Monthly Labor Review September 2000 3

Looking for a Better Job

An undisputed fact about the U.S. labor force is that people who alreadyhave jobs sometimes decide to look for

“better” jobs. However, each potential jobseeker

determines his or her own criteria for defining

“better,” and that definition may change as the

individual’s circumstances change. For example,

younger workers may experiment with different

kinds of jobs and frequently look for new ones

that match their interests and abilities. Other

workers who plan to start families, or already have

them, may seek jobs that offer enhanced familyrelated benefits, such as health insurance, child

care, or vacation time. And, workers of all kinds

or in all circumstances may seek jobs that offer

higher pay or greater security. In February 1999,

4.5 percent of employed wage and salary workers

had actively looked for a new job in the prior 3

months, but the likelihood that workers have

looked for a new job varied, depending on their

characteristics and their current jobs.

Until recently, there has been little statistical

information about the job-search activities of

people who already are employed. Since the 1940s,

observers of the U.S. labor market have had information available on a monthly basis about the unemployed—that is, jobseekers who are without

jobs. This information comes from the Current

Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about

50,000 households that is conducted by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.1

The first BLS effort to learn about the jobsearch activities of employed persons was from a

set of supplemental questions in the May 1976

CPS.

2 According to data from that survey, 4.2 percent of all workers (3.3 million) who had been

employed at their present job for at least 4 weeks

had looked for a new job in the 4 weeks prior to

the survey.

Since the 1976 survey, the CPS had not included any questions on the job-search activities of employed persons until supplemental

questions were included in February 1995 on

workers in contingent and alternative employment arrangements. Those questions were repeated in the CPS in February 1997 and again in

February 1999. In these surveys, workers were

asked about their job-search activity in the prior

3 months. (Workers who had less than 3 months

of tenure with their present employer were asked

about job-search activities conducted since they

had started with their present employer.) Because

the length of the reference period for the 1995,

1997, and 1999 surveys was 3 months, the data

from those surveys are not strictly comparable to

data from the 1976 survey, which had a 4-week

reference period.

This article focuses on employed wage and

salary workers who used active methods to search

for a new job. Active job-search methods include

contacting an employer directly, registering at a

public or private employment agency, scheduling an interview through a school or university

employment center, checking union or professional registers, asking friends or relatives about

available jobs, sending out resumes, filling out

During the mid- to late-1990s,

unemployment fell and employment rose;

the job-search rate of the employed also declined,

although many employed persons

still searched for new jobs

Looking for a ‘better’ job:

job-search activity of the employed

Joseph R.

Meisenheimer II and

Randy E. Ilg are

economists in the

Office of Employment

and Unemployment

Statistics, Bureau of

Labor Statistics.

Joseph R.

Meisenheimer II

and

Randy E. Ilg
4 Monthly Labor Review September 2000

Looking for a Better Job

applications, and placing or answering ads. Excluded from this

analysis of employed jobseekers are all self-employed workers, as well as wage and salary workers who were looking for a

second or additional job or who used only passive methods

to search for a new job. Passive job-search methods include

merely reading the want-ads or attending a job-training program or course.

This article first examines whether any trends have emerged

in the proportion of workers actively seeking new jobs in February 1995, 1997, and 1999. Then, the focus turns to how different characteristics of workers—such as sex, age, earnings,

health and retirement benefits coverage, educational level, tenure with current employer, job security, occupation, industry,

and union membership—relate to workers’ likelihood to seek

new jobs.

Trends, 1995–99

The unemployment rate, the proportion of the civilian labor

force that was unemployed, fell from 5.4 percent (seasonally

adjusted data) in February 1995 to 4.4 percent in February

1999. Over the same period, nonfarm payroll employment, as

measured by the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey,

increased by 11.4 million (seasonally adjusted), an annual

growth rate of 2.4 percent. During this period of falling unemployment and rapid employment growth, the percent of employed wage and salary workers who had actively looked for a

new job in the 3 months prior to the survey also declined, from

5.6 percent in February 1995 to 5.0 percent in February 1997

and 4.5 percent in February 1999.3

Economists long ago demonstrated that the unemployment

rate is a cyclical economic indicator that rises during recessions

and falls during economic expansions. Could the employed-jobsearch rate also be a cyclical economic indicator? During recessions or other periods of deteriorating job security, growing numbers of workers may choose to look for jobs that they believe are

more secure, thereby raising the employed-job-search rate. However, workers also may decide not to look for jobs because they

believe that there are not enough “better” employment opportunities available to make their job search worthwhile, and that

might lower the job-search rate among the employed. During

economic expansions, employment opportunities are more plentiful, and more workers may seek jobs that offer higher pay or

better benefits than their current position. Employers in turn

may encourage productive workers to stay—and discourage

them from seeking jobs elsewhere—by raising their pay or improving their benefits and working conditions. Only three

comparable data points currently are available on the jobsearch rate of employed persons, and all of them have occurred during an economic expansion. Thus, the data are insufficient to determine whether the job-search rate among the

employed exhibits any cyclical pattern.

Sex and age

As previously noted, the job-search rate for employed wage

and salary workers declined over the three survey periods,

from 5.6 percent in February 1995 to 4.5 percent in February

1999. Among men, the rate in February 1995 was 6.0 percent,

compared with 5.3 percent for women. By February 1999, the

gap between men and women had nearly dissolved; the rate

for men was 4.6 percent and the rate for women was 4.4 percent. (See table 1.)

Age appears to have a stronger relationship with the likelihood of searching for a new job. Workers ages 16 to 24 were

much more likely than persons age 25 and older to actively

seek other employment opportunities. The higher job-search

rates among employed younger workers might reflect the fact

that they tend to experiment with different types of jobs until

they find careers that suit their interests and eventually settle

into jobs that match their economic and social needs. As the

labor market tightened over the 1995–99 period, however, the

likelihood of young workers to seek new jobs declined, particularly when compared with the job-search rate of workers

age 25 and older. Perhaps many younger workers were able to

find jobs more suitable to their desires and were, therefore,

less inclined to search for new ones by 1999. The job-search

rate for workers age 25 and older, while already lower than

that of younger workers, also ebbed much less over the 1995–

99 period.

Compensation

Pay and benefits are among the principal elements of job quality that most workers consider when deciding whether to

change jobs. If given a choice between two otherwise identical jobs, a rational jobseeker would choose the one that offers

higher pay. The effect of employee benefits on job choices is

more ambiguous, however. For example, suppose a jobseeker

could choose between two jobs that were identical except that

one offers health insurance and the other does not. If the

jobseeker did not presently have health insurance, he or she

logically might choose the job that offers insurance. But if the

jobseeker already was covered by health insurance through a

spouse’s employer-sponsored plan, the decision would be

more complicated. The jobseeker would have to consider the

features of each health plan, the security of the spouse’s job,

and perhaps other factors before deciding which job to choose.

The CPS does not include any questions on the characteristics of other jobs that employed jobseekers could choose.

There is information, however, about workers’ present jobs,

such as the amount they are paid and whether they are covered by employer-sponsored health and retirement plans.

Wages and salaries. Are workers who receive lower pay more
Monthly Labor Review September 2000 5

[Numbers in thousands]

1995 1997 1999

Total, 16 years and older ..................... 107,031 5.6 110,546 5.0 114,898 4.5

16 to 19 years ................................... 5,351 8.1 5,828 6.9 6,360 5.9

20 to 24 years ................................... 11,842 9.2 11,326 8.4 11,692 7.3

25 years and older ............................ 89,837 5.0 93,392 4.5 96,845 4.0

25 to 34 years ............................... 29,147 7.1 28,590 6.4 28,126 5.8

35 to 44 years ................................ 29,292 5.1 30,579 4.6 31,649 4.4

45 to 54 years ............................... 19,950 3.7 22,078 3.3 23,966 2.8

55 to 64 years ................................ 9,119 2.1 9,698 2.1 10,475 1.7

65 years and older ......................... 2,329 .9 2,447 .9 2,629 1.2

Total, 16 years and older ..................... 55,897 6.0 57,655 5.3 59,541 4.6

16 to 19 years ................................... 2,641 7.9 2,978 7.3 3,187 5.1

20 to 24 years ................................... 6,264 9.5 5,932 9.0 6,049 7.8

25 years and older ............................. 46,992 5.4 48,745 4.8 50,305 4.1

25 to 34 years ................................ 15,807 7.7 15,281 7.1 14,937 6.0

35 to 44 years ................................ 15,206 5.3 16,011 4.6 16,558 4.6

45 to 54 years ............................... 10,119 3.9 11,197 3.3 12,016 2.7

55 to 64 years ................................ 4,678 2.5 5,008 2.3 5,502 1.6

65 years and older ......................... 1,182 1.1 1,249 1.0 1,292 1.3

Total, 16 years and older ..................... 51,134 5.3 52,891 4.6 55,357 4.4

16 to 19 years ................................... 2,711 8.4 2,850 6.4 3,173 6.8

20 to 24 years ................................... 5,578 8.9 5,394 7.7 5,643 6.8

25 years and older ............................ 42,845 4.6 44,647 4.2 46,540 3.9

25 to 34 years ............................... 13,340 6.4 13,309 5.5 13,189 5.6

35 to 44 years ................................ 14,086 4.9 14,568 4.5 15,092 4.2

45 to 54 years ................................ 9,831 3.6 10,882 3.4 11,950 2.9

55 to 64 years ............................... 4,441 1.8 4,690 1.8 4,973 1.8

65 years and older ......................... 1,147 .8 1,198 .9 1,337 1.2

Age and sex Total who

responded

Percent who

searched for a

new job in the

prior 3 months

Total who

responded

Percent who

searched for a

new job in the

prior 3 months

Total who

responded

Percent who

searched for a

new job in the

prior 3 months

or less likely to seek new jobs than workers with higher pay?

Data on the usual weekly earnings of wage and salary workers

who usually work full time (35 hours or more per week) are

examined to answer this question. As shown earlier in this

article, employed men were slightly more likely than women to

look for a new job, and younger workers were much more likely

than middle-aged or older workers to look for a new job. To

isolate the relationship between earnings and the probability

of looking for a new job, it is necessary to examine the earnings of workers in each sex-age category separately. For each

sex-age category, full-time wage and salary workers employed

in February 1999 were divided into five equally sized groups

according to their reported usual weekly earnings. These five

groups are called quintiles, ranging from the lowest paid 20

percent of workers, referred to as the first quintile, to the highest paid 20 percent, called the fifth quintile. Table 2 shows the

earnings levels that mark the boundaries between the five

quintiles for each sex-age group in February 1999.

The data provided in table 3 show the job-search rates of

full-time workers in each of the earnings quintiles, by age.

These estimates indicate no clear pattern in job-search rates

across earnings quintiles within each sex-age group. One might

surmise that the lowest paid workers have more incentive to

look for higher paying jobs, while workers who already are

highly paid might have less motivation to seek jobs in which

they could earn still more. Although this argument seems

logical, it does not consider the job opportunities that might

be available to workers in different earnings quintiles. Many

of the lowest paid workers have relatively low levels of educational attainment and job skills, leaving them with fewer opportunities to obtain better jobs. A large proportion of them

may not seek better jobs because they believe that their job

search would be fruitless. Many of the highest paid workers

have higher levels of educational attainment and job skills,

providing them with more abundant job opportunities. Many

of these highly paid workers thus may decide to seek opportunities to raise their earnings even more. Indeed, employed

college graduates and those with at least some college experience were more likely to have looked for a new job than were

workers with a high school diploma or less education. (The

Table 1. Wage and salary workers who actively searched for a new job in the prior 3 months, by age and sex,

 February 1995, 1997, and 1999

Total

Men

Women
6 Monthly Labor Review September 2000

Looking for a Better Job

Quintiles of usual weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers by age and sex, February 1999

Total

16 to 19 years ..................................... 1,552 $202 $254 $301 $375

20 to 24 years ..................................... 8,407 257 321 402 519

25 to 34 years ..................................... 25,368 320 453 584 774

35 to 44 years ..................................... 28,071 361 507 696 981

45 to 54 years ..................................... 21,846 380 541 749 1,060

55 to 64 years ..................................... 8,660 370 517 745 1,074

65 years and older ............................... 1,298 239 319 475 762

Men

16 to 19 years ..................................... 1,083 225 263 305 369

20 to 24 years ..................................... 4,716 270 341 424 548

25 to 34 years ..................................... 14,376 345 485 616 849

35 to 44 years ..................................... 16,080 413 596 790 1,104

45 to 54 years ..................................... 12,137 450 658 888 1,246

55 to 64 years ..................................... 4,986 427 628 904 1,261

65 years and older ............................... 690 236 324 601 1,115

Women

16 to 19 years ..................................... 469 178 220 288 386

20 to 24 years ..................................... 3,690 244 305 367 486

25 to 34 years ..................................... 10,992 302 410 528 717

35 to 44 years ..................................... 11,991 310 418 573 793

45 to 54 years ..................................... 9,710 324 454 603 840

55 to 64 years ..................................... 3,673 318 445 581 854

65 years and older ............................... 609 242 315 423 623

Total wage and

salary workers

 (in thousands)

Boundary between

first and second

quintile

Boundary between

second and third

 quintile

Boundary between

third and fourth

quintile

Boundary between

fourth and fifth

quintile

Age and sex

Table 2.

Age and sex First quintile Second quintile Third quintile Fourth quintile Fifth quintile

Total

16 to 19 years ...................................................... 8.2 10.2 (1) (1) (1)

20 to 24 years ...................................................... 6.9 5.1 7.9 3.9 5.6

25 to 34 years ...................................................... 5.2 4.1 5.6 4.4 5.7

35 to 44 years ...................................................... 4.6 4.1 3.9 2.7 5.8

45 to 54 years ...................................................... 2.3 3.2 1.7 2.2 3.2

55 to 64 years ...................................................... 1.2 1.9 .6 .5 2.5

65 years and older ................................................ (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)

Men

16 to 19 years ...................................................... (1

) (1) (1) (1) (1)

20 to 24 years ...................................................... 6.4 3.8 12.6 3.2 3.6

25 to 34 years ...................................................... 5.5 5.0 4.6 6.2 5.8

35 to 44 years ...................................................... 3.4 3.7 4.0 3.4 6.7

45 to 54 years ...................................................... 3.4 2.4 3.0 2.3 1.9

55 to 64 years ...................................................... .9 3.3 .9 .2 3.8

65 years and older ................................................ (1

) (1) (1) (1) (1)

Women

16 to 19 years ...................................................... (1

) (1) (1) (1) (1)

20 to 24 years ...................................................... 7.7 2.8 5.7 5.5 7.3

25 to 34 years ...................................................... 4.6 3.0 5.5 4.7 4.2

35 to 44 years ...................................................... 5.1 6.0 2.7 3.3 4.2

45 to 54 years ...................................................... 2.5 1.9 1.8 2.6 3.5

55 to 64 years ...................................................... 1.5 .3 (1) 1.5 .4

65 years and older ................................................ (1

) (1) (1) (1) (1)

1

 Job-search rates not shown for groups with fewer than 300,000 workers.

Table 3.

Percent of full-time wage and salary workers who actively searched for a new job in the prior 3 months,

by age, sex, and weekly earnings quintile, February 1999

 Table 3.
Monthly Labor Review September 2000 7

next section further examines the relationship between workers’ educational attainment and their likelihood to seek new

jobs.) Information on current pay is not sufficient to assess

the likelihood that workers will seek new jobs. Rather, information on current pay must be combined with information on the

pay workers could receive from alternative jobs. Unfortunately,

such information would be difficult or impossible to obtain.

Health and retirement benefits. Workers not covered by

health insurance from any source in February 1999 were more

than twice as likely as workers who had health insurance to

have looked for a new job in the 3 months prior to the survey.

(See table 4.) Although the job-search rates of workers with

and without health insurance declined from 1995 to 1999, the

job-search rate for those without insurance was more than

twice the rate of those with insurance in each of the three

surveys. Also in each survey, workers who received health

insurance from a source other than their own employer were

somewhat more likely to have looked for a new job than were

workers who participated in their employer’s health plan.

Workers’ likelihood to seek new jobs also is related to their

participation in employer-sponsored retirement plans. Table 4

shows that workers ages 20 and older who did not participate

in a retirement plan were considerably more likely than workers who participated in a plan to have searched for a new job in

the 3 months prior to the survey. Employers offer retirement

plans, in part, to attract productive workers. The specific type

of retirement plan the employer offers also could influence a

worker’s decision whether to stay with an employer until retirement or switch to another employer. The two broad types

of retirement plans are defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans. Length of service directly affects the level of benefits from defined-benefit plans, but not from defined-contribution plans.4 Workers who participate in defined-benefit

Table 4.

Total, 16 years and older ...................................... 8.2 3.9 4.9 3.5 6.1 3.2

16 to 19 years ................................................... 9.2 4.9 5.1 3.8 5.9 5.9

20 to 24 years ................................................... 9.7 6.5 7.9 5.5 8.4 4.9

25 years and older ............................................ 7.6 3.6 4.3 3.4 5.6 3.1

25 to 34 years ............................................... 8.3 5.4 6.3 5.1 7.2 4.7

35 to 44 years ............................................... 8.3 3.9 4.7 3.7 5.8 3.6

45 to 54 years ............................................... 6.2 2.5 4.0 2.1 5.0 1.9

55 to 64 years ............................................... 4.5 1.5 2.1 1.3 2.4 1.2

65 years and older ........................................ 5.1 1.0 1.4 .2 1.7 .5

Men

Total, 16 years and older ...................................... 8.4 3.9 5.2 3.6 6.5 3.3

16 to 19 years ................................................... 9.4 3.9 4.1 2.8 5.2 4.0

20 to 24 years ................................................... 10.9 6.5 7.2 6.2 9.2 5.6

25 years and older ............................................ 7.6 3.7 5.2 3.4 6.1 3.2

25 to 34 years ............................................... 8.0 5.7 6.8 5.5 7.5 5.2

35 to 44 years ............................................... 8.1 4.2 6.9 3.8 6.2 3.8

45 to 54 years ............................................... 6.4 2.4 5.6 1.9 6.0 1.5

55 to 64 years ............................................... 4.4 1.4 2.2 1.2 2.2 1.2

65 years and older ......................................... (1

) .8 1.1 .5 1.9 .7

Women

Total, 16 years and older ...................................... 7.9 3.8 4.7 3.4 5.7 3.1

16 to 19 years ................................................... 9.0 6.0 6.1 5.2 6.5 8.6

20 to 24 years ................................................... 8.2 6.4 8.4 4.8 7.7 4.1

25 years and older ............................................ 7.7 3.4 3.9 3.2 5.2 3.0

25 to 34 years ............................................... 8.9 5.0 6.1 4.6 7.0 4.2

35 to 44 years ............................................... 8.5 3.6 3.7 3.5 5.4 3.3

45 to 54 years ............................................... 6.1 2.7 3.2 2.5 4.2 2.4

55 to 64 years ............................................... 4.6 1.6 2.0 1.3 2.5 1.2

65 years and older ......................................... 2.5 1.1 1.8 (2) 1.6 .2

1 Job-search rates are not shown for groups with fewer than 75,000 workers.

Not covered

by any

health plan Total

Covered by

employerprovided

 retirement

plan

Age and sex

From own

employer

From source

other than

own employer

Covered by health plan

Not covered

by employerprovided

retirement plan

2 Less than 0.05 percent.

Percent of wage and salary workers who actively searched for a new job in the prior 3 months,

by age, sex, and coverage under health and retirement plans, February 1999

Total
8 Monthly Labor Review September 2000

Looking for a Better Job

plans, therefore, may be less likely than workers with only

defined-contribution plans to change employers or look for

new jobs. This hypothesis cannot be tested using CPS data,

however, because the February 1995, 1997, and 1999 surveys

did not include questions that would distinguish between

workers with defined-benefit plans and those with definedcontribution plans.5

Human capital

The term “human capital” refers to the education, training,

experience, health, and other characteristics that affect the

economic and cultural welfare of individuals.6 Human capital

falls into two categories, general and specific. Workers apply

general human capital to a variety of work settings, and formal

education is the most common example of general human capital. Specific human capital includes knowledge and skills that

improve a worker’s productivity in one work setting, but that

might not be relevant or easily adaptable to other work settings. One measure of specific human capital is the length of

time workers have been with their current employer. The occupations in which workers are employed require elements of

both general and specific human capital. Educational attainment and tenure appear to have an opposite relationship with

workers’ likelihood to have looked for a new job. Workers

with higher levels of educational attainment are more likely to

have looked for a new job, while workers with longer tenure

are less likely to have looked for a new job. The effect of

occupation on job-search rates is more ambiguous.

Table 5.

[Numbers in thousands]

1995

Less than a high school diploma ................. 9,147 3.2 9,389 3.3 9,275 2.7

High school graduates, no college .............. 29,191 3.9 30,672 3.2 30,425 2.9

Some college or associate degree .............. 25,948 5.9 26,265 4.9 27,486 4.6

College graduates, total ............................... 25,551 6.2 27,065 5.9 29,660 5.0

 Men, 25 years and older ................................... 46,992 5.4 48,745 4.8 50,305 4.1

Less than a high school diploma ................. 5,478 3.9 5,730 3.5 5,521 2.6

High school graduates, no college .............. 14,743 3.9 15,679 3.5 15,544 3.3

Some college or associate degree .............. 12,774 6.5 12,907 5.2 13,575 4.4

College graduates, total ............................... 13,997 6.6 14,429 6.2 15,666 5.3

 Women, 25 years and older .............................. 42,845 4.6 44,647 4.2 46,540 3.9

Less than a high school diploma ................. 3,669 2.1 3,660 3.0 3,755 2.7

High school graduates, no college .............. 14,448 3.8 14,993 2.8 14,881 2.6

Some college or associate degree .............. 13,174 5.3 13,357 4.7 13,911 4.8

College graduates, total ............................... 11,554 5.6 12,636 5.6 13,994 4.8

Total who

responded

Percent who

searched for

a new job

in the prior

3 months

Total who

responded

Percent who

searched for

a new job

in the prior

3 months

Total who

responded

Percent who

searched for

a new job

in the prior

3 months

Educational attainment and occupation. As previously

noted, the extent of active job search was highest for workers

with higher levels of education. Among workers age 25 and

older, those with some college education or a bachelor’s degree were more likely to have searched for alternative employment than were those with a high school diploma or less education. The overall downward trend in job-search rates among

the employed from 1995 through 1999 is similar to the patterns

for most of the educational attainment groups. (See table 5.)

Among persons employed in the major occupational

groups, there appears to be little variation in job-search activity, and all occupational groups showed similar downward

trends over the 1995–99 period. For the most part, managers

and professionals were no more likely to have searched for a

new job than were persons employed in service or administrative support occupations. (See table 6.)

The lack of variation in job-search rates across the major

occupational groups seems somewhat contradictory, given

that managers and professionals typically have higher levels

of educational attainment than workers in most other occupational categories. As just discussed, workers with higher levels of education were more likely to search for a new job. This

apparent contradiction is resolved, however, when the jobsearch rates of workers in each occupation are examined along

with the educational attainment of those workers. As table 6

shows, within most major occupational groups, job-search

rates were higher for workers with higher levels of educational

attainment. The difference in job-search rates between workers with higher and lower levels of educational attainment was

Educational attainment and sex

Wage and salary workers age 25 and older who actively searched for a new job in the prior 3 months,

by educational attainment and sex, February 1995, 1997, and 1999

1999

Total, 25 years and older ...................................... 89,837 5.0 93,392 4.5 96,845 4.0

1997
Monthly Labor Review September 2000 9

Table 6.

Executive, administrative, and managerial ................................... 5.1 1.2 3.0 4.6 6.3

Professional specialty .................................................................. 5.1 2.6 3.1 4.6 5.4

Technicians and related support ................................................... 5.2 – 2.3 5.7 6.4

Sales occupations ........................................................................ 5.7 2.0 4.3 7.2 6.6

Administrative support, including clerical ..................................... 4.8 1.5 3.5 5.4 7.7

Service occupations ..................................................................... 5.4 3.2 5.0 6.9 9.1

Precision production, craft, and repair ......................................... 4.0 2.6 3.2 5.6 5.8

Operators, fabricators, and laborers ............................................ 5.0 3.6 4.3 7.4 8.8

Farming, forestry, and fishing ....................................................... 5.8 5.9 4.3 10.3 1.3

1997

Total, 25 years and older........................................................ 4.5 3.3 3.2 4.9 5.9

Executive, administrative, and managerial ................................... 4.6 3.6 2.8 4.0 5.7

Professional specialty .................................................................. 5.0 – 3.2 4.2 5.4

Technicians and related support ................................................... 5.2 – 4.7 5.2 5.9

Sales occupations ........................................................................ 5.4 4.4 3.3 6.9 6.4

Administrative support, including clerical ..................................... 4.3 2.4 2.7 4.4 8.8

Service occupations ..................................................................... 3.9 4.2 3.0 4.7 5.6

Precision production, craft, and repair ......................................... 3.6 2.1 3.0 5.2 4.9

Operators, fabricators, and laborers ............................................ 4.3 3.5 3.7 5.9 8.3

Farming, forestry, and fishing ....................................................... 3.8 2.5 4.2 6.4 4.3

1999

Total, 25 years and older........................................................ 4.0 2.7 2.9 4.6 5.0

Executive, administrative, and managerial ................................... 4.1 2.7 2.1 3.7 5.0

Professional specialty .................................................................. 4.4 2.2 2.2 5.2 4.3

Technicians and related support ................................................... 4.0 10.5 3.0 3.9 4.6

Sales occupations ........................................................................ 4.4 5.1 3.5 4.4 5.2

Administrative support, including clerical ..................................... 4.2 4.0 2.6 4.7 7.1

Service occupations ..................................................................... 4.0 2.3 3.5 5.1 7.1

Precision production, craft, and repair ......................................... 3.5 2.1 2.8 4.6 6.5

Operators, fabricators, and laborers ............................................ 3.5 2.3 3.3 4.9 6.2

Farming, forestry, and fishing ....................................................... 4.1 3.8 1.2 7.4 16.2

NOTE: Dash indicates data not available.

especially sharp within the lower paying occupations, such as

operators, fabricators, and laborers and workers in service or

administrative support occupations. Indeed, college graduates in these occupations were more likely to have searched

for a new job than were college graduates employed as managers or professionals. The higher job-search rates of highly

educated workers in lower paying jobs suggest that these

workers might have been motivated to look for a new job both

because they sought higher pay and they had broader job

opportunities than workers with less education.

Tenure. As table 7 shows, workers who had been with their

current employer less than a year were much more likely than

those with longer tenure to have looked for a new job in the 3

months prior to the survey. Overall, job-search rates were

lower for workers in each successively higher tenure category

shown in the table. This pattern generally is apparent even

within specific age groups of men and women.

Workers who have long tenure with their employer may be

less likely to look for a new job because they may benefit

economically from having longer tenure. For example, as workers stay with a particular employer, they may acquire more

experience and knowledge about the employer’s products, services, customers, and processes. This experience and knowledge may enable long-term employees to be more productive,

and their employers may compensate them for that higher productivity. Other potential employers may not value that specific experience and knowledge as highly, and therefore, may

not be as willing to offer higher compensation to entice workers to change employers. High-tenured employees also typically receive more vacation time than workers with less seniority. As discussed earlier, employees who participate in deHigh school

graduates,

no college

Some college

or associate

degree

College

graduates,

total

Occupation Total

Less than a

high school

diploma

Percent of wage and salary workers age 25 and older who actively searched for a new job in the prior

3 months, by major occupation and educational attainment, February 1995, 1997, and 1999

Total, 25 years and older ........................................................ 5.0 3.2 3.9 5.9 6.2

1995
10 Monthly Labor Review September 2000

Looking for a Better Job

fined-benefit pension plans typically receive higher benefit

amounts during retirement for each additional year they had

worked for the employer. Finally, unionized workers may benefit from higher seniority because union contracts often

specify that pay, benefits, layoff decisions, and other conditions of work are determined by seniority.

Part-time workers

Most people who work part time (defined in the CPS as less

than 35 hours per week) prefer such a schedule because it

accommodates their family, school, or other obligations or

enables them to pursue leisure activities. Some people, however, work part time because they could only find part-time

jobs or their work hours had been reduced to part time by their

employer. Overall, persons who worked part time were more

likely than full-time workers to seek alternative employment.

Persons who worked part time voluntarily, however, had jobsearch rates that were the same as the job-search rates of

workers who usually worked full time.7 In February 1999, the

Table 7.

Less than 1 to 3 4 to 5 6 to 9 10 to 14 15 to 19 20 years

1 year years years years years years or more

Total, 16 years and older .................. 4.5 7.7 5.4 4.1 3.6 2.4 1.7 1.0

16 to 19 years ............................ 5.9 6.6 4.7 6.5 (1

) (1) (1) (1)

20 to 24 years ............................ 7.3 8.6 6.7 6.2 3.1 (1

) (1) (1)

25 years and older ..................... 4.0 7.7 5.2 3.9 3.6 2.4 1.7 1.0

25 to 34 years ....................... 5.8 8.0 5.7 5.2 5.1 2.8 2.5 (1

)

35 to 44 years ....................... 4.4 8.4 5.4 3.6 3.4 3.0 2.2 2.4

45 to 54 years ....................... 2.8 7.1 4.4 3.0 2.8 1.8 1.8 .7

55 to 64 years ....................... 1.7 4.1 3.2 2.0 2.2 1.2 (2

) .8

65 years and older ................. 1.2 5.4 2.1 .9 (2

) 1.1 .4 (2)

Men

Total, 16 years and older .................. 4.6 7.9 5.9 4.3 3.4 2.5 2.1 1.1

16 to 19 years ............................ 5.1 5.6 4.6 (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)

20 to 24 years ............................ 7.8 8.7 7.9 6.5 (2) (1) (1) (1

)

25 years and older ..................... 4.1 8.2 5.6 4.1 3.5 2.5 2.1 1.1

25 to 34 years ....................... 6.0 8.2 5.8 5.5 5.6 2.9 3.1 (1)

35 to 44 years ....................... 4.6 9.6 6.1 4.4 2.6 3.0 3.0 3.0

45 to 54 years ....................... 2.7 8.4 5.3 2.7 2.4 1.7 1.4 .6

55 to 64 years ....................... 1.6 3.0 3.9 .9 2.6 1.0 (2) .9

65 years and older ................. 1.3 (2

) 2.7 1.6 (2) 2.2 (2) (2)

Women

Total, 16 years and older .................. 4.4 7.6 4.9 3.8 3.7 2.3 1.2 .8

16 to 19 years ............................ 6.8 7.5 4.9 11.1 (1) (1) (1) (1

)

20 to 24 years ............................ 6.8 8.5 5.5 5.9 8.0 (1

) (1) (1)

25 years and older ..................... 3.9 7.3 4.7 3.6 3.7 2.3 1.3 .8

25 to 34 years ....................... 5.6 7.8 5.7 5.0 4.6 2.7 1.6 (1)

35 to 44 years ....................... 4.2 7.5 4.8 2.8 4.1 2.9 1.0 1.3

45 to 54 years ....................... 2.9 5.9 3.7 3.3 3.2 1.9 2.2 .9

55 to 64 years ....................... 1.8 5.3 2.5 3.1 1.7 1.4 (2

) .6

65 years and older ................. 1.2 10.2 1.3 (2

) (2) (2) .6 (2)

1 Job-search rates are not shown for groups with fewer than 75,000 workers.

job-search rate was 4.0 percent for voluntary part-time workers and for those who usually worked full time. (See table 8.)

Persons who worked part time for economic reasons, sometimes referred to as “involuntary part-time workers,” were much

more likely to search for a new job while employed than were

full-time or voluntary part-time workers. In February 1995,

nearly a quarter of those working part time for economic reasons (regardless of usual full- or part-time status) had sought

other employment in the 3 months prior to the survey, and that

share had edged down only slightly by February 1999. Among

persons working part time for economic reasons during the

February 1999 survey reference week, those who usually

worked part time had a job-search rate of 22.9 percent—nearly

double the job-search rate for persons working part time for

economic reasons, but who usually worked full time. Apparently, many of the workers who usually worked full time viewed

their involuntary part-time status as a temporary circumstance,

and as a result, they were less likely to seek other employment

than were workers whose involuntary part-time status seemed

more permanent.

Age and sex Total

2 Less than 0.05 percent.

Total

Percent of wage and salary workers who actively searched for a new job in the prior 3 months, by age,

sex, and tenure with current employer, February 1999
Monthly Labor Review September 2000 11

Contingent workers

The principal focus of the February 1995, 1997, and 1999 CPS

supplements was to identify the number of workers in contingent employment arrangements. Contingent workers are individuals who did not perceive themselves as having an explicit

or implicit contract to continue their employment into the future and who did not expect their jobs to last much longer for

an economic reason.

8 Workers who did not expect to continue in their jobs solely for personal reasons, such as retirement or returning to school, are not considered contingent.

As table 9 shows, in each of the three surveys, contingent

workers were about four times as likely as noncontingent workers to have looked for a new job in the 3 months prior to the

survey. Furthermore, job-search rates for contingent workers

 Table 8.

At work part At work part At work part

time for time for time for

noneconomic economic economic

reasons, reasons, reasons,

usually work usually work usually work

part time full time part time

(voluntary) (involuntary) (involuntary)

1995

Total, 16 years and older ............................................ 4.9 4.8 14.2 24.4

16 to 24 years .................................................... 8.3 6.2 20.5 26.4

25 years and older .............................................. 4.5 3.9 11.9 23.5

 Men, 16 years and older ........................................... 5.2 6.1 12.4 29.0

16 to 24 years .................................................... 8.6 6.0 14.8 27.0

25 years and older .............................................. 4.8 6.3 11.5 30.1

 Women, 16 years and older ...................................... 4.5 4.3 17.2 21.3

16 to 24 years .................................................... 7.8 6.4 28.8 25.8

25 years and older .............................................. 4.1 3.3 12.5 19.6

1997

Total, 16 years and older ............................................ 4.4 4.5 12.1 22.3

16 to 24 years .................................................... 7.0 5.8 19.2 27.9

25 years and older .............................................. 4.1 3.6 10.3 19.9

Men, 16 years and older ............................................ 4.7 5.5 13.6 26.1

16 to 24 years .................................................... 7.3 6.6 24.0 34.9

25 years and older .............................................. 4.4 3.8 10.6 21.8

Women, 16 years and older ....................................... 3.9 4.1 9.8 20.0

16 to 24 years .................................................... 6.7 5.2 10.0 23.0

25 years and older .............................................. 3.6 3.5 9.7 18.8

1999

 Total, 16 years and older ............................................ 4.0 4.0 11.9 22.9

16 to 24 years .................................................... 6.4 5.6 12.2 23.9

25 years and older .............................................. 3.7 2.8 11.9 22.5

 Men, 16 years and older ........................................... 4.0 5.1 15.1 24.3

16 to 24 years .................................................... 6.1 5.9 14.0 25.0

25 years and older .............................................. 3.7 3.8 15.4 23.9

 Women, 16 years and older ...................................... 4.0 3.5 7.8 22.0

16 to 24 years .................................................... 6.8 5.3 8.3 23.1

25 years and older .............................................. 3.7 2.6 7.8 21.7

generally did not decline substantially with age as they did for

noncontingent workers. This pattern suggests that workers

who had jobs they considered insecure were likely to look for

new jobs regardless of their age. The overall job-search rate

for contingent workers was 16 percent in February 1999. It

seems somewhat surprising that the rate was not higher, given

that contingent workers, by definition, perceive their jobs as

insecure. With the rapid job growth and falling unemployment

in the United States during the 1995–99 period, many contingent workers might have believed that they could wait until

their jobs ended before seeking new ones. In addition, some

contingent workers might have just started their temporary

employment arrangements at the time they were surveyed and,

thus, might not yet have been ready to look for new jobs. With

future data, researchers could determine whether contingent

Age and sex

Percent of wage and salary workers who actively searched for a new job in the prior 3 months, by age,

sex, and full- or part-time status, February 1995, 1997, and 1999

Usually work

full time, less

persons that

work part time

for economic

reasons1

1 The usual full- and part-time status of persons are concepts of employment. Full-time workers are those who usually worked 35 hours or more (at all

jobs combined). This group will include some individuals who worked less than

35 hours in the reference period for either economic or noneconomic reasons

and those who are temporarily absent from work. In this context, “persons at

work part time for economic reasons” have been removed from the larger

group and tabulated separately.
12 Monthly Labor Review September 2000

Looking for a Better Job

workers are more likely to look for a new job during recessions,

when workers might be less confident that they will be able to

find a new job quickly after their contingent job ends.

Industry and union membership

Concerns about job security also may be reflected in varying

job-search rates across industries. For example, government

wage and salary workers, whose jobs generally are thought to

be more secure than private-sector jobs, were less likely than

workers in the private sector to have searched for a new job.

(See table 10.) The lower job-search rates of government workers also might result from the higher median weekly earnings

(in 1999) and benefits associated with government employment, although earnings in many private-sector industries

compare favorably with government pay when bonuses and

other incentives are considered. One important factor contributing to the difference in median weekly earnings between

workers in government and the private sector is the occupational distribution of the industry. Managerial and professional

specialty occupations, which are characterized by very high

median weekly earnings, account for nearly twice the share of

employment in government, as they do in the private sector.

Among the major private-sector industry groups, workers in

services, retail trade, and agriculture were more likely to look for

another job than were workers in other industries. In February

1995, workers in construction also had a higher-than-average

job-search rate, but by February 1999, construction workers had

a job-search rate that was below the overall average for all industries. The sharp drop in the job-search rate of construction workers might have been related to the rapid employment growth in

construction. From February 1995 to February 1999, construction employment grew at an annual rate of 5.9 percent, compared

with a growth rate of 2.4 percent for all nonfarm industries comTable 9.

1995 1997 1999

Contingent Noncontingent Contingent Noncontingent Contingent Noncontingent

Total

Total, 16 years and older ............................... 20.2 4.9 17.7 4.4 16.3 3.9

16 to 19 years .......................................... 16.3 7.1 11.3 6.3 10.2 5.4

20 to 24 years .......................................... 16.7 8.4 21.3 7.3 16.0 6.5

25 years and older .................................... 21.9 4.3 17.9 4.0 17.7 3.5

25 to 34 years ...................................... 25.9 6.1 19.7 5.8 20.6 5.1

35 to 44 years ...................................... 23.0 4.4 20.9 4.0 21.4 3.9

45 to 54 years ...................................... 22.2 3.1 17.4 2.9 16.0 2.4

55 to 64 years ...................................... 11.8 1.8 11.4 1.7 8.2 1.5

65 years and older ............................... 3.4 .7 2.9 .8 5.8 . 8

Men

Total, 16 years and older ............................... 21.6 5.2 19.7 4.7 16.6 4.0

16 to 19 years .......................................... 18.1 6.8 17.5 6.1 10.7 4.5

20 to 24 years .......................................... 16.0 8.9 24.8 7.7 13.9 7.2

25 years and older .................................... 23.6 4.6 18.8 4.3 18.7 3.7

25 to 34 years ...................................... 28.5 6.6 23.5 6.5 23.8 5.2

35 to 44 years ...................................... 26.3 4.5 20.3 4.1 22.0 4.1

45 to 54 years ...................................... 20.5 3.4 14.5 3.0 14.9 2.3

55 to 64 years ...................................... 11.8 2.1 16.5 1.7 5.9 1.5

65 years and older ............................... 6.6 .6 1.9 .9 5.0 1.0

Women

Total, 16 years and older ............................... 18.9 4.5 15.7 4.1 16.1 3.8

16 to 19 years .......................................... 15.0 7.4 5.2 6.6 9.8 6.3

20 to 24 years .......................................... 17.3 7.9 18.0 6.7 18.2 5.7

25 years and older .................................... 20.1 3.9 17.0 3.7 16.8 3.4

25 to 34 years ...................................... 22.9 5.6 15.8 5.0 17.4 5.0

35 to 44 years ...................................... 20.0 4.2 21.5 3.9 20.8 3.6

45 to 54 years ...................................... 23.5 2.8 19.9 2.8 16.9 2.5

55 to 64 years ...................................... 11.8 1.5 6.1 1.7 10.2 1.5

65 years and older ............................... (2

) .8 (1) .7 6.4 .7

Age and sex

1

 Job-search rates are not shown for groups with fewer than 75,000 workers.

2

 Less than 0.05 percent.

NOTE: Contingent workers are individuals who do not perceive themselves

as having an explicit or implicit contract to continue their employment into the

future. Workers who did not expect to continue in their job solely for personal

reasons, such as retirement or returning to school, are not considered contingent. Contingent workers did not expect their job to last much longer for an

economic reason.

Percent of wage and salary workers who actively searched for a new job in the prior 3 months, by age,

sex, and status as a contingent worker, February 1995, 1997, and 1999
Monthly Labor Review September 2000 13

bined.9 Perhaps the rapid employment growth increased construction workers’ perceptions of job security, thereby reducing their need to seek more secure jobs elsewhere. It is also

possible that, with increasing construction activity, employers in the industry might have taken steps to induce workers

not to seek jobs with other firms or in other industries.

Workers in manufacturing, mining, and transportation and

public utilities were the least likely to look for other employment,

followed closely by workers in finance, insurance, and real estate. Wage and salary workers who were members of unions or

represented by unions also were much less likely to search for

another job while employed than were nonunion workers. 10

THE JOB-SEARCH RATE among employed wage and salary workers declined over the period from February 1995 to February

1999. Some demographic characteristics and different levels

of social or economic well-being appear to influence a worker’s

likelihood to search for a new job. While there was little differTable 10.

[Numbers in thousands]

Total, 16 years and older ...................... 107,031 5.6 110,546 5.0 114,898 4.5

Private wage and salary workers ........ 88,335 6.0 92,195 5.2 95,744 4.7

Agriculture ........................................... 1,364 7.3 1,455 5.3 1,419 5.2

Mining ................................................... 637 3.7 595 2.8 521 4.0

Construction ........................................ 4,410 6.2 5,146 4.3 5,420 3.9

Manufacturing ...................................... 19,584 4.9 19,944 4.3 19,505 3.9

Durable goods ............................... 11,397 4.7 12,063 4.5 12,102 4.0

Nondurable goods ......................... 8,187 5.2 7,881 4.1 7,404 3.8

Transportation and public utilities ........ 6,514 4.7 6,542 4.5 7,231 4.4

Transportation ............................... 3,800 4.8 3,928 5.1 4,352 4.6

Communications and other

public utilities ............................. 2,714 4.5 2,614 3.6 2,880 4.2

Wholesale trade ................................... 3,980 4.7 4,208 5.2 4,470 4.2

Retail trade .......................................... 17,949 7.4 18,217 6.9 19,358 5.5

Eating and drinking places ............ 5,608 8.3 5,658 7.9 6,038 6.6

Other retail trade ........................... 12,341 7.1 12,559 6.5 13,320 5.0

Finance, insurance, and real estate .... 6,718 5.2 6,959 4.7 7,607 4.6

Banking and other finance ............ 3,358 5.9 3,383 5.4 3,716 5.2

Insurance and real estate ............. 3,360 4.5 3,576 4.1 3,891 4.0

Services .............................................. 27,038 6.4 28,833 5.2 30,049 5.0

Private household ......................... 886 6.8 760 4.4 543 6.4

Other services .............................. 26,152 6.4 28,074 5.2 29,506 5.0

Business, automobile, and

repair services ......................... 4,839 9.8 5,751 6.2 6,258 6.0

Personal services, except

private households .................. 2,348 6.3 2,476 5.5 2,485 6.1

Entertainment and recreation

services ................................... 1,351 9.0 1,553 6.9 1,702 6.3

Professional services ................ 17,603 5.3 18,264 4.7 19,036 4.4

Hospitals .............................. 4,000 3.7 4,194 4.0 4,098 4.0

Health services, except

hospitals ............................ 4,802 5.1 5,131 4.1 5,189 3.8

Educational services ........... 2,325 5.3 2,443 5.3 2,823 4.6

Social services .................... 1,890 6.1 1,987 5.1 2,128 6.0

Other professional

services ............................ 4,586 6.5 4,510 5.7 4,799 4.4

Forestry and fisheries ................ 11 – 30 19.7 24 –

Government wage and salary

workers ............................................. 18,695 3.9 18,351 3.8 19,154 3.2

Federal .......................................... 3,448 3.7 3,282 3.7 3,281 2.7

State ............................................. 5,416 5.2 5,006 4.8 5,237 4.9

Local ............................................. 9,831 3.3 10,063 3.3 10,636 2.6

Total who

responded

Percent

who

searched

for a new

job in the

prior 3

months

Total who

responded

Percent

who

searched

for a new

job in the

prior 3

months

Total who

responded

Percent

who

searched

for a new

job in the

prior 3

months

Industry

1995 1997 1999

Wage and salary workers who actively searched for a new job in the prior 3 months, by industry,

February 1995, 1997, and 1999

NOTE: Dash indicates data not available.
14 Monthly Labor Review September 2000

Looking for a Better Job

ence between men and women in job-search rates, younger

workers were much more likely than workers age 25 and older

to engage in search activities. Workers who were not covered

by health insurance from any source and those without retirement benefits were considerably more likely to have looked for

a new job. Workers with higher levels of educational attainment were more likely to search for a new job, while workers

who had longer tenure with their current employer were less

likely to do so. The relationship between earnings or occupation and workers’ likelihood to search for a new job was not so

clear cut. The collection of information on active job search of

employed persons is relatively too new. 

Notes

1

 The main purpose of the CPS is to obtain information on employment, unemployment, demographics, earnings, and other characteristics of the labor market in the United States. The Census Bureau conducts the CPS and the Bureau of Labor Statistics analyzes and publishes

the data. In the CPS, most of the unemployed are persons who do not

have a job, but are available for work and have actively sought employment in the 4 weeks prior to the monthly administration of the survey.

The CPS also obtains information on the demographic characteristics of

the unemployed, their reasons for unemployment, the length of their

job search, the types of job-search methods they have used, the occupations and industries in which they previously had worked, and more. For

information on how national unemployment estimates are compiled

from the CPS, see How the Government Measures Unemployment, Report 864 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 1994), available on the

Internet at: http://stats.bls.gov/cps_htgm.htm. A more detailed technical explanation of the CPS is available in BLS Handbook of Methods,

Bulletin 2490 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, April 1997), pp. 4–14, available on the Internet at: http://stats.bls.gov/opub/hom/homhome.htm.

2

 For an analysis of the data from the May 1976 CPS, see Carl

Rosenfeld, “The extent of job search by employed workers,” Monthly

Labor Review, March 1977, pp. 58–62.

3

 Combining the employed jobseekers (5.1 million) with the unemployed jobseekers (5.6 million) means that 8.9 percent of the wage and

salary labor force was seeking a new job in February 1999. Also, note

that the number of unemployed jobseekers is less than the total number

of unemployed wage and salary workers because the total includes persons who are expecting recall from a layoff, but have not actively

looked for a job. Although the vast majority of unemployed persons

actively sought employment in the 4 weeks prior to the survey, persons

expecting recall from a layoff need not have actively searched for a job

to be counted as unemployed.

4 Defined-benefit plans legally obligate employers to pay retirees an

annuity that is based on a formula specified in the plan documents. The

size of the benefit usually depends on the retiree’s pre-retirement salary

and years of service with the employer. Defined-contribution plans

typically specify how much an employer has agreed to contribute to

each employed participant’s individual plan account, but not the amount

of benefits that will be paid during retirement. Many defined-contribution plans also permit employees to contribute to their own accounts,

often on a tax-deferred basis. The size of the benefit each participant

receives during retirement depends on the amount the employer and

employee contributed to the plan and the investment earnings on the

contributions. For a discussion of how length of service affects retirement benefit amounts, see William J. Wiatrowski, “Factors affecting

retirement income,” Monthly Labor Review, March 1993, pp. 25–35.

5

 The May 1988 and April 1993 CPS supplements on employee

benefits included questions about the characteristics of retirement plans.

There is considerable doubt about the reliability of CPS information on

the types of retirement plans in which workers participate, however.

Many respondents to household surveys such as the CPS may not have

sufficient knowledge of employee benefit plans and terminology to

provide detailed information about their provisions. For this reason,

the February 1995, 1997, and 1999 CPS supplements did not include

questions on retirement plan type. For a discussion on collecting employee benefits information in surveys, see Diane E. Herz, Joseph R.

Meisenheimer II, and Harriet G. Weinstein, “Health and retirement

benefits: data from two BLS surveys,” Monthly Labor Review, March

2000, pp. 3–20.

6 See Gary S. Becker, Human Capital (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, third edition, 1993).

7

 Full-time workers are those who usually worked 35 hours or more

(at all jobs combined). This group includes some individuals who worked

fewer than 35 hours during the survey reference week for either economic or noneconomic reasons and those who are temporarily absent

from work.

8

 For further discussion of contingent workers, see Steven Hipple,

“Contingent work: results from the second survey,” Monthly Labor

Review, November 1998, pp. 22–35.

9 Seasonally adjusted estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics,

Current Employment Statistics survey.

10 Job-search data by industry and union affiliation for February

1995, 1997 and 1999 are available by contacting the authors by phone:

(202) 691–7409; (202) 691–5456; or by e-mail, Meisenheimer_j@bls.gov

or Ilg_R@bls.gov.