BLS- Older Worker

Are older workers choosing part-time
or full-time employment?

Since the mid-1990s there has been a dramatic shift in the part-time versus full-time status of the older workforce. The ratio of part-time to full-time employment among older workers was relatively steady from 1977 through 1990. Between 1990 and 1995, part-time work among older workers began trending upward with a corresponding decline in full-time employment. But after 1995, that trend began a marked reversal with full-time employment rising sharply. Between 1995 and 2007, the number of older workers on full-time work schedules nearly doubled while the number working part-time rose just 19 percent. As a result, full-timers now account for a majority among older workers: 56 percent in 2007, up from 44 percent in 1995.

How do wages of older workers measure up against
wages for all workers?

Earnings of workers 65 and older have long been below those of all workers. In 1979, median weekly earnings for full-time workers age 65 and older were $198 compared to $240 for all full-time employees age 16 and up. In 2007, earnings of older workers were $605 per week, still below the median of $695 for all workers. (All of these earnings amounts are in current dollars.) Over the long term, however, earnings of older workers have risen at a slightly faster pace than the total workforce. In 1979, median earnings of older full-time employees were 83 percent of those ages 16 and up; but, by 2007, that ratio had climbed to 87 percent.

bls.gov

More older people in the workplace

Older workers

Are there more older people in the workplace?

Between 1977 and 2007, employment of workers 65 and over increased 101 percent, compared to a much smaller increase of 59 percent for total employment (16 and over). The number of employed men 65 and over rose 75 percent, but employment of women 65 and older increased by nearly twice as much, climbing 147 percent. While the number of employed people age 75 and over is relatively small (0.8 percent of the employed in 2007), this group had the most dramatic gain, increasing 172 percent between 1977 and 2007.

Between 1977 and 2007, the age 65 and older civilian noninstitutional population — which excludes people in nursing homes — increased by about 60 percent, somewhat faster than the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and over (46 percent). Yet employment of people 65 and over doubled while employment for everyone 16 and over increased by less than 60 percent. How can employment increase more than the population? A larger share of people 65 and older is staying in or returning to the labor force (which consists of those working or looking for work). The labor force participation rate for older workers has been rising since the late 1990s. This is especially notable because the 65-and-over labor force participation rate had been at historic lows during the 1980s and early 1990s.


bls.gov

The Fundamentals of Options

In Store Microsoft Gurus

Microsoft just launched a new $300 million marketing campaign and image makeover. This in an attempt to at minimum, keep up with Apple and the competition.


Now Microsoft Corp. says that they plan to deploy its own customer-service representatives at retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City to help people with their PC purchases. These 155 "Microsoft Gurus" will be in U.S. stores by the end of the year, and expand based on the project's success, Microsoft's general manager of corporate com.

These gurus will be answering questions about PCs and Microsoft products, as well as giving demos of how the company's products work together — help designed to get them thinking Microsoft.

The move is more likely to strike up comparisons with Apple which has portrayed Microsoft as unhip and out of touch.

Apple Inc., which runs "Genius Bars" in its stores to answer questions about Macs and iPods. The Genius Bar also offers technical support on already-purchased products, which the Microsoft reps will not do.

Microsoft had tested about 25 of the service employees in the U.S. and Europe since October 2007.

Its Gurus join a barrage of efforts behind Microsoft's latest and largest-ever marketing campaign, including commercials that began airing Thursday night featuring Chairman Bill Gates and new pitchman Jerry Seinfeld.

Researching Penny Stocks

US Health Insurance Coverage

Overview

• The number of uninsured children declined from 8.7 million (11.7 percent) in 2006 to 8.1 million (11.0 percent) in 2007.

Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to those reporting a single race only. Hispanics can be of any race.)

• Both the number and percentage of uninsured for non-Hispanic whites decreased in 2007, to 10.4 percent and 20.5 million, respectively. For blacks, the number of uninsured remained statistically unchanged from 2006, at 7.4 million, while the percentage declined from 20.5 percent in 2006 to 19.5 percent in 2007. The uninsured rate for Asians rose from 15.5 percent in 2006 to 16.8 percent in 2007.
• The number and percentage of uninsured Hispanics decreased from 15.3 million and 34.1 percent in 2006 to 14.8 million and 32.1 percent in 2007.
• Based on a three-year average (2005-2007), 32.1 percent of people who reported American Indian and Alaska Native as their race were without coverage. The three-year average uninsured rate for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders was 20.5 percent.

Nativity

• Between 2006 and 2007, the uninsured rate for the native-born population declined from 13.2 percent in 2006 to 12.7 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, the percentage of the foreign-born population without insurance was statistically unchanged at 33.2 percent in 2007. Among the foreign-born population, the uninsured rate for naturalized U.S. citizens increased from16.4 percent in 2006 to 17.6 percent in 2007, while the uninsured rate for U.S. noncitizens was statistically unchanged from 2006, at 43.8 percent in 2007.

Regions

• At 11.4 percent each, the Northeast and the Midwest had lower uninsured rates in 2007 than the West (16.9 percent) and the South (18.4 percent). The rates declined from 2006 in every region except for the Midwest, where the change was not statistically significant.

States

• Rates for 2005-2007 using a three-year average show that Texas (24.4 percent) had the highest percentage of uninsured. No one state had the “lowest” uninsured rate. At 8.3 percent, Massachusetts and Hawaii had the lowest point estimates for uninsured rates, but they were not statistically different from Minnesota (8.5 percent), Wisconsin (8.8 percent) and Iowa (9.4 percent). In addition, Hawaii was not statistically different from Maine (9.5 percent).
• Comparing a pair of two-year average uninsured rates (2004-2005 versus 2006-2007), five states and the District of Columbia saw a decline, while 10 states experienced an increase.

Household Income Rises, Poverty Rate Unchanged,

Real median household income in the United States climbed 1.3 percent between 2006 and 2007, reaching $50,233, according to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the third annual increase in real median household income. Meanwhile, the nation’s official poverty rate in 2007 was 12.5 percent, not statistically different from 2006. There were 37.3 million people in poverty in 2007, up from 36.5 million in 2006.

Current Population Survey
(Primarily the source of national-level statistics)

The 2008 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC) reveals the following results for the nation:

Income

Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to people reporting a single race only. Hispanics can be of any race.)

• Real median income (adjusted for inflation) for black and non-Hispanic white households rose between 2006 and 2007, representing the first measured real increase in annual household income for each group since 1999.
• Real median household income remained statistically unchanged for Asians and Hispanics.
• Among the race groups and Hispanics, black households had the lowest median income in 2007 ($33,916). This compares to the median of $54,920 for non-Hispanic white households. Asian households had the highest median income ($66,103). The median income for Hispanic households was $38,679.

Regions

• Between 2006 and 2007, real median household income rose in the Midwest ($50,277) and the South ($46,186), declined in the Northeast ($52,274) and remained statistically unchanged in the West ($54,138).

Nativity

• Real median income rose for native-born households for the second year, up 1.0 percent from 2006, to $50,946. For foreign-born households whose householder was not a U.S. citizen, income dropped by 7.3 percent to $37,637. For households maintained by a naturalized U.S. citizen, median income remained statistically unchanged at $52,092.

Earnings

• In 2007, the ratio of earnings of women who worked full time, year-round was 78 percent of that for corresponding men. The real median earnings of men who worked full time, year-round climbed between 2006 and 2007, from $43,460 to $45,113. For women, the corresponding increase was from $33,437 to $35,102. These increases in earnings follow three years of annual decline in real earnings for both men and women.

Income Inequality

• Income inequality decreased between 2006 and 2007, as measured by shares of aggregate household income by quintiles and the Gini index. The share of aggregate income received by households in the top fifth of the income distribution declined, while the shares for the third and fourth quintiles increased. Meanwhile, the Gini index declined from 0.470 to 0.463, moving closer to 0, which represents perfect income equality (1 represents perfect inequality).

Poverty

Overview

• In 2007, the family poverty rate and the number of families in poverty were 9.8 percent and 7.6 million, respectively, both statistically unchanged from 2006. Furthermore, the poverty rate and the number in poverty showed no statistical change between 2006 and 2007 for the different types of families. Married-couple families had a poverty rate of 4.9 percent (2.8 million), compared with 28.3 percent (4.1 million) for female-householder, no-husband-present families and 13.6 percent (696,000) for those with a male householder and no wife present.

Thresholds

• As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2007 was $21,203; for a family of three, $16,530; for a family of two, $13,540; and for unrelated individuals, $10,590.

Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to people reporting a single race only. Hispanics can be of any race.)

• For Hispanics, 21.5 percent were in poverty in 2007, up from 20.6 percent in 2006. Poverty rates remained statistically unchanged for non-Hispanic whites (8.2 percent), blacks (24.5 percent) and Asians (10.2 percent) in 2007.

Age

• For people 65 and older and those 18 to 64, the poverty rate remained statistically unchanged at 9.7 percent and 10.9 percent, respectively. For children younger than 18, the poverty rate increased from 17.4 percent in 2006 to 18.0 percent in 2007.
• The number of people in poverty increased for seniors 65 and older — from 3.4 million in 2006 to 3.6 million in 2007. For children younger than 18, the number in poverty climbed as well, from 12.8 million in 2006 to 13.3 million in 2007. For those 18 to 64, however, the number in poverty remained statistically unchanged, at 20.4 million in 2007.

Nativity

• Among the native-born population, 11.9 percent, or 31.1 million, were in poverty in 2007. Both the poverty rate and number in poverty were statistically unchanged from 2006.
• Among the foreign-born population, the poverty rate and the number in poverty increased to 16.5 percent and 6.2 million, respectively, in 2007, from 15.2 percent and 5.7 million, respectively, in 2006. An increase in poverty for U.S. noncitizens (from 19.0 percent in 2006 to 21.3 percent in 2007) accounted for the rise in poverty for the foreign-born population overall.

Regions

• The number in poverty in the South increased to 15.5 million in 2007, up from 14.9 million in 2006, while the poverty rate remained statistically unchanged at 14.2 percent in 2007. In 2007, the poverty rates for the Northeast (11.4 percent), the Midwest (11.1 percent) and the West (12.0 percent) were all statistically unchanged from 2006. The poverty rate for the Northeast was not statistically different from that of the Midwest or West.

census.gov