More Americans Are Leaving The Work Force
Frances Bernadette Parker was 52 years old and had climbed through the ranks of Procter & Gamble Co.'s research operations. Then in the summer of 2002, she had a life-altering decision to make: Leave the company with a buyout package or keep working and end up with more responsibility but not more pay.
"It was more beneficial to me personally and stresswise to take what they were offering," she says.
With that, Ms. Parker became a job-market dropout, one of nearly two million adult Americans between the ages of 25 and 54 who have left the labor force since 2001. These dropouts aren't employed. Nor are they officially unemployed, which is defined as people who are actively seeking work but can't find it. Instead, Ms. Parker and others like her represent a shadow phenomenon of the jobless recovery. Some, though not all, are so discouraged they've stopped looking. Others, like Ms. Parker, are taking early-retirement packages or they are going back to school, collecting disability, moving in with family or taking care of loved ones. The common denominator for many is that the slow-growing job market is forcing them to change.
Of course, there have always been large numbers of working-age Americans who don't work for a paycheck, for a wide variety of reasons. But their numbers have risen to 75 million from 70 million during the past three years, and they include many who don't fit into the traditional categories. And the percentage of working-age Americans between 25 and 54 who are either working or looking for work has fallen during the past year below 83%, to levels last seen in the late 1980s. Among college graduates, the labor-force-participation rate was 78.4% in January, down from 79.7% in 2001. For the population as whole -- including teens and adults older than 54 -- the participation rate had fallen to 66.1% in January from 67.3% at the height of the economic boom, marking the largest and most persistent decline in labor-force participation since the early 1960s.
Some economists believe such numbers are helping to hold down the unemployment rate by taking people who would otherwise be classified as unemployed out of the labor force. The jobless rate fell to 5.6% in January from 6.3% last June.
One explanation is simple demographics. With the aging of the baby-boom generation, there are more Americans approaching traditional retirement age than ever before. Individual safety nets -- alternative means of support -- also factor into their decisions to stay out of the work force. And economic conditions play an enormous role. Jobs with low wages, late hours and scant benefits don't entice people to work the way better ones would. In many cases, the work for which people had trained disappeared or moved overseas. "Had there not been a shakeout in their industry, these people would probably still be employed," says Andrew Sharpe, director of the Center for Study of Living Standards in Ottawa.
A look at some of the new groups of labor-force dropouts and what they are doing instead:
Early Retirees
In 2002, 1.1 million men and women between ages 25 and 54 described themselves as retired, according to a September study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was up sharply from about 330,000 for the same age group who described themselves as retired in 1991. At Procter & Gamble alone, 18,400 workers left the company with voluntary buyout packages between 2001 and 2003. In 1999, only 400 employees left the company with such packages.
Ms. Parker is living off her severance package and stock accumulated during three decades at P&G. The package included pay -- which she says was a little over $50,000 per year when she left -- and health benefits for one year. She says she might take a new job some day. But for now she's helping to take care of her aging mother and helping her brother operate as an independent trucker. "If the right thing came along and I had the opportunity to take it, I probably would" go back to work, says Ms. Parker. "I was such a workaholic."
Curiously, although a growing number of workers in their 30s, 40s and 50s are taking buyout packages and leaving the labor force, older workers are streaming back in. The only age group in the work force where labor-force participation has notably risen is among workers 55 and older. The labor-force-participation rate in this group stood at 36% in January, up more than three percentage points since the recession began in March 2001.
Some of the oldest workers are being forced back into the labor force because they aren't earning enough on their fixed-income assets with interest rates so low. Others saw big drops in their stock investments. Moreover, many older workers are healthier and fewer are enrolled in pension plans with mandatory retirement ages.
Black Women
Labor-force participation among African-American women fell to 63.8% in January after surging during the 1990s to more than 66%. The decline has been especially notable among more-educated black women. For those with associate's degrees, for example, the participation rate fell to 76.3% in 2003, from 82.3% in 1998.
Why are so many black women leaving the labor force? For many economists, it's a mystery. John Silvia, an economist with Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., says it's possible these workers have been concentrated in sectors that were hit especially hard by the economic downturn, such as textiles, or state and municipal government. They also might be concentrated in the vulnerable middle and lower ranks of organizations that are being squeezed. More broadly, says University of Michigan economist Rebecca Blank, it is a reflection of larger trends in the economy: more women going back to school and more working women retiring after flooding into the labor force in the 1970s and 1980s.
Deborah Clark, a high school graduate, had worked in textile mills in North Carolina and Virginia for about 15 years when she was laid off in March 2002 by Pillowtex Corp., a maker of sheet and towel brands such as Fieldcrest and Royal Velvet. With jobs in her area scarce, Ms. Clark, single and the mother of a 13-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy, applied for federal retraining assistance and is now attending Rockingham Community College in North Carolina to become a hospital worker. To make ends meet, she has had to ask her parents and her brother for help paying some of her bills. "I don't like asking, but I have to," she says.
Welfare reform doesn't seem to be a factor. Welfare rolls haven't been rising since the labor market downturn set in and labor-force participation among the least educated black women -- one of the groups most affected by the reforms -- has held fairly steady at around 35%.
Disabled Workers
Disability has long been the major reason that working-age men leave the labor market. Now, the percentage of women leaving the labor market due to disability, while smaller than for men, is rising rapidly. According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics study, 2.8 million adult women aged 25 to 54 described themselves as out of the work force in 2002 because of disability or illness, 21% of all working-age women who aren't working for looking for work. In 1991, 1.4 million women fit into that category, or 13% of women out of the work force. Between 1999 and 2003, applications for federal disability insurance benefits rose to 1.9 million from 1.2 million.
Others, like Gail Williams, of Atlanta, Ga., are filing for private disability coverage. Ms. Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1979, but managed to continue working by getting around with a cane, and then a walker. Last month Ms. Williams, 47, filed for short-term disability leave with her employer, a large telecommunications company, where she helped manage the company's Web-hosting services. Ms. Williams said the division at her company is about to be eliminated and her condition -- which leaves her easily fatigued and with no feeling in her fingers and toes -- is worsening.
"I'm worn out," she says. "My idea is to stop working for a while, regroup and maybe get myself healthier."
Experts say it is no coincidence that disability claims rise during poor economic times. Louis Crandall, an economist at Wrightson ICAP LLC in Jersey City, N.J., says employers have become less willing to offer flexible work arrangements, such as job sharing or telecommuting. That could squeeze disabled workers. In addition, David Autor, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist who has studied the issue, says federal eligibility requirements for disability were eased more than a decade ago, making it simpler for workers to turn to the disability rolls when times get tough.
Older Students
While more-educated workers tend to do better in downturns than less-educated workers, many college grads found themselves in industries that were hit hard in the last recession, such as technology and finance. The outsourcing of white-collar jobs remains a threat for some of these workers. As a result, many are going back to school, even though they already have higher degrees. The labor force participation rate among college graduates was 78.4% in January, down from 79.7% in 2001.
It's common for college graduates to go on to law schools or business schools when times are tough. But many are showing up at community colleges for job training. Demos Orphanides, a 1996 graduate of Oberlin College, was earning about $60,000 in base salary and bonuses as an optical equipment tester at Nortel Networks Corp. in North Carolina when he was laid off and struggled to find a job. He was eligible for a federal retraining assistance program, which he used to enter a two-year graphic-arts program at Alamance Community College, in Graham, N.C. At Alamance nearly 10% of enrollments are among individuals with bachelor's degrees or higher.
"We kind of jokingly call ourselves the new graduate school," says Dan Ensalaco, assistant vice president of community development at Waubonsee Community College in Illinois. At his school, 26% of enrollments are among college graduates.
越来越多美国人放弃就业
弗朗西丝?伯尔纳德?帕克(FRANCES BERNADETTE PARKER)今年52岁，以前曾在宝洁公司(Procter & Gamble Co., PG, 又名:宝硷公司)的研发运作部门工作。在2002年夏季，她面临一个改变生活的决定：接受一次性补偿自愿离职方案离开公司，否则就要继续工作，承担更多的责任，但工资保持不变。
她说，接受离职方案对她个人而言更为有利和令她心动。
就这样，帕克离开了就业市场，成为2001年以来近200万退出劳动力市场的25-54岁成年美国人中的一员。这些人没有就业，但他们也不是官方定义的失业人员（主动寻找工作但没有找到者）。而帕克和与她类似的其他人的情况反映出失业率增加带来的黯淡景象。有一些人因为灰心丧气而放弃了求职。而包括帕克在内的一些人则领取了提前退休补偿金，或是重返学校读书、照顾残疾人、与家人团聚、及照顾下一代。对许多人来说，其中一个共同点就是复苏缓慢的就业市场使他们被迫做出改变。
当然，一直有许多劳动人口由于各种原因没有从事有偿劳动。但总人数在过去3年中已经从7,000万人增加到7,500万人，其中包括许多不适用于传统范畴的人员。
黑人妇女
今年1月份，非洲裔美国妇女的劳动参与率降至63.8%，而在上世纪90年代该比率一度超过66%。另外，受教育程度较高的非洲裔美国妇女劳动参与率下降的程度更为明显。
为什么这么多的黑人妇女放弃就业呢？对于许多经济学家来说，这仍是个不解之谜。Wachovia Corp.驻北卡罗来纳州夏洛特的经济学家约翰?西尔维亚(John Silvia)表示，有一种可能性是，黑人妇女在纺织业、州或市政府部门等的就业人数比较集中，而这些领域受经济下滑的打击又较其他领域更为严重。另外，也有一种可能性是，黑人妇女在对经济下滑抵抗力较弱的中低层组织中就业比较集中，而这些组织的规模大大缩小导致黑人妇女失业人数明显增加。密歇根大学经济学家丽贝卡?布兰克(Rebecca Blank)说，从更广泛意义上来看，这是经济大趋势的一种反映：越来越多妇女回到学校读书，而且，在上世纪70年代和80年代涌入劳动力市场的妇女中有越来越多的人开始退休。
德博拉?克拉克(Deborah Clark)文化水平是高中毕业，她曾在北卡罗来纳州和弗吉尼亚州的纺织厂工作了大约15年。在2002年3月份，她被床单和毛巾生产商Pillowtex Corp.解雇。由于她所居住地区内工作机会非常少，这位已经是一个13岁女孩和6岁男孩母亲的单身妇女申请了联邦再培训补助，现在，克拉克正在参加北卡罗来纳州罗金厄姆社区学院(Rockingham Community College)有关医院工人方面的培训。为了度日，克拉克不得不请求母亲和兄弟帮助自己支付一些帐单。克拉克说，"我不喜欢伸手要钱，但我没有别的办法"。
福利制度改革似乎不是黑人妇女劳动参与率下降的原因。从劳动力市场开始陷入低迷状态以来，接受福利待遇的人数没有增长，而教育程度最低的黑人妇女的劳动参与率也一直维持在35%左右，虽然这个群体是受福利制度改革影响最大的人群之一。
残疾工人
很长时间以来，残疾一直是适龄男性离开劳动力市场的主要原因。而现在，妇女因残疾而离开劳动力市场的比例急剧上升，虽然总体来说，妇女在这方面的比例要低于男性。根据美国劳工统计局的统计，在2002年，有280万25-54岁年龄段的妇女因残疾或者疾病而离开工作，这在适龄但没有寻找工作的妇女总数中所占的比例高达21%。在1991年的时候，因残疾或疾病而离职的妇女人数为140万，在适龄但并没有寻找工作机会的妇女中占的比例为13%。在1999年至2003年期间，申请联邦残疾保险福利的妇女人数从120万增至190万。
其他一些妇女，比如佐治亚州亚特兰大的妇女盖尔?威廉斯(Gail Williams)现在正在申请私营保险公司的残疾保险。在1979年，威廉斯被诊断患有多发性硬化症，但她先是利用手杖然后是助步器来坚持上班。上个月，47岁的威廉斯向她所在的一家大型电信公司申请短期残疾休假。威廉斯的主要工作是帮助管理公司的主机托管服务。她说，她所在的部门即将被撤销，而她的病情也在不断恶化。她说，疾病使她很容易感到疲劳，而且手指和脚趾常常会失去知觉。
威廉斯说，她实在是疲惫极了。她现在的想法是先停止工作一段时间，好好修整一下，并尽可能把身体养好点儿。
专家表示，在经济不景气时期，申请残疾保险的人数增加并非巧合。Wrightson ICAP LLC驻新泽西州泽西城的经济学家路易斯?克兰戴尔(Louis Crandall)说，在经济不景气时期，雇主比平时更不愿意提供工作分摊以及远程办公等方面的便利，而这将迫使残疾员工不得不离开工作岗位。麻省理工学院(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)曾专门研究过这个问题的经济学家戴维?奥托尔(David Autor)也表示，联邦政府有关申请残疾保险的条款也比十年前宽松了不少，这使得经济形势严峻的时候工人申请残疾保险比以前更加容易。
大龄学生
在经济不景气时期，受教育程度较高的工人就业状况要比教育程度较低的工人好一些，但许多大学毕业生还是会发现，他们所在行业，比如科技和金融业等因经济衰退而受到严重打击。美国白领工作机会向其他国家转移对于这些人来说也依然是一个威胁。因此，虽然许多大学毕业生已经有了较高的学历，但经济形势又使得他们重返学校。大学毕业生的劳动参与率在1月份时为78.4%，低于2001年时的79.7%。
在就业形势不好的时候，大学毕业生继续到法学院或商学院深造是很普通的事情，但更多的毕业生选择到社区学院参加就业培训。欧柏林学院(Oberlin College)的1996届毕业生迪莫斯?奥费耐兹(Demos Orphanides)曾经是北电网络(Nortel Networks Corp.)在北卡罗来纳州业务部门的光纤设备检测员，底薪6万美元外加奖金，但最终他遭到解雇并不得不开始努力寻找工作。奥费耐兹的条件符合联邦再培训计划。他参加了北卡罗来纳州格雷厄姆的阿拉曼斯社区学院(Alamance Community College)为期两年的一个平面造型艺术培训。在阿拉曼斯社区学院，将近10%的学生都拥有学士或者更高的学位。
伊利诺伊州沃伯西社区学院(Waubonsee Community College)负责社区开发的助理副总裁丹?恩萨莱克(Dan Ensalaco)说，他们常常开玩笑地把他们的社区学院称为新型的研究生院。沃伯西社区学院26%的在读学生都早已大学毕业。
