Human Resource Audit: A Beginning

by:Carol Toups

Most employment in the United States is covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI). This fact allows us to monitor employment at the county level by type of industry. Wyoming's demand for labor has slowly grown since the economy hit bottom in 1986. In contrast, the United States economy went through a recession in the early 1990's. While there are some distinctions, one trend is clear and common - the growing dominance of services-producing as compared to goods-producing employment. This article describes employment changes for the nation, state and substate regions from 1987 to 1992. The most recent national data available are for 1992.

During the 1994 appropriations hearings, in response to a representative's question about planning for good jobs now and in the future, Secretary Robert Reich stated, "I have urged Members of Congress to consider undertaking a human resources audit within their districts...in which with business, with educators and with labor there could be an assessment of the human resource needs of that district. What industries seem to be growing? What technologies are potentially applicable?...What industries seem to be declining?" (Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives, Feb. 18, 1993, part one, page no. 212.)

The graphs comparing employment by major industry in the United States & Wyoming (see Graph 1), and Wyoming regions (see Graph 2 and Graph 3) can help determine which industries are growing or declining. They explain economic activity in the nation and Wyoming communities, enabling the public to make wise educational and training choices.

The basic structure of growth is similar in Wyoming and the nation, with services and retail trade representing the highest employment increases. The percent change for all industries employment from 1987 to 1992 in Wyoming was 11.2 percent compared to the United States at 6.4 percent. This suggests that Wyoming's overall economic activity during the national recession has grown at almost double the pace of the United States.

However, focusing only on net job growth does not address the issue of job quality. Wyoming's job growth looks good when compared to the national growth, but many of Wyoming's new jobs are associated with low earnings. In Wyoming from 1987 to 1992, services grew by 8,171 employees (26.5%), while the U.S. employment in services rose by 4,628,245 (20.5%) (see Graph 1). Retail trade in Wyoming went up 5,313 (15.4%) and the nation increased by 902,781 (4.9%). The following Wyoming industries lost employment from 1987 to 1992: FIRE (finance, insurance, & real estate), federal government, wholesale trade, and mining. U.S. industry employment job losses occurred in manufacturing (-937,408), construction (-456,151), and mining (-78,301).

Within the five Wyoming regions, from second quarter 1987 to second quarter 1992, the growth structure was consistent, with services and retail trade holding the highest figures. The southeast region (see Graph 3) was the exception with local government second in growth (up by 733 employees), followed by TCPU (transportation, communications, & public utilities) and retail trade. The southwest region appeared to be growing fastest (perhaps in part due to tourism), with services up by 40.3 percent and retail trade rising by 28.3 percent. Southwest Wyoming's local government employment increased by 13.4 percent and mining employment rose by 11.1 percent. Central Wyoming (see Graph 2) trailed the other regions with a 3.1 percent (1,113) employment increase. On a positive note, the central region had the highest manufacturing increase with 499 employees (28.9%). Each substate region had small gains in manufacturing, while the United States declined.

UI covered agriculture had high percent changes in all regions except the northeast, although the actual employment numbers are not very large. FIRE, TCPU, wholesale trade, and mining lost jobs in four of the five regions. Central Wyoming decreased in all the above industries along with construction and federal government employment. The southeast region differed from the others with decreases limited to mining, construction and federal government.

With consistent increases in services and retail trade industries, Wyoming and the United States are moving away from goods-producing sectors and shifting toward the service-producing areas. Human resource data and economic growth trends are needed for training programs to be developed by business, education, and labor. Planning now will ensure that qualified workers are available for demand occupations in the future.

Carol Toups is a Senior Statistician in the ES-202 (Covered Employment) section.

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