LABOR & EMPLOYMENT

152.8 million
Number of people 16 and older — 82.1 million men and 70.7 million women — in the nation's labor force in May 2007
Source: U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

3 million
The number that annual manufacturing employment dropped from 1997 (17 million) to 2006 (14 million)
Source: BLS

41%
Percentage of 37,000 employers in 27 countries that are "having problems filling skilled positions"
Source: Manpower Inc., via IndustryWeek

2%
Percentage increase of women in manufacturing over the past decade
Source: BLS, via IndustryWeek

1.4 million
Number of Americans who wanted and were available to work, had looked for a job some time over the past year, but were without a job in July (not seasonally adjusted)
Source: BLS

238,721
Number of workers who were "separated" from their jobs in "mass layoff events" in the second quarter of 2007
Source: BLS

1/2
Ten of the top 20 recipients of last year's H-1B visas were Indian tech outsourcers, with Infosys and Wipro taking the top two spots.
Source: BusinessWeek

7.6 million
Number of workers who hold down more than one job (So-called moonlighters comprise 5 percent of the working population; of these moonlighters, 4 million work full time at their primary job and part time at their other job.)
Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008, via U.S. Census Bureau

15.4 million
Number of labor union members nationwide (U.S.)
Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008

4
Median number of years workers have been with their current employer; about 9 percent of those employed have been with their current employer for 20 or more years
Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008

10.6 million
Number of self-employed workers
Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008

10.3 million
Number of independent contractors
Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008

4.8 million
The number of people who work at home
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

34%
Percentage of adult workers in the U.S. who now have a bachelor's degree or better, up from 29 percent 10 years ago
Source: BLS, via BusinessWeek

6-8
Number of job changes that wage earners can expect to have within a chosen profession in a lifetime
Source: The Entrepreneur's Source, via InventiveMag.com

3
Number of times workers can expect to change their profession completely
Source: The Entrepreneur's Source, via InventiveMag.com

47
Percentage of workers, based on a Conference Board survey of 5,000 households, who were satisfied with their jobs in 2007 — down from 59 percent in 1995

PRODUCTIVITY & PRODUCTION

28%
Percentage of workers 16 and older who work more than 40 hours a week; eight percent work 60+ hours a week
Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008

45
Average hours a week workers in the U.S. work
Source: Microsoft Office Personal Productivity Challenge (PPC) (2005)

16
Hours each week those workers count as unproductive
Source: Microsoft Office PPC

2.9
Hours per 8-hour workday the average worker admits to squandering, not including lunch and scheduled break-time
Source: America Online/Salary.com survey (2005)

2.6%
Annual rate of productivity growth in the business sector in the second quarter of 2007; non-farm business sector saw 1.8 percent productivity growth (Both rates of growth are higher than those for the first quarter of 2007, when productivity increased 0.2 percent in the business sector and 0.7 percent in the non-farm business sector.)
Source: BLS

1.6%
Productivity growth in the total manufacturing sector in the second quarter of 2007, as output increased 3.5 percent and hours increased 1.8 percent: 4.7 percent productivity increase in durable goods manufacturing, and -1.9 percent decrease percent in nondurable goods manufacturing for the same period
Source: BLS

94%
Percentage of manufacturing productivity growth in the U.S. over the past two decades
Source: National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), via IndustryWeek

32%
Per-capita output gap between Europe and the U.S., mostly a consequence of "Europe's poor productivity over the past 10 to 15 years"
Source: McKinsey Quarterly

*9/4 Update*
The U.S. Department of Labor just released America's Dynamic Workforce 2007, a new report highlighting major trends in the American labor market and the importance of education and skills training to maintaining the competitiveness of America's workforce. LINK