Employment Statistics and Job Training: The Connection

This article will also address the use of Wyoming 1993 covered employment and wages in assessing demand for training. A goal common to business, education and labor should be ensuring that workers are available for demand occupations.

Economic activity within the United States, as discussed in last month's Wyoming Labor Force Trends, can be analyzed to help people make educational choices. Labor market information can help to determine which industries are growing or declining. Last issue's cover article showed that many of Wyoming's new jobs are associated with low earnings.

Growth at all geographic levels is comparable to that in Wyoming, with services and retail trade showing the highest employment increases. Within the eight-state region Wyoming ranked seventh with an 11.2 percent employment gain. The comparable percentage change for all U.S. industries from 1987 to 1992 was 6.3 percent (see Table 1). The regional demand for labor was two to four times the pace of U.S. labor demand during the national recession.

Idaho and South Dakota had no 1987-1992 employment declines in major industry divisions. Colorado and Montana lost jobs only in mining, whereas Utah had an employment loss only in federal government. Both Nebraska and North Dakota had employment declines in mining and federal government. During this same period, Wyoming employment decreased in mining, wholesale trade, FIRE (finance, insurance, & real estate), and federal government.

Wyoming had the third highest average weekly wage within the region in 1992, but Wyoming's percentage wage growth from 1987 to 1992 was the lowest in the region (see Table 2). After removing inflation, using the Consumer Price index (CPI-U) for urban consumers, average weekly wage in all eight states was lower in 1992 than in 1987. Wyoming's loss was the largest at 8.7 percent.

Third quarter 1993 Unemployment Insurance (UI) Covered employment and wages for Wyoming are released in this issue of Trends (Table 3 & Table 4). Wyoming showed a modest net job growth of 6.579 jobs (3.2%) over third quarter 1992. The largest job growth by industrial division occurred in retail trade with 1,896 new jobs (4.4%). Eating and drinking establishments accounted for most of this gain. Many jobs in the retail division are associated with low earnings (Table 2).

Services (also associated with low earnings) and construction showed growth of 1,572 jobs (3.6%) and 1,149 jobs (8.8%) respectively, between 1992 and 1993 third quarters. Wholesale trade, state government, and federal government divisions lost jobs when compared with the same quarter a year ago. Forces driving job growth could include multiple job holders, mild weather, or an improved economy.

The third quarter 1993 total payroll of $1,117,393,185 grew at twice the rate (7.2%) of employment (Table 3). This growth kept up with the rate of inflation of 3.0 percent for 1993. FIRE showed the largest percentage increase in total payroll with 22.8 percent. New investment businesses are associated with this increase.

Each industry has its own occupational components. The construction industry, which has moderately high earnings, had substantial third quarter 1993 job growth. Education for occupations in this industry varies from short training to lengthy apprenticeships for employment in particular trades. Retail trade, which experienced the greatest job growth, requires little training and provides generally low pay. Jobs in services, notably the growing hotels, amusement and recreation services, require little training. Business services, social services, engineering, and accounting services include education-intensive occupations with variable earnings.

Each industry must be analyzed--looking at occupations, wage rates, and projected worker demand--to determine its training needs. Research & Planning is beginning the second stage of a three-stage wage survey. Employers will be asked to provide data on wages and demand for people in occupations in services industries. This information is of great interest to people who are planning for a career or job training. The results will provide a measure of occupational wages, data valuable for business planning and hiring.

Nancy Brennan is an economist is the ES-202 (Covered Employment) section.

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