Workers in abolished occupations

November 03, 2011

From September 2007 to September 2010, the abolishment rate (defined as the percentage of workers in occupations that were in the survey sample in one round and were later dropped from the survey because the employer discontinued the occupation, the employer went out of business, or the employer closed a worksite at a particular location) varied by occupational group.

[Chart data]

Among the six occupational groups, for example, professional and related workers had a relatively low abolishment rate for most quarters between September 2007 and September 2010, compared with that of management, business, and financial workers. One factor that lowered the abolishment rate for both the professional and related, and service, occupational groups was the low abolishment rate among healthcare occupations.

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations (which are included in the professional and related category) had an average abolishment rate of 0.5 percent. Healthcare support occupations (which are included in the service occupations category) also had an average abolishment rate of 0.5 percent.

These data are from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) and are quarterly. To learn more, see "Abolished Occupations—What Does the National Compensation Survey Tell Us?" in the September issue of Compensation and Working Conditions Online. An abolished occupation is one that was in the NCS sample in one round of the survey and was later dropped because the employer discontinued the occupation, the employer went out of business, or the employer closed a worksite at a particular location.