Surveys of businesses and adult Amish males in Holmes and Wayne counties (Ohio) indicate that farming is declining as the primary occupation for Amish males and that the Amish occupational structure is becoming more complex as more Amish males work away from home. Possible impacts on Amish society, such as increased need for formal education, are…

Between 1983 and 1993, an increasing share of jobs was in high-paying occupations requiring college education. However, most jobs that were filled paid below-average wages and did not require college. (SK)

An evaluation of the 1980-90 employment projections in the "Occupational Outlook Handbook" shows that most of them were on target, if somewhat conservative. The impact of technology was generally underestimated. (JOW)

Probes the reasons college graduates in communication subfields select their first positions. Finds that (1) television/radio specialists had the highest (and speech specialists the lowest) likelihood of getting a position in their field; and (2) graduates ranked "professional growth and development" as the most important selection reason. (SR)

Alternative projections show a considerable range of change for the labor force and gross national product and in employment and unemployment. Under all assumptions, job opportunities vary by industry and occupation. (Author)

The weak economy of the early 1990s increased the number of displaced workers. Although a disproportionately large share were in the goods-producing industries, displacements were much more widespread across industries than a decade earlier. (Author)

Although employment in the 1980s grew by nearly 19 million jobs, its strength was uneven; three-fourths of the increase was in services and retail trade while manufacturing and mining lost workers. (Author)

One in 15 employed women was self-employed in her main job in 1990. The decision to become self-employed appears intricately linked with several other decisions for a woman--as an individual, as a household member, and over the course of her life. (Author)

Surveys of Fortune 500 companies in 1978, 1985, and 1995 revealed trends and preferences in content of resumes and cover letters. Compared to earlier years, current preferences were for both letters and resumes in the initial contact, more emphasis on grammar and spelling, and acceptance of two-page resumes. (SK)

Robert B. Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, and Daniel Goleman, researcher and author, debate the pros and cons of trends revealed by American Society for Training and Development's 1999 State of the Industry Report. (Author/JOW)

Discusses methodology to examine the problem of spatial mismatch of jobs, showing how the simple accessibility measures used by Daniel Immergluck (1998) are poor reflections of the availability of jobs to an individual and explaining why a gravity model is a favorable alternative. Also discusses the unsuitability of aggregate data for testing the…

Discusses the methodology used to analyze the availability of jobs for residents of a particular neighborhood, examining the spatial mismatch hypothesis in the context of jobs available to young minority males in cities. Considers the use of gravity models and the importance of large-scale data sets. (SLD)

Although the content of the Occupational Outlook Handbook has not changed much, the information has changed significantly to reflect new statistical data, methodological improvements, and shifts in philosophical and societal attitudes. (Author)

Using the example of welding, the author critiques the work of Casey and Zuboff, arguing that welding has not been as dramatically affected by information technology as some analysts suggest. A temporal dimension in sociological analysis is recommended. (Author/SK)

A marked transformation in the U.S. economy has yet to occur. The living standards of most working families have neither fully recovered from the recession of the early 1990s nor benefitted from the overall growth in productivity. (Author)