Displaced Workers Summary

Technical information:    (202) 691-6378        USDL 04-1381
                 http://www.bls.gov/cps/
                                                For release:  10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact:                  691-5902        Friday, July 30, 2004



                      WORKER DISPLACEMENT, 2001-03

                                     
   During the January 2001 through December 2003 period, 5.3 million
workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today.
The number of displaced workers increased from 4.0 million in the previous
survey that covered the period from January 1999 through December 2001.
   
   Since 1984, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S.
Department of Labor has sponsored surveys that collect information on
workers who were displaced from their jobs.  These surveys have been
conducted biennially as supplements to the Current Population Survey
(CPS), a monthly survey of households that is the primary source of
information on the nation's labor force.
   
   Displaced workers are defined as persons 20 years of age and older who
lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, there was
insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished.
The period covered in this study was 2001-03, the 3 calendar years prior to
the January 2004 survey date.  The following analysis focuses primarily on
the 5.3 million persons who had worked for their employer for 3 or more
years at the time of displacement (referred to as long-tenured).  An
additional 6.1 million persons were displaced from jobs they had held for
less than 3 years (referred to as short-tenured).  Combining the short- and
long-tenured groups, the number of displaced workers totaled 11.4 million,
up from 10.1 million (as revised) in the prior survey.  (See Technical Note.)
Results from the January 2004 survey included the following highlights:
   
  -- About 65 percent of the long-tenured displaced were reemployed at the
     time of the survey. 
      
  -- Forty-three percent of long-tenured displaced workers cited plant or
     company closings or moves as the reason for their displacement.

  -- Forty-three percent of displaced workers who had worked for their
     employer for 3 or more years had received written advance notification
     that their jobs would be terminated.  Those who had received advance
     notice, however, were no more likely to be reemployed in January 2004
     than were those who had not been notified.
   
  -- Nearly one-third of long-tenured displaced workers lost jobs in
     manufacturing.  
  
   
  -- Fifty-seven percent of long-tenured workers who were displaced from
     full-time wage and salary jobs and who were reemployed in such jobs
     had earnings that were lower than those on the lost job.  About
     one-third experienced earnings losses of 20 percent or more.

                                  - 2 -
                                  
Characteristics of the Reemployed
     
   About 65 percent of the 5.3 million long-tenured displaced workers were
reemployed when surveyed in January 2004.  The proportion unemployed at the
time of the survey was 20 percent.  The remaining 15 percent of long-tenured
displaced workers were not in the labor force.  (See table 1.)
     
   In January 2004, reemployment rates for workers ages 20 to 24 and those
in the central-age group (ages 25 to 54) were 65 and 69 percent, respectively.
By comparison, reemployment rates were lower for older workers ages 55 to 64
(56 percent) and 65 years and older (24 percent).  Large proportions of older
displaced workers were not in the labor force when surveyed.
     
   In January 2004, 68 percent of men were reemployed, compared with 61 per-
cent of women.  Men and women had about an equal likelihood of being unem-
ployed, but the share of displaced women who had left the labor force, at
nearly 20 percent, was higher than that for men--nearly 12 percent.
     
   In January 2004, reemployment rates were similar across race and ethnic
groups--whites (66 percent), blacks (62 percent), Asians (63 percent), and
Hispanics or Latinos (65 percent).
     
Reason for Job Loss and Receipt of Advance Notice
     
   Of those long-tenured workers displaced during the January 2001 through
December 2003 period, 43 percent lost or left their jobs due to plant or
company closings or moves, 29 percent reported that their position or shift
was abolished, and 28 percent cited insufficient work as the reason for
being displaced.  (See table 2.)  The proportion reporting insufficient
work was up slightly from the prior survey, and the share citing plant or
company closings or moves was down.
     
   More than 4 in 10 displaced workers received written advance notice that
their jobs would be terminated, similar to the proportion in prior surveys.
In January 2004, long-tenured workers who lost jobs due to plant or company
closings or moves were most likely to have received written advance notice
of their impending job loss.  Among this group, 56 percent received such
notice; in comparison, 39 percent of workers displaced because of shift
abolishment and only 27 percent of those who lost jobs due to insufficient
work were notified in advance.  Regardless of the reason for displacement,
receipt of written advance notice appears to have had little impact on the
likelihood of being reemployed in January 2004.  Reemployment rates were
little different for those who did and those who did not receive advance
notice--66 and 64 percent, respectively.  (See table 3.)
     
Industry and Occupation
     
As in prior surveys, manufacturing accounted for a disproportionately large
share of displaced workers.  During the 2001-03 period, 1.7 million factory
workers were displaced from their jobs--nearly one-third of all long-tenured
displaced worker.  Manufacturing displacements were again concentrated within
the durable goods component (1.2 million), particularly in computers and elec-
tronic products and in primary metals and fabricated metal products.
(See table 4.)
   
   Displacements in wholesale and retail trade (765,000) accounted for 14 per-
cent of all long-tenured workers displaced during the 2001-03 period.  Long-
tenured displaced workers in professional and business services (595,000) made
up 11 percent of total displacement.
   
   The reemployment rate for displaced manufacturing workers was 60 percent,
lower than the overall reemployment rate for displaced workers (65 percent).
(These workers were not necessarily reemployed in the same industries from
which they were displaced.)  Reemployment rates for workers displaced from
the other major industry groups ranged from 60 percent for workers displaced
from jobs in financial activities to 74 percent for workers who lost jobs
in transportation and utilities and 76 percent for those who lost jobs in
the other services industry (which includes repair and maintenance and per-
sonal services).

                                  - 3 -       
   
   In the January 2004 survey, persons in managerial, professional, and
related jobs accounted for 32 percent of all long-tenured displaced workers.
Workers in production, transportation, and material moving jobs made up about
one-quarter of the long-tenured displaced; workers in these occupations trend
to be employed in the manufacturing industry.  (See table 5.)
   
   Among the major occupational groups, the reemployment rate was highest
for workers displaced from natural resources, construction, and maintenance
occupations (70 percent) and lowest for those displaced from service occupa-
tions (58 percent).
   
Geographic Divisions
   
   Compared with the prior survey, the number of long-tenured workers dis-
placed in each geographic division in the United States increased during the
2001-03 period.  The distribution of displacement among the divisions, however,
was about the same as in the prior survey.  In terms of employment status at
the time of the January 2004 survey, the New England and West North Central
divisions had the highest reemployment rates, at 73 percent each.
(See table 6.)
   
Earnings
   
   Of the 3.2 million reemployed displaced workers who lost full-time wage
and salary jobs during the 2001-03 period, 2.6 million were working in such
jobs in January 2004.  Of these reemployed full-time workers, 43 percent
were earning as much or more in their new jobs as they had earned on the
job they lost.  This was lower than the proportion recorded in the January
2002 survey (48 percent).  In January 2004, 34 percent reported earnings
losses of 20 percent or more.  (See table 7.)
   
Total Displaced Workers (With No Tenure Restriction)
   
   The total number of workers displaced during the 2001-03 period
(regardless of how long they had held their jobs) was 11.4 million; the
number of such workers during the 1999-2001 period was 10.1 million (as
revised).  Two-thirds of the total displaced had found new jobs when
surveyed in January 2004, while 20 percent were unemployed, and 13 percent
were not in the labor force. (See table 8.)

   Compared with long-tenured displaced workers, the short-tenured were
more likely to be young and to have lost jobs in construction, leisure and
hospitality, and in professional and business services.