Showing papers in "Monthly Labor Review in 1974"

Work Experience of the Population in 1977.

Abstract: Labor force participation rates are reported for 1978. Additional detailed information is provided in 25 supplementary tables. More than 110 million persons were employed at some time during the year an increase of 3.2 million since 1977 with women accounting for 2/3 of the increase. The proportion of both men and women working year round full time increased. The greatest expansion in year round employment for women was in the 25-34 year old age group. Their participation reflects a new pattern of marrying later after several years of labor force experience and returning sooner after childbirth. Balck women were more likely to work year round full time. The black-white difference narrows slightly if part time year round employment is considered with full time year round work. Since 1968 black women under 25 years have been consistently less likely to work all year than their white cohorts in part because they lacked important credentials (i.e. high school diploma) to assure steady employment. Occupational changes accounted for some of the increases in full time year round employment for women. Their proportions increased in occupations which tend to offer steady employment for example participation in technical and professional jobs rose by almost 5%. For black women an expansion in clerical work was noted and the increase in the number of black women in professional and managerial jobs was substantial. The proportion of white and hispanic men who worked was higher than for black men however hispanic men were least likely to work year round full time. A downward tend was noted for year round employment among men especially among white and black men in the 25-34 year old age group. The decline in this age group may indicate some generational crowding with regard to steady jobs. A sharp decline was noted among black men under 25 years old and little change was noted among white men in the same age group. A range of socioeconomic factors has contributed to this steady deterioration of the employment situation of young blacks. The occupational category showing the sharpest drop in year round employment for men was in transportation equipment operatives. The proportion of men who worked year round in service occupations also declined substantially. 17.7 million labor force participants experienced some unemployment fewer than in the previous year. The unemployment decline affected all major labor force groups; however fewer white workers than blacks or hispanics were unemployed. The number experiencing long spells of unemployment more than 15 weeks decreased substantially in 1978 short spells were only down slightly. The supplementary tables indicate labor force participation by the usual breakdowns race sex and occupational categories. In addition breakdowns are provided by marital status major reasons for part year work and major reasons for not working.

The 1974 Amendments to the Federal Minimum Wage Law.

Abstract: The first major revision in almost 8 years in Federal standards for minimum wages, hours of work, overtime pay, equal pay, and child labor became law early in 19741 The 1974 amendments ultimately will make the Federal minimum wage the same for all workers $230 an hour Workers covered prior to the 1966 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act will reach $230 on January 1, 1976 Workers (other than farmworkers) covered as a result of the 1966 and 1974 amendments to

Factfinding in Teacher Disputes: The Wisconsin Experience.

Abstract: riers (which because of lack of data are not included in the output measure, even though industry employees engaged in such movements are counted in the input measure) represent a very small proportion of the industry's total services. Inclusion of such local movements in the published measure would not likely affect the trend. Dr. Daicoffs criticism of the "long" time period over which the productivity trend of the intercity trucking industry has been calculated is not readily comprehensible. Data and conceptual problems have not prevented the measurement of business cycles over roughly the past century, nor that of a definitive measure of national output for nearly half a century.

Intergovernmental Relations Under the New Manpower Act.

Abstract: The Comprehensive Employment and. Training Act of 1973, culminating almost 5 years of manpower reform efforts by the Congress and Administration, largely eliminates the specific Federal manpower programs authorized under earlier legislation. In an attempt to avoid the inefficiency of separate project administration and to provide greater responsiveness to local needs, the Secretary of Labor now will make block grants to about 500 local and State governments to plan and operate manpower programs. The unique feature of the new law, compared with earlier reform efforts, is its careful specification of the administrative roles of Federal, State, and local governments and local interest groups in providing manpower services. The article focuses on these new intergovernmental relationships and also discusses some related issues treated in the act, especially the future -of public service employment programs and the formulas to be used to distribute manpower funds. The new manpower act is a major legislative achievement, but a brief look at the background of the act is. necessary to put that achievement in perspective. The history of manpower legislation from its infancy in the training provisions of the Area Redevelopment Act through the enactment of the Manpower Development and Training Act in 1962, the Economic Opportunity Act in 1964, and the frequent amendments of those acts in response to their felt deficiences has been chronicled at length,1 and that history will not be repeated here. But it is significant to recapture the flavor of the last amendments to these statutes in order to put into focus the legislative situation in 1969 when the drive for comprehensive reform began. Strange as it may sound today, amendments to the Econdmic Opportunity Act in 1967 and to the Manpower Development and Training Act in 1968, were

State Labor Legislation Enacted in 1973.

Abstract: Minimum wages. Although no increase in the Federal minimum wage was approved, there was significant State action to increase wage rates and broaden coverage. Rate increases in 20 jurisdictions for all or some covered employees were either approved in 1973 or took effect under prior action. As of January 1974, 11 States1 and Guam have statutory minimum rates exceeding the current Federal rate of $1.60; and rates higher than $1.60 have also been established by wage orders in North Dakota and the District of Columbia. Wage setting by means of industry wage orders was discarded by Minnesota and Ohio in favor of specific rates established by new statutes. The Minnesota law sets the minimum rate at $1.80 an hour, replacing the wage order rates of $0.75 to $1.60, and for the first time requires the payment of time and one-half the regular rate for work in excess of 48 hours a week. Coverage was extended to include certain public employees and agricultural workers. The Ohio minimum was set at $1.60 for counties with 300,000 inhabitants or more and $1.40 for the less populous ones, with the rates to be equalized after 1 year. Time and one-half is required for work in excess of 40 hours a week. The new law

Trends in Federal Employment, 1958-72.

Abstract: Federal civilian employment1 (full time and part time) increased from 2.2 million to 2.6 million between 1958 and 1972 (table 1). This total grew steadily from 1958 to almost 2.4 million in 1965. Thereafter, primarily because of a surge in Department of Defense employment stemming from the Vietnam conflict, employment increased rapidly, peaking at 2.7 million in 1967. 2 The drop (almost 6 percent) in the Federal work force after 1967 was primarily due to decreasing defense requirements resulting from phasing out of the Vietnam conflict and cutbacks in the U.S. Postal Service the Post Office prior to 1972 (table 2).

Job Situation of Vietnam-Era Veterans.

Abstract: Employment of veterans 20 to 34 years old rose steadily during 1973, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent (seasonally adjusted) in the final quarter after fluctuating narrowly between 5.0 and 5.4 percent for most of the year. The rate of the youngest veterans (20-24), those who had been discharged more recently, also improved at yearend, but continued to run about double the rate of the older vet-

Public Sector Strikes--Legislative and Court Treatment.

Abstract: Historically, public policy toward public sector work stoppages was typified by Franklin D. Roosevelt's feeling that they were "unthinkable" and Calvin Coolidge's thought that they were a form of "anarchy." That attitude persisted into the 1960's, despite the number of public sector collective bargaining relationships which had been established and the occurrence of some work stoppages. In the mid1960's, it would be accurate to say that public policy in all States clearly prohibited work stoppages of public employees by statute, court decision, or attorney's general opinion. The Federal Government's policy toward work stoppages by its employees has been spelled out in section 19(b)(4) of Executive Order 11491, which makes it an unfair labor practice for a public employee labor organization to "call" or engage in a strike, work stoppage, or slowdown, to picket an agency in a labor-management dispute, or to condone any such activity by failing to take affirmative action to stop it. Just as explicit is 5 U.S.C, section 7311(3) which provides, "An individual may not . . . hold a position in the Government of the United States . . . if he . . . participates in a strike . . . against the Government of the United States. . .

Improving Working Life--The Role of European Unions.

Abstract: Efforts to humanize work are part of the broad worldwide concern for a better quality of life. On the shop floor and at the bargaining table, these efforts cover safety and health, improved systems of remuneration, job security, and better welfare provisions. Proposals to humanize work run the gamut of employer-employee relations from the early demand for "industrial democracy" first coined by Beatrice and Sydney Webb to the demand for worker representation on companies' boards of directors and for workers' control or self-management. More recently they have ranged to a demand for restructuring and reorganizing work to relieve the worker from the deadening impact of monotonous, repetitive, and boring work and pressures on the assembly line. A previous Monthly Labor Review article described efforts to make work more meaningful through worker participation in management decisions.1 This report describes attempts to restructure and reorganize work in several Western European nations and focuses on the role unions have played in these efforts.