Cheer Up: 9 Positive Employment Statistics

Recession statistics are ugly, but unemployment figures released each quarter by the U.S. government have to be the most depressing of all. For example, the total "discouraged workers" (people who've stopped looking for work) rose from 473,000 in 2009 to 1.2 million in 2010.

On the plus side, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is adding these non-workers to their reports instead of just ignoring this ever-increasing portion of the unemployed.

We're not here to depress you, however. Today we're going to look at nine relatively positive work-force indicators, as reported in the BLS's February 2010 American Time Use Survey. 

1. Hours Worked
If you had a job, you likely worked an average of 7.6 hours, on days when you did work. That means we didn't work for 16.4 hours per day and 130 hours per week. Not a bad statistic, but what happened to the other .4 hours worked?

2. Free Weekends
Eighty-three percent of employees don't work weekends, with only 34 percent stuck at the job site on Saturdays and Sundays. 

3. Working 8 to 4
Forget 9 to 5. More than 75 percent of employees over age 14 worked 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Roughly 8.3% worked between midnight and 5 a.m. (yuck!)

4. Homework
Working from home can be great. No commute, no irritating co-workers, closer proximity to the refrigerator and you can work in your pajamas. If you have a bachelor's degree or higher, you're among the 35 percent who are lucky enough to work at home. That compares to 20 percent with some college education and 13 percent with a high school diploma. That has to be one of the best arguments for getting a degree.

5. Every Little Bit Helps
In February, those who worked part time rose from 8.3 million to 8.8 million in February. Temp jobs rose by 284,000 between September 2009 and February 2010. It's better than nothing, right?

6. Solid Jobs
Health care and federal jobs continued their upward trend in February. Generally, these jobs are considered more solid than, say, building cars in Detroit.

7. Pay Raises
It's not much, but the average hourly pay of all "non-farm, private-industry employees" rose 3 cents, for a total of $22.46. Average hourly earnings of "production and nonsupervisory employees" rose by 3 cents to $18.93.

8. If You Build It...
Employment in manufacturing was basically unchanged. No news is good news, right?

9. How May I Help You?
Retail jobs increased greatly in January but remained firm in February. That's a particularly interesting statistic, since retail sales tend to take a dive after the new year.

Photo by Lightmash