The employment-population ratio, the measure of the number of employed civilians of working age compared to total civilians of working age, has dropped 4.9% from the most recent peak of 63.4% in December 2006 to 58.5% in March 2013. The last time the ratio was this low, prior to the 2007 downturn, was October of 1983.
For more information, see our Employment Report.
–Data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve
The number of people quitting their jobs, part of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), is at the highest level since 2008, and up significantly over the past few months. This implies that people are comfortable enough to quit their jobs and assume they can find another. For more information, see our JOLTS Report.
–from Business Insider
Of employees with a household income of $75,000, 48% expect a pay raise this year. In comparison, only 30% of those with a household income of less than $30,000 expect an increase this year. This is an interesting new perspective on perceived inequality–those further from the bottom expect more. The differences between men and women are surprising as well. Click through for more charts.
–from Benzinga.com and Glassdoor.com
This fantastic info-graphic shows the various categories of people both in and out of the labor force. It is surprising that 5% of the population is legally disabled–this notion has been getting some attention recently and is sure to get more. Click through for details.
–from The Atlantic and Bloomberg BusinessWeek
From WSJ article, union membership declining.
Fishing is the most dangerous job in the US by a wide margin, with 121.2 deaths per 100,000 workers. The spread from most-to-least dangerous is substantial and there are a few surprises here: firefighters, for example, have a lower death rate than the national average. I would like to see the stats for soldiers, another hero-type profession along with police offers and firefighters, but it was sadly not included.
–From NPR
Earth Policy Institute with a nice piece about China’s food needs.
NYT with a nice data story about the problems with social security calculations. Four solutions offered to the problem:
1-raise retirement age
2-increase payroll tax
3-limit cola adjustments
4-reduce benefits
Also makes case for improved forecasting methodologies, ie more statistical and data-driven (empirical).
One solution not mentioned is to make benefits more progressive. My dad who is 79 doesn’t really need benefits, but he gets them anyways…he has wondered how much we as a country could save if he and others like him have up their benefits.
Great series of graphs from The Washington Post. They asked their favorite “wonks” what charts or graphs were most meaningful to them in the past year. Chart above shows the Obama-Romney election and how increasing density meant increasing votership for Obama, decreasing for Romney.
