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Strikes & lockouts in CPS data

Workers on strike are included among the employed in the Current Population Survey (CPS). In the CPS, the count of employed people includes those who are temporarily absent from work, regardless of whether they are paid for the time they are not working. This includes people not working because they are on strike.

While the CPS is not designed to identify striking workers, it does provide two measures of people who had absences from work during the survey reference week due to labor disputes. These data do not include all workers with an absence. Nor do they identify all workers affected by labor disputes. (Learn more about these absence measures, including their limitations.)

The two measures are:

People who did not work at all in the reference week due to a labor dispute
People who usually work full time but were at work part time (1 to 34 hours) during the reference week due to a labor dispute

1. People who did not work at all in the reference week due to a labor dispute

Workers on strike, locked out, or refusing to cross a picket line

To determine if a person who did not work at all during the survey reference week is employed, they are asked “Last week, did you have a job either full or part time? Include any job from which you were temporarily absent.” If they respond “yes” to this question, they are asked the main reason they were absent. Of the many reasons they can provide for their absence, one is specific to workers who are on strike or locked out due to a labor dispute. The survey interviewers are given this guideline:

Select Labor dispute for persons who were on strike, were locked out, or who did not wish to cross a picket line even though they were not members of the union on strike.

A worker who is not at work due to a labor dispute is classified as employed, with a job but not at work. The time series for people with a job but not at work due to a labor dispute is available from the online database back to June 1976.

Workers indirectly impacted by a strike or lockout

A labor dispute could have an indirect effect on workers who are not themselves involved in the strike or lockout. For example, workers could be laid off if a strike at another workplace caused a shortage of parts at their own workplace. These workers are not themselves on strike, locked out, or refusing to cross a picket line, so they are not a part of the labor dispute, but they are being impacted by the strike. Similarly, a strike among one group of workers could interrupt production and affect other non-striking workers at the same workplace.

Workers who are not working because they are indirectly affected by a strike should be classified as unemployed on temporary layoff. Layoffs represent a decline in the demand for labor, whereas striking workers are not missing work due to a lack of demand but because they stopped working due to a dispute between their employer and employee union or association. When a non-striking worker is impacted by a labor dispute, there is a reduction in demand for their labor due to external business conditions. While these indirectly affected workers should be classified as unemployed on temporary layoff, their actual classification depends on responses to the survey questions.

The question about absence from work could be answered in two different ways for an indirectly affected worker depending on how they perceive their situation. First, the respondent reporting about the worker in the example above could perceive the shortage of parts at their own workplace as the main reason they were not at work. If so, they might say something like “the factory closed because they can’t get supplies”; this indicates a layoff due to a halt in production or slow business conditions. The interviewer would record such a response as either On layoff or Slack work/business conditions given the following guidelines for this question:

Select On layoff for persons on temporary or indefinite layoff.
Select Slack work/business conditions if the person's hours were eliminated because business was slow or to save jobs.

If either response option On layoff or Slack work/business conditions is selected, the person will not be classified as employed, but will be asked follow-up questions to determine if they meet the criteria to be classified as unemployed.

On the other hand, the respondent might perceive the strike as the main reason they were not at work. If they say something like “because of the strike” without further clarification, the interviewer would likely record their response as Labor dispute. Thus, there is a potential for some workers who are indirectly affected by a strike to be included as employed (and counted among those with a job not at work due to a labor dispute) if the respondent is not knowledgeable enough about the situation or not clear enough in their answer. This is an example of nonsampling error, the extent of which is not known.

2. People who usually work full time but were at work part time (1 to 34 hours) during the reference week due to a labor dispute

The CPS also provides a measure of the number of people who usually work full time (35 hours or more per week) but were at work part time (1 to 34 hours) during the survey reference week. These workers are asked the main reason they worked less than 35 hours. Depending on the reason provided, these workers are classified as those at work part time for economic or noneconomic reasons.

Workers on strike, locked out, or refusing to cross a picket line

Of the many reasons a full-time worker can provide for working part time, one is specifically for those who missed part of their workweek due to a labor dispute. (This would be applicable if a strike begins or ends in the middle of the survey reference week.) The interviewers are given this guideline:

Select Labor dispute (includes strikes and lockouts) if the labor dispute is at the person's own place of employment.

A full-time worker at work part time due to a labor dispute is considered at work part time for noneconomic reasons. There is not a data series published separately for full-time workers at work part time due to a labor dispute. The labor dispute category is included in the published aggregate “all other reasons” series (along with own illness, injury, or medical appointment; civic or military duty; and other reasons). The time series for at work part time for noneconomic reasons “all other reasons” is available from the online database back to January 1994.

Workers indirectly impacted by a strike or lockout

Workers could miss work for just part of the reference week due to a strike they are not participating in. For example, a factory not experiencing a strike might slow production and cut back work hours due to a lack of supplies from a striking plant. Workers for this factory are not themselves on strike, locked out, or refusing to cross a picket line, so they are not a part of the labor dispute, but they are being indirectly impacted by the strike.

Workers whose hours were cut because they are indirectly affected by a strike elsewhere should be considered working part time for economic reasons due to slack work or business conditions. Working shorter hours due to slack work or business conditions represents a decline in the demand for labor, whereas striking workers are not missing work due to a lack of demand for their labor but because they stopped working due to dispute between their employer and employee union or association. While these indirectly affected workers should be classified as part time for economic reasons due to slack work or business conditions, their actual classification depends on responses to the survey questions.

Respondents reporting about a full-time worker whose hours were cut to part time because they were indirectly affected by a strike, might answer the question about the reason they worked less than 35 hours in two different ways depending on how they perceive the situation. A respondent might say something like “their hours were cut because the factory reduced operating hours.” The interviewer would record this response as Slack work/business conditions, and they would be correctly classified as part time for economic reasons.

Alternatively, they could say something like “because of the strike” without explaining further that the labor dispute was not at their own place of employment. The interviewer would record this response as Labor dispute. Thus, there is a potential for some workers who are indirectly affected by a strike to be included as part time for noneconomic reasons (in the labor dispute category) if the respondent is not knowledgeable enough about the situation or not clear enough in their answer. This is an example of nonsampling error, the extent of which is not known.