t have any idea. Endless.”

According to Business Insider, because Angela Merkel wears the same Bettina Schoenbach pantsuit style everyday in a different color, she might have inspired the recent Greek riots. The reason? Her attire conveys rigidity. (After a state dinner, Ms. Merke gave Hillary Clinton a framed newpaper picture of the 2 of them from the waist down captioned, “Which one is Merkel, which one is Clinton?”)

Candy Crowley and Martha Raddatz both wore traditional black suit jackets when they moderated presidential and vice presidential debates.

Female Supreme Court justices frequently wear pantsuits.

One analysis of female news anchor attire points out, though, that the pantsuit mandate is fading. Seven years ago, Fox anchors started wearing dresses, more make-up and higher heeled shoes. One analyst suggested that as the status of female anchors ascended, they felt sufficiently powerful to dress individually. Still though, an Indiana University study revealed that male viewers forgot the news content (called a cognitive fog!) when delivered by “boldly dressed women.”

Our bottom line? Female participation rates in the US labor force (see below) have skyrocketed during the past 50 years. And yet still, to compete in the workplace, for women more than men, clothing can affect their success.

Sources and Resources: The articles discussing the connection between female empowerment and attire were fascinating. I read about Angela Merkel in Business Insider and WSJ.com, Hillary Clinton, in this scholarly paper, Nancy Pelosi in Harper’s Bazaar, and got further insight from msmagazine. For the history of what female news anchors have worn, this Washington Post article was excellent.

Posted by: adminEcon
Tags: Angela Merkel, Candy Crowley, female news anchors, female participation rates, Hillary Clinton, labor force, Maria Elizabeth Grabe, Martha Raddatz, Nancy Pelosi, pantsuits, power dressing, presidential debates, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, YSL
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05.28.2011 | Job Matters

Where do we work and how much do we earn?

In the entire U.S., there are 2830 mathematicians, 3220 historians, and 225,450 fitness trainers and aerobic instructors. Employing 7.6 million, the largest occupational group is salespeople and cashiers. Here, you can see a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) list of how many of us do what.

You can also check out where people earn more. On this map illustrating BLS statistics, people in the red labeled areas earn less while the green areas earn more. Red clusters extend from Florida, up to Virginia and then westward to Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Green concentrations are located along the West Coast and Middle Atlantic states.

Finally, which job groups earn the least and the most? The WSJ tells us that “20% of the work force…[included] the worst paying positions.” With salespeople and cashiers among the lowest paid, predictably, physicians and lawyers are close to the top. Also, though, there are some surprises.

The Economic Lesson

Numbering close to 150 million people, the U.S. labor force includes people who are:

16 years old or older
employed
unemployed and looking for a paying job

An Economic Question: As a presidential candidate, which job facts would you believe are most important? Suggest economic policy proposals that relate to the job facts you cite.

Posted by: adminEcon
Tags: jobs, labor force, wages
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03.09.2011 | Visiting the Labor Market

We might need to adjust how we think about the labor market. Yes, we know that the unemployment rate for February was 8.9% and that 13.7 million people are jobless. However, to encourage thoughts about the future, an M.I.T. economist tells us more.

First, let’s slice the labor force into thirds:

1) High-skill, high wage workers which include “high education professional, technical, and managerial occupations.”

2) Middle-skill, middle wage workers that are “white-collar clerical, administrative and sales jobs occupations and blue-collar production, craft, and operative occupations.”

3) Low-skill, low wage workers which take us to “low-education food service, personal care, and protective service occupations.”

According to M.I.T.’s David Autor, #2, the middle, has experienced diminishing opportunities during the past 2 decades while the top and the bottom of the labor market have had expanding job potential. Most important, though, are the two challenges cited in Dr. Autor’s paper. 1) Skilled workers are in greatest demand but educational levels have not kept up with our increased need for them. 2) Because we have expanding job opportunities at the top and the bottom of the labor market, we have greater polarization–a greater divide about which he is concerned.

The basic question for us is trajectory. Do we approve of the direction in which the labor market is heading? What are the policy implications for wages, educational attainment, and employment opportunities?

The Economic Lesson

To be defined as a member of the labor force, an individual is:
-16 years old or older
-employed
-unemployed and looking for a paying job

Posted by: adminEcon
Tags: David Autor, education, job market, labor force, wages
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02.06.2011 | Unemployment Questions

Friday’s employment report had good news and bad news. There was considerably less unemployment and considerably less job creation. Moving from 9.4% to 9%, the unemployment rate decreased more than most people expected. However, the job creation number, 36,000, was a disappointment.

Do we have a contradiction? We just do not know. The fuzziness has many reasons. Here are a few:

1) The unemployment rate is based on the Household Survey, a canvas of 60,000 households. The job creation numbers come from the Payroll Survey, collected from approximately 440,000 business and government establishments. You can look here to see how the 2 surveys differ.

2) Furthermore, the Household Survey data might have been skewed because it is collected during one week. What if that week was snowy? What if no one was home?

3) Previous job creation numbers from the Payroll Survey are revised each month as more data is collected. As a result, the Payroll Survey data becomes more accurate over time.

4) However, the unemployment rate is never revised.

Where are we? At the NY Times, Floyd Norris and David Leonhardt tried to work their way through the confusion. Their conclusions? The job market is definitely better than it was during October 2009 and the happier news comes from the Household Survey.

The Economic Lesson

To complicate matters further, the unemployment rate looks only at those who are in the labor force (16 or older, have a job, looking for a job). For that reason, some suggest considering the U-6 rate, which includes the traditional numbers plus “marginally attached” workers and those who are not in the labor force. These workers have either stopped looking for a job or cannot find full time employment. The U-6 rate is a whopping 17.3%.

Posted by: adminEcon
Tags: job creation, labor force, U-6, unemployment
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07.03.2010 | The Age of Women?

Told you are about to meet the CEO of a major corporation, do you imagine someone in a skirt? According to a recent Washington Post article, the answer from most people is “No”. To individuals saying we have entered “the age of women,” because of Elena Kagan and more females in the U.S. work force, this journalist instead looked at “the areas where the real money and power reside.” For example, at Google and Amazon, the top paying hedge funds, and the major banks, males dominate top management. Her conclusion? She suggests that for women to claim economic power, they have to focus on amassing their own capital.

Looking further at gender equality in OECD Nations, 2006 median income statistics indicate that women earn 18% less than men. In Japan and Korea, the gap is close to 30%, in Poland, New Zealand, and Belgium, at 10%, the gap is much less, and for the U.S. the difference is 19%. Correspondingly, women hold only 1/3 of all management positions.

The Economic Lesson

In the U.S., to be defined as a part of the labor force, a person has to be 16 or older and employed or unemployed but looking for a job. With 154 million people in the U.S. labor force, women total approximately 72 million.

Posted by: adminEcon
Tags: gender inequality, glass ceiling, labor force, OECD, wage differentials
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