The Changing Face of Work in America

With the recent numbers from Bureau of Labor Statistics telling us that our unemployment rate has improved slightly, it seems that we are solidly in “recovery phase,” and that improvements in the job market are always a “trailing economic indicator.”AOLNews.com (April 1^st) summarizes: “The unemployment rate fell to a two-year low of 8.8 percent in March, capping the strongest two months of hiring since before the recession began… The economy added 216,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said Friday. Factories, retailers, the education and health care sectors and professional and financial services all expanded payrolls. Those job gains offset layoffs by local governments.” Woo hoo!

Except that unemployment number doesn’t contain those who have slipped out of the statistics because they’ve been unemployed so long they don’t count, folks who want to work full time and can only find part-time or occasional work, and those folks in chronically high regions of unemployment, including parts of Nevada, California, Michigan and large segments of the “rust best.” And it comes before the plethora of expected levels of austerity layoffs triggered at the state and local government levels, the potential offshoot of a federal shutdown if Congress can’t agree on a budget or the fact that so many workers are “contract” workers with no tenure and no benefits.

The unemployment statistic also doesn’t address the notion of unhappy workers and underemployed specialists forced to take lower-paying jobs outside of their field of expertise (which may have become obsolete!). It’s great to create jobs, but the actual pay and benefit levels become relevant to a consumer-driven recovery and home values. Folks with less money to spend or who are uncertain about their futures simply spend less and are very unlikely to buy a new home. Measuring underemployment is exceptionally difficult, however, but the starting point has to be various “job satisfaction surveys,” yet one also has to be sensitive to employed workers whose job description has expanded (but their pay has not) to cover all those fellow employees who got the sack in a corporate efficiency move; employers, sensing a scarcity of jobs out there, don’t seem to be concerned with treating their employees well or even paying them commensurate with their effort these days. And as the dollar inflates, but pay levels do not (unless you are on Wall Street in a senior capacity), folks are able to spend even less, another form of underemployment.

So let’s see if we can look around for hints of what might give us a handle on whether there is also a rising river of underemployment in these discontentment statistics. You can start with the most exaggerated version of this analysis: “According to a recent survey by job-placement firm Manpower, 84% of employees plan to look for a new position in 2011. That's up from just 60% last year.” CNNMoney.com (December 23, 2010). Too dire; I just don’t buy it.

Maybe it depends on the kind of job. According to the October 11, 2010 Buzzle.com, “Job Satisfaction Statistics or employee surveys say that over 65% of workers are not satisfied with their job. Many surveys regarding job satisfaction have been conducted by several companies and individuals, after consulting thousands of Americans by giving them a questionnaire on employee job satisfaction. Though the reasons given for dissatisfaction in job were many, the situation is really serious and hence, HR managers should take timely steps to solve these problems in the workplace. According to statistics, more than 70 % of teachers, fire fighters, authors and physical therapists were found to be highly satisfied with their jobs. Even psychologists, in general, have a very high percentage of job satisfaction. Then, which are the professions where job satisfaction is low? This might be an obvious question in your mind. Jobs such as those of laborers, waiters, servers, cashiers and bartenders have the least satisfaction percentage. Job satisfaction statistics reveals that only 21 to 27 % of people engaged in these professions are satisfied with their work. The job satisfaction percentage has reduced significantly in the US as compared to the earlier days.” Still stretching my credibility, but better.

OK, here’s study from insurance giant MetLife (blimp, anyone?), that actually carries a whole lot of credibility: http://www.metlife.com/assets/institutional/services/insights-and-tools/ebts/Employee-Benefits-Trends-Study.pdf Want the short strokes? The March 28, 2011 TransparencyRevolution.com summarizes the most important “dissatisfaction” results of the relevant polling in this piece: “The report describes a ‘workforce ready for flight’ and states that some 34% of employees surveyed hope to be working elsewhere in the next 12 months… Studies show that, on average, people change jobs every four years. Although job changes occur for a lot of different reasons, it would make sense to estimate that in more robust economic times, the number of people looking to change jobs would be around 25% [considered normal], rather than 34%. When hiring really does pick back up in earnest, companies that are interested in minimizing turnover and retaining talent are going to be surprised to see so many people leave….Workers who say that ‘I am satisfied with the job I have now’ has declined from 59 percent three years ago to 51 percent last year.” OK, I’m finally buying the numbers. We have a really, really long way to go – if we even ever get there – to reception the halcyon days of 2006/7!

I’m Peter Dekom, still lookin’ behind the numbers to see what it all means.