For Immediate Release
August 5, 2004
America's Workforce: Ready for the 21st Century
 In Focus: Economy
"These are exciting times for our country. It's a time of amazing change. The economy is changing. The world is changing…We need to make sure government changes with the times, and to work for America's working families." - President George W. Bush, July 30, 2004
Today's Presidential Action:
- Today, President Bush called on Congress to pass legislation
giving American workers more options to help families better
juggle the demands of work and home through comp-time and
flex-time.
- Comp-Time enables employees to choose paid time off as an
alternative to overtime pay. Therefore, a worker who opts for
comp-time and works 8 hours of overtime is entitled to 12 hours
off (1.5 hours off per every hour of overtime).
- Flex-Time gives an employee the option of "flexing" his or her
schedule over a pay period, by scheduling more than 40 hours of
work in one week, and then scheduling less than 40 hours in the
following week. For example, an employee may request to work
48 hours one week in a two-week pay period to offset a paid day
off during the following week to chaperone a child's school
trip.
The Challenge: More Parents are Working than Ever Before
Today's workforce has changed dramatically over the last fifty
years. More parents are working now than ever before.
- In 2002, women accounted for over 47 percent of the labor
force, up from 29 percent in 1950.
- In 2002, the labor force participation rate for married mothers with children under 6 years of age was over 63 percent, up from 11 percent in 1950.
- In 2002, over 71 percent of all mothers with children under the age of 18 worked.
- In 2002, 18.4 million married families with children, almost 68 percent, had both parents working. In over 55 percent of these families, the women were working full-time, year-round.
President Bush's Plan: Promoting Flexibility in the Workplace
Many of the Nation's labor laws were designed a generation ago.
Provisions in these laws do not fit today's changing workplace, and do
not give workers the flexibility to spend more time with their
families. For some families, the most valuable commodity is extra
time, and these families should have options.
- Background on Fair Labor Standards Act: The Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) determines the national standards
for wages and hours of work. Under current law, a private
sector employee covered by the FLSA cannot choose time off
(comp-time or flex-time) as an alternative to receiving
overtime pay. However, the FLSA does permit government
employees to choose such flexible scheduling options. In 2001,
34.4 percent of Federal employees and 29.7 percent of state
employees chose workplace flexibility.
-
The President's Plan: The President urges Congress to amend
the FLSA to provide private-sector workers the same flexible
scheduling options that government employees already enjoy.
Now that more families have both parents in the workforce,
American workers need more control over their work schedules.
Providing choices like whether to receive overtime pay as cash
or as paid time off will enable workers to juggle more
effectively the demands of the workplace with the needs of
their children, aging parents, and other factors.
- Comp-Time enables employees to choose paid time off as an
alternative to overtime pay.
- Flex-Time gives an employee the option of "flexing" his or her
schedule over a pay period, by scheduling more than 40 hours of
work in one week, and then scheduling less than 40 hours in the
following week.
- Ensuring Employee Protections by making the program voluntary
and honoring collective bargaining agreements.
-
Promoting Telework: The Bush Administration, through the
Office of Personnel Management and the General Services
Administration, has implemented a number of initiatives to
promote telework in Federal agencies. Between the first
telework survey taken in April 2001 and October 2003, the
number of employees teleworking grew from more than 53,000
employees to almost 103,000 employees, an overall increase of
93 percent. In addition, the President's FY 2005 budget
includes $5 million for the Department of Labor to encourage
greater use of scheduling flexibility and telework options in
the private sector.
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