Today, the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, chaired by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), held a hearing to examine current positive trends in the U.S. labor market, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) labor market economic information and methodologies.
“Today’s hearing presents an opportunity to delve into BLS’s most recent information on the U.S. labor market, its recently published data on workers engaging in contingent and alternative forms of work, and to gain a better understanding of BLS products and data to ensure we, as policymakers, and the public at-large can best utilize this information,” Chairman Walberg said in his opening statement.
When BLS released its May 2018 Employment Situation Report on the first of June, it heralded good news and data showing robust job growth. Unemployment is down, job growth is up, and wages are higher. And notably, for the first time in BLS reporting history, there are more job openings than there are job seekers nationwide.
The precursor to BLS was established in 1884 with the purpose of collecting employment data and strengthening worker welfare. Since then, the bureau has evolved to become what it is today. Dr. Michael Farren, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University gave members an overview of BLS’s methodology and data quality.
“BLS-sourced data is considered to be of the highest quality by most economists, and BLS survey methodology and subsequent data processing generally set the ‘best practice’ standard that other researchers aspire to,” Farren said.
“The outlook for growth is strong for at least the next eighteen months. Tax cuts and deregulation policies have had a salutary effect on employment and growth,” said Stephen Moore, Senior Fellow in Economics at the Heritage Foundation. “This growth spurt has created a very tight labor market. Bureau of Labor Statistics data tell us that today there are nearly 7 million jobs that are unfilled and fewer than that number of Americans looking for work to fill them. We are, in short, near full employment (4% unemployment rate), as economists conventionally measure things.”
There have also been substantial changes to the labor force in recent years. The growth of the sharing economy has meant that there are more self-employed workers who are pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities and making a living on their own terms.
“The 21st-century American economy has been generating more jobs in which workers are self-employed,” Jared Meyer, a Senior Fellow with the Foundation for Government Accountability said. “High-profile growth in online ‘sharing economy’ platforms such as Airbnb, Lyft, and Thumbtack have brought increased attention to this change in the workforce. While people working through online platform companies account for a small percentage of the U.S. labor force, the individualized work arrangements that these business models embrace make up a much larger, and growing, percentage of overall work.”
Meyer went on to tell members, “It is still difficult to start a business and work for oneself. But prior to the rise of peer-to-peer online interaction, growing a business was even more difficult. By catering to producers of niche products, online platforms like the craft shop Etsy help launch widely successful independent companies. These platform businesses allow independent workers to reach customers all over the world.”
House Republicans and the Trump Administration are committed to strengthening the U.S. economy and workforce. The Committee on Education and the Workforce will continue to explore avenues to fortify growth and promote even greater economic opportunity for American employers and workers.
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