Workers on Flexible and Shift Schedules in 2001 Summary

Technical information:  (202) 691-6378     USDL 02-225
               http://www.bls.gov/cps/
                                           For release:  10:00 A.M. EDT
Media contact:                691-5902     Thursday, April 18, 2002


              WORKERS ON FLEXIBLE AND SHIFT SCHEDULES IN 2001
     
     
   In May 2001, about 29 million full-time wage and salary workers had
flexible work schedules that allowed them to vary the time they began or
ended work, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor
reported today.  The proportion of workers with such schedules was 28.8
percent, slightly higher than the figure of 27.6 percent recorded when the
data were last collected in May 1997 and nearly double the proportion 10
years earlier.  (See table A.)
   
   These findings were obtained from a supplement to the May 2001 Current
Population Survey (CPS).  The CPS is the monthly household survey that
provides information on national employment and unemployment.  In May 2001,
the survey also collected information about flexible schedules, shift work,
and other related topics.  The data presented in this release pertain to
wage and salary workers who usually worked full time (35 or more hours per
week) on their main job.  For further information about the survey, see the
Technical Note.  Some of the highlights from the 2001 data are:

 --Among full-time wage and salary workers, 28.8 percent had flexible work
   schedules, and about one-third of these workers (11.1 percent of the total)
   worked flexible hours as part of a formal employer-sponsored flexitime
   program.
   
 --Men were somewhat more likely to work flexible schedules than women
   (30.0 percent and 27.4 percent, respectively).

 --The proportion of full-time wage and salary workers who usually work a
   shift other than a daytime schedule (14.5 percent) had drifted down since
   May 1991.
   
 --The proportion of workers with flexible schedules or alternative shifts
   varied greatly by occupation.
   
Flexible schedules
     
   Flexible schedules were more common among white workers (30.0 percent)
than black (21.2 percent) or Hispanic workers (19.8 percent).  Among
whites, 31.0 percent of the men and 28.6 percent of the women had flexible
schedules.  In contrast, among blacks and Hispanics, women were slightly
more likely than men to work flexible schedules.  The proportions working
flexible schedules for most worker groups had risen slightly since 1997.
(See tables A and 1.)
   
   Flexible schedules were most common among managerial and professional
specialty occupations, with 45.5 percent of executives, administrators, and
managers able to vary their work hours.  Flexible schedules were also
prevalent among sales workers (40.7 percent).  In contrast, only 18.3
percent of precision production, craft, and repair workers and 13.7 percent
of operators, fabricators, and laborers had such flexibility.  (See table 2.)
   
                                 - 2 -

Table A.  Flexible schedules and shift work of full-time wage and salary
workers by sex, race, and Hispanic origin, May, selected years, 1985-2001 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   |                           |
                   |   Percent with flexible   |   Percent with alternate
                   |          Schedules        |           shifts
 Characteristic    |                           |
                    --------------------------------------------------------
                   | May  | May  | May  | May  | May  | May  | May  | May
                   | 1985 | 1991 | 1997 | 2001 | 1985 | 1991 | 1997 | 2001
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Sex         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
                   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |     
Total, 16 years    |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      
 and over..........| 12.4 | 15.0 | 27.6 | 28.8 | 16.0 | 18.0 | 16.9 | 14.5
  Men..............| 13.1 | 15.4 | 28.6 | 30.0 | 17.9 | 20.4 | 19.2 | 16.4
  Women............| 11.3 | 14.5 | 26.2 | 27.4 | 13.2 | 14.8 | 13.7 | 12.1
                   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
 Race and Hispanic |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
      origin       |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
                   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
  White............| 12.8 | 15.4 | 28.6 | 30.0 | 15.5 | 17.2 | 16.2 | 13.6
  Black............|  9.1 | 12.0 | 20.1 | 21.2 | 20.0 | 23.3 | 21.0 | 19.7
  Hispanic origin..|  8.9 | 10.6 | 18.2 | 19.8 | 15.5 | 19.2 | 16.2 | 14.8
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Note:  Data are tabulated for all employed persons.  Estimates for years
prior to 2001 may differ slightly from those previously published, which
were tabulated only for persons at work.  See the Technical Note for
further information.  Data exclude the incorporated and unincorporated self-
employed.

   Among private-sector employees, the proportion of workers with flexible
schedules was much higher in service-producing industries (33.3 percent)
than in goods-producing industries (23.1 percent).  In the public sector,
flexible schedules were more common among federal (34.4 percent) and state
government employees (29.7 percent) than among workers in local government
(14.0 percent).  Local government includes public elementary and secondary
schools, and teachers and other school employees tend to work fixed schedules.  
(See table 2.)
   
Formal flexitime programs
   
   Although over 1 in 4 workers can vary their schedules, only about 1 in
10 are enrolled in a formal, employer-sponsored flexitime program.  Full-
time wage and salary workers in managerial and professional specialty
occupations, who were most likely to work flexible schedules, were also the
most likely to have a formal flexitime program (15.6 percent).  Even so,
only about 2 out of 5 managers and professionals with flexible hours
participated in a formal flexitime program.  Among operators, fabricators,
and laborers, just 5.5 percent worked flexible hours as part of a formal
flexitime program, mirroring this group's small overall proportion of
workers with flexible schedules.  (See table 3.)
   
   Formal flexitime programs were more common in the public sector than in
private-sector industries.  Over half the workers in the public sector with
flexible schedules had a formal program, reflecting the high proportion of
federal workers with formal programs.  Nearly three-quarters of federal
government workers with flexible schedules participated in a formal
flexitime program.  In the private sector, only about one-third of those
with flexible schedules (10.9 percent of the total employed full time)
participated in a formal flexitime program.  (See tables 2 and 3.)
   
                                  - 3 -

Shift work
   
   About 14.5 million full-time wage and salary workers, 14.5 percent 
of the total, usually worked an alternate shift.  By type of shift, 
4.8 percent of the total worked evening shifts, 3.3 percent worked night
shifts, 2.8 percent worked employer-arranged irregular schedules, and 
2.3 percent worked rotating shifts.  The proportion of full-time wage and
salary workers on alternate shift schedules fell from 18.0 percent in 
May 1991.  (See tables A and 4.)
   
   Men were more likely than women to work an alternate shift (16.4 percent 
and 12.1 percent, respectively).  Blacks were more likely than either whites 
or Hispanics to work such shifts.
   
   The prevalence of shift work was greatest among workers in service-
oriented occupations, such as protective service (49.0 percent)--which
includes police, firefighters, and guards--and food service (40.4 percent),
and among those employed as operators, fabricators, and laborers 
(25.4 percent).  Alternative shifts were least common among managers and
professionals (6.7 percent), those in administrative support occupations
(8.4 percent), and workers in farming, forestry, and fishing occupations
(5.6 percent).  (See table 5.)
   
   In private-sector industries, the percent of workers on alternative
shifts was highest in eating and drinking places (46.2 percent) and lowest
in construction (2.5 percent) and finance, insurance, and real estate (4.6
percent).  Shift work generally was less common in the public sector,
averaging only 11.1 percent.  One  notable exception was the public safety
component of local government, where shift work is quite common in law
enforcement and firefighting.  (See table 5.)
   
Reasons for shift work
   
   Over half (53.3 percent) of those working an alternative shift did so
because it was the "nature of the job."  Other reasons for working a non-
daytime schedule included "personal preference" (13.3 percent), "better
arrangements for family or child care" (8.9 percent), "better pay" (6.9
percent), and "because it allows time for school" (3.3 percent).  Many of
those who worked night and evening shifts chose such schedules due to
personal preference (21.5 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively) or
because these shifts facilitated better arrangements for family or child
care (14.9 percent and 12.1 percent, respectively).  (See table 6.)
   
Beginning and ending hours
   
   The May supplement also provides data on the times people began and
ended work.  About two-thirds of all full-time wage and salary workers
began work between 6:30 A.M. and 9:29 A.M., with the greatest concentration
during the one-hour period around 8 A.M. (7:30 to 8:29 A.M.).  Almost three-
fifths usually left work between 3:30 P.M. and 6:29 P.M., with times within
the one-hour bracket centered by 5 P.M. (4:30 to 5:29 P.M.) by far the most
frequently reported.  (See table 7.)