While there is a multibillion dollar industry out there that tracks every move of the working public, what nonworkers are doing remains somewhat of a mystery, according to the US Census Bureau. Today the agency released an interesting study that looks extensively at why people don’t work. According to the bureau it is only the second such study it has done on nonworkers.
At even the busiest times, a large number of working-age people in the United States do not have or want jobs. Whatever the state of the economy, many people, even those who want to work, have been outside the workforce for long periods of time, the Bureau said in the study. Whether their joblessness is brief or extended, nonworkers constitute a large and important pool of human resources, the Bureau said in the study known as the Survey of Income and Program Participation that looked at the US population through 2004.
Some highlights of the study included:
* Of the 227 million people 15 years and older living in the US in the first quarter of 2004, approximately 79 million 35% had not worked at a paid job in the preceding 4 months.
* Nearly 2 in 5 nonworkers or 38% were retired, and about 1 in 5 or 19% were going to school.
* For nonworkers 25 to 44 years of age, taking care of children or others was the main reason – 44% – for not working at a paid job. Reflecting the importance of this reason among women, who made up nearly three-fourths 71% of the nonworkers in this age group.
* Nearly 2 out of 5 or 38% nonworkers 45 to 54 years old did not work because of a chronic illness or disability.
* Men nonworkers were more likely than women nonworkers to be retired or going to school.
* Adults with at most a high school diploma were more likely than those with at least some college education not to work because of a chronic illness or disability.
* Among never-married nonworkers, the most common reasons for not working were school attendance and chronic illness or disability.
* About 1 out of 4 nonworkers 26% of 20 to 64 years old were not covered by health insurance.
* Nearly 10 % of nonworkers received federal Supplemental Security Income benefits, compared with 3% of the total population 20 to 64 years old.
* Almost 5% of respondents said they had no interest in work. A smaller percentage said they doing nonpaid work as a volunteer or church worker. A small amount said the were barred from obtaining work (no work permit, cannot speak English, cannot drive/do not have a car, legal problems).
According to the Census Bureau, understanding who nonworkers are and why they do not work has many benefits. The labor force, for example, is a dynamic body whose size and composition reflect the collective decisions and opportunities of both workers and nonworkers.The line between the two groups is continually being crossed from either side and is subject to seasonal and longer-term shifts. Information about nonworkers is important in predicting how changes in conditions of employment, such as pay, benefits, work schedules, child-care arrangements, and transportation, might affect these transitions, and hence the economy as a whole.Studies of nonworkers can also inform programs and policies intended to alleviate unemployment and poverty.
The previous report on this topic found that about 55% of nonworkers were either retired or going to school; it also revealed a close relationship between age and reasons for not working. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that nonworkers are a disparate group, with a wide variety of reasons for not working; many have relatively low incomes, but many others are well off; most are well educated; a large proportion consists of young people still in school, or older retired people, but about a quarter are in the primary earning ages of 25 to 54 years.Compared to the previous study done in 1996, the main-reason-for-not-working were similar, the Bureau said. A smaller percentage of the 1996 group was out of work because of chronic illness or disability (23%, compared with 25% for the 2004group), and slightly more were in the category not interested in working (8% in 1996, compared with 5% in 2004). The proportion citing either of the economic-related reasons, unable to find work or on layoff, was lower for the 1996 group (9% ) than for the 2004 group (11%). In both years, major reasons for not working were chronic illness or disability, taking care of children or others, or retired.
The Bureau recently said that nationally, nearly one in four people between the ages of 65 and 74 or 23 % were in the labor force in 2006, an increase from 19.6% in 2000. States with some of the lowest rates of older workers in the labor force include West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona. Some of the highest rates were found in South Dakota, Nebraska and Washington, D.C., all with about one-third of people in this age group in the labor force. Among the 20 largest metro areas, Washington, D.C., had the highest percentage of people in the labor force in this age group with Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Houston next in line.
