WYOMING FULL- AND PART-TIME DEMAND OCCUPATIONS

The Wyoming Wage Survey began in 1993 to answer the public's questions regarding wages paid for different occupations. Due to physical and financial constraints, Research & Planning divided the surveyed occupations into three groups: professional and technical (P&T--surveyed Spring 1993); sales, clerical and service (SC&S--surveyed Spring 1994); and agriculture, forestry, construction, and operators (AFC&O--to be surveyed Spring 1995).

The 1993 survey form resulted in uncertainty about full- and part-time status and led to an additional 1994 survey question which specifically addressed the number of hours worked by each employee during the reference week. Regular readers of Wyoming Labor Force Trends may recall the brief article on demand occupations (P&T) that appeared in the June 1994 issue. The article noted that "...hourly wage may be diluted by less than full-time work." This issue was then addressed in the 1994 Wage Survey (SC&S); we are now able to examine demand occupations in terms of full- and part-time employment, separating hours worked and wages accordingly.

Examination of this segregated data reveals much intriguing information. For example, the percentage of employees working full- and part-time varies by occupation. "Full-time" and "part-time" do not define the same average hours worked per week for different occupations. Also, wages vary for full- and part-time employees. Perhaps most interesting of all, due to the improved structure of the 1994 Wyoming Wage Survey, wages for occupations may now be annualized (viewed on an annual basis) with greater accuracy than was possible in 1993.

The term demand occupations, within the context of this article, refers to occupations for which there was the largest number of job openings between March 1993 and March 1994 (as reported in the Wyoming Wage Survey). Contrary to intuitive logic, the term does not necessarily imply that an increasing number of jobs are created within a particular occupation. The data merely indicate that substantial hiring has occurred, and does not explain why this is so. A large number of job openings within a given occupation may be caused by high employee turnover, for example, rather than by the actual creation of new jobs. Included in the statistical analysis to determine demand occupations were employers who reported in the 1994 Wage Survey (SC&S) that they had workers with less than one year of service in a given occupation (i.e., workers hired or promoted between March 1993 and March 1994). The "Top Ten" full-time demand occupations are summarized in Figure 1; part-time demand occupations are summarized in Figure 2. While some occupations were common to both full- and part-time demand occupations, there were also some which were unique to each category.

Retail salespersons, cashiers, general office clerks, waiters and waitresses, and janitors and cleaners (except maids and housekeeping cleaners) were occupations for which there was demand for both full- and part-time workers. Additionally, there was full-time demand for: nursing aides, orderlies and attendants; bookkeeping, accounting and auditing clerks; secretaries (except legal and medical); receptionists and information clerks; and sales supervisors. Part-time demand was for: combined food preparation and service workers; specialty fast food cooks; food preparation workers; restaurant cooks; and dining room attendants.

At the national level, according to the Spring 1994 Occupational Outlook Quarterly, the five occupations common to Wyoming's full- and part-time demand occupations are also demand occupations for the nation as a whole. Janitors, cleaners, and cleaning supervisors are expected to need workers for 600,000 positions nationwide; general office clerks, 654,000 positions; cashiers, 669,900 positions; retail sales workers, 877,000 positions; and food and beverage service workers (including waiters and waitresses), 1,124,000 positions. Interestingly, one explanation for the positive national employment prospects cited for each of these occupations is high employee turnover.

A benefit of the 1994 Wage Survey is that wages for workers may be more accurately estimated on an annual basis. Not only are differences in pay rates for full- and part-time workers observed at the hourly level, but since data was also collected for hours worked per week, accuracy is no longer lost by assuming (as was done in the past) a 40-hour work week. Figure 3 illustrates the varied nature of hours worked per week in the five occupations common to both full- and part-time demand occupations. Interestingly, within these five occupations, "part-time" appears to be concisely defined by respondents to the Wyoming Wage Survey as between 18 and 20 hours per week while "full-time" varies much more, between 34 and 43 hours per week. Hours for all workers (full- and part-time combined) range between 22 and 30 per week.

In addition to different definitions of "full-time" and "part-time" in terms of hours worked per week, full- and part-time workers as a percentage of all workers varies tremendously across occupations. This may be distinctly illustrated by comparing waiters and waitresses with general office clerks. As reported by survey respondents, 77 percent of waiters and waitresses are employed part-time while only 44 percent of general office clerks are part-time workers. This indicates that full- and part-time employment as a percentage of all workers is not standard from occupation to occupation.

Now that the 1994 Wage Survey has collected the number of hours worked during the reference week, it is apparent that a 40-hour work week is not standard. Figure 4 summarizes wages viewed on an annual basis for full- and part-time workers in demand occupations, utilizing a common 50-week work year. The new annualized wage was calculated from the average hourly wage of full- and part-time workers combined and uses the average hours worked per week collected in the 1994 Wage Survey. The old annualized wage was also calculated from the average hourly wage of full- and part-time workers combined, but a 40-hour work week was assumed. The marked difference between the new and old annualized wages dramatically illustrates the new, more accurate detail available with the knowledge of average hours worked per week and the variation of that average across occupations. This improved estimation capability has been made possible by the revision of the 1993 Wage Survey, and is most strikingly illustrated by the case of waiters and waitresses. While the old annualized wage for waiters and waitresses is calculated at $6,780, the new annualized wage is much lower, at $3,729. Also, due to the relatively low average hours worked per week by waiters and waitresses, the new annualized wage is much closer to the part-time value of $3,192 than to the full-time value of $6,494.

The 1994 Wage Survey provides the opportunity for more detailed analysis than the 1993 Wage Survey. However, every question that is answered has the potential to raise new questions. Now that it has been demonstrated that demand occupations and wages may vary by full- or part-time status, it is yet unknown whether certain employers actively seek part-time employees over full-time employees. Further, it is not known whether part-time employment is rising overall, or how many part-time employees have other employment that supplements their wages. Still, the 1994 Wage Survey has already answered more questions than the 1993 Wage Survey, and it promises to provide many more challenging questions to investigate.

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