This essay, taken from the 2005 KIDS COUNT Data Book, examines four employment barriers that policymakers and others consider among the most difficult to overcome: substance abuse, domestic violence, a history of incarceration, and depression. These burdens can diminish a person's motivation and ability to find work. Furthermore, they can make it…

The number of persons working part-time for economic reasons increased 60 percent (by 2.112 million workers) between 1979 and 1985. Although total wage and salary employment is up since 1979, nearly one in five new positions is a part-time job filled by a worker unsuccessful in finding full-time employment. Sixty-two percent of those working…

This bulletin contains information, culled from the March 1985 Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), on the employment problems faced by American workers in 1984 and the impact of these problems on the economic status of their families and households. The following employment problems are…

Blacks, Hispanics, and women are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed than white males, regardless of economic conditions. This conclusion was drawn from an analysis of data gathered from the March Current Population Survey for the years 1971 through 1980, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, and state and local unemployment rates…

This bulletin examines the employment problems of workers in relation to their family and household economic status, as measured by their family income and poverty-nonpoverty status. The bulletin is based largely on data from the March 1982 Current Population Survey of the Bureau of the Census that relates to the year 1981. For each of the three…

Federal and State employment data were examined in a study of the industrial, occupational, and job segmentation of Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites by sex in New York City's private sector. Primary focus was placed on the effects of the city's growing service-oriented economy on the employment patterns of Blacks and Hispanics. The study found that…

In October 1984, unacceptably high levels of unemployment persisted in many regions of the United States. Figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal that nearly 8.5 million Americans, or 7.4 percent of the civilian labor force, are still without work. When the 5.5 million Americans working part-time because of economic reasons, as…

In light of pressure on Congress to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 per hour, a study looked at the effects such a raise would have on more than 10 million workers, many of them teenagers. The study used quarterly data on the labor force participation rates of teenagers from 1978 through 1999 and other studies to assess the effects of…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the median age of workers will rise from 34.8 years in 1982 to 37.3 years by 1995. In the 30 years between 1955 and 1985, the number of workers aged 45 and over has risen from 25 million to nearly 32 million. Workers over the age of 45 are established in all types of occupations. The number of men aged…

The United States is a labor surplus society, one with a persistent shortage of jobs. This labor surplus--manifested in excessively and persistently high unemployment--will continue through the 1980s. The existence of a persistent job shortage, resulting in a labor surplus of four to six million unemployed workers without a constructive economic…

A study was conducted to provide descriptive information about dropout rates by various subgroups, their reported reasons for dropping out, and some activities after leaving school. As part of the longitudinal study, High School and Beyond, the National Center for Education Statistics surveyed 30,000 sophomore and 28,000 senior high school…

Information on the characteristics of working women in the United States and changing trends over the past quarter century are presented in this databook. (The primary source of the data is the Current Population Survey, which is conducted monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the Bureau of the Census.) Part 1 of the databook provides…

This chartbook presents information on the extent and nature of unemployment in the United States. The statistics presented are part of a broad array of unemployment and related labor force data available from the Current Population Survey, a sample survey of some 60,000 households conducted monthly by the Bureau of the Census. The 28 charts and…

This report, the first of a six-part, intensive longitudinal study, examines the relationships between selected demographic, attitudinal, and educational characteristics of male youth in the United States and their labor market experience and occupational aspirations. The data are drawn from interviews conducted during October-December 1966, with…

This document contains three papers from an international conference on "ways and means for more employment." The first paper, "Employment Policy Comparisons and Policy Advice" (Ulrich Walwei), covers the German labor market in the second half of the 1990s and requirements for longer-term employment success through coping with…