BLS Releases Statistics On Flex-Time And Shift Work
The share of full-time employees in the U.S. who have the option of varying the time they begin and end work was 27.5% in May 2004, down from 28.6% in May 2001, according to a news release issued by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The BLS also reported that the proportion of workers who usually worked a shift other than a daytime schedule remained roughly the same at 14.8% between May 2004 and May 2001, the last time data was collected. The agency said these findings came from a supplement to the May 2004 "Current Population Survey," a monthly household survey that provides information on employment.
The survey indicated that, in 2004, men (28.1%) were more likely to have flexible schedules than women (26.7%), but this gap had closed slightly since 2001 (29.7% for men vs. 27.3% for women). Broken down by ethnicity, access to flex-time was considerably more common among white (28.7%) and Asian workers (27.4%) than among African American (19.7%) and Hispanic (18.4%) employees.
Among the major occupational groups, workers in management, professional, and related occupations (36.8%) were most likely to have the option of varying their schedules. Within that group, 44.7% of management, business, and financial operations workers reported having access to flex-time. By comparison, flexible schedules were rare among workers employed in the natural resources, construction, and maintenance industries (17.6%), and in the production, transportation, and material moving industries (14.3%). In the public sector, flex-time was more common among federal (28.8%) and state government (28.4%) employees than among those working in local government (13.7%).
Many of the employees who reported working flexible schedules were not, however, enrolled by their employers in a formal flex-time program, the BLS noted. While more than a quarter of all workers have the option of varying their schedules, only around 10% participate in a formal, employer-sponsored program.
Nearly 15% of workers indicated they engaged in shift work in 2004, with 4.7% of all respondents indicating they worked evening shifts, 3.2% night shifts, 3.1% employer-arranged irregular schedules, and 2.5% rotating shifts. Results showed that men (16.7%) were more likely to work non-daytime shifts than women (12.4%), and that shift work was more prevalent among black workers (20.8%) than among white workers (13.7%).
Shift work was most common among workers in service occupations, including those providing protective services such as police and firefighters (50.6%). Employees involved in food preparation and serving (40.4%), and in production, transportation, and material moving occupations (26.2%) were also likely to work alternative shifts.
Asked why they worked alternative shifts, 54.6% of these employees said they did so because it was "the nature of the job." Smaller percentages said they chose shift work as a "personal preference" (11.5%), or because alternative shifts represented "better arrangements for family or child care" (8.2%).
While those who worked night or evening shifts sometimes indicated they did so out of personal preference, the vast majority of employees on rotating, split, and employer-arranged schedules said they worked these irregular schedules because their job demanded it.
