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Do we even trust our leaders to help?
Retiring old ideas about retirement
Social Security more solvent than most Americans realize
Focus group participants discuss retirement
Series looks at middle-class angst
Insurance misery has no easy cure
Health-care matchup finds Ohio falls short
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
Man allegedly paid teens to spit in his face
Retired firefighter who broke color barrier among those being honored
Indians add 7 players to 40-man roster
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment …
Akron Zips:
Two blowouts, one night
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
Kent State Sports:
Singletary update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Indiana Pacers – Here’s to LBJ and Free Throws
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Bowling season starts today
All Da King's Men:
Headed For Disaster
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Federal Judge Declares DOMA Unconstitutional
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Published on Sunday, May 25, 2008
News stories about the loss of middle-management jobs are common, but numbers to document the trend are harder to find.
That's largely because of the way the government keeps count of workers.
Job numbers most often cited by public officials, economists and business people come from a monthly report, Current Employment Statistics, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from a survey of more than 150,000 businesses and government agencies.
A second source, the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, provides more accurate but less timely data.
As its name implies, the census is an exact count of workers and their pay, based on reports businesses must file with states for all those covered by unemployment insurance.
The problem is that both the survey and census classify employees according to where they work — not by what they do. As a result, management workers aren't counted as a group; they're spread out among the myriad of industry sectors.
For example, a personnel director for an auto-parts maker is counted among manufacturing employees, while a hospital personnel director is classified in the health-care sector.
The government does have a survey, Occupational Employment Statistics, that groups people by the work they do. But that survey has existed in its current form for less than a decade. More important, it's updated only once a year and isn't designed to allow easy comparisons to earlier years.
''Our focus is on producing wages and employment for one given point in time,'' said George Stamas, chief of the Occupational Employment Statistics program.
It was the occupational employment data that the Beacon Journal analyzed for this report.
—David Knox
News stories about the loss of middle-management jobs are common, but numbers to document the trend are harder to find.
That's largely because of the way the government keeps count of workers.
Job numbers most often cited by public officials, economists and business people come from a monthly report, Current Employment Statistics, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from a survey of more than 150,000 businesses and government agencies.
A second source, the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, provides more accurate but less timely data.
As its name implies, the census is an exact count of workers and their pay, based on reports businesses must file with states for all those covered by unemployment insurance.
The problem is that both the survey and census classify employees according to where they work — not by what they do. As a result, management workers aren't counted as a group; they're spread out among the myriad of industry sectors.
For example, a personnel director for an auto-parts maker is counted among manufacturing employees, while a hospital personnel director is classified in the health-care sector.
The government does have a survey, Occupational Employment Statistics, that groups people by the work they do. But that survey has existed in its current form for less than a decade. More important, it's updated only once a year and isn't designed to allow easy comparisons to earlier years.
''Our focus is on producing wages and employment for one given point in time,'' said George Stamas, chief of the Occupational Employment Statistics program.
It was the occupational employment data that the Beacon Journal analyzed for this report.
—David Knox
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