Brief Description: Requesting the continued publication of women worker information.

Sponsors: Representatives Hudgins, Clibborn, Dickerson, Wallace, Conway, Morrell, Green, Kenney, Chase, Ormsby, Simpson, Hasegawa, Sells, Schual-Berke and Santos.

Brief History:

Commerce & Labor: 2/14/05, 2/21/05 [DP].

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE & LABOR

Majority Report: Do pass. Signed by 6 members: Representatives Conway, Chair; Wood, Vice Chair; Condotta, Ranking Minority Member; Sump, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Hudgins and McCoy.

Staff: Jill Reinmuth (786-7134).

Background:

The Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey is conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in cooperation with the Employment Security Department and other state employment security agencies. The CES survey provides data on employment, hours, and earnings based on payroll records of business establishments. It also provides data on women worker employment.

The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly household survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the BLS. The CPS provides information on the employment and unemployment experience of the population of the United States, classified by age, sex, race, and other characteristics.

The Department of Labor recently announced that the BLS plans to eliminate collecting and publishing women worker data in the CES survey. As of July 2005, gender-specific data will not be included in the CES survey.

A notice and comment request published in the Federal Register says that the BLS decision to eliminate collection of women worker data is based on three factors: (1) respondent burden; (2) an assessment of the relative number of users of the data; and (3) the availability of the data from other sources, such as the CPS. The notice and comment request also says that the BLS believes that the respondent burden to continue collecting the data is not justified because the data does not have a large number of users and there is an alternative source of the data.

Summary of Bill:

The Legislature requests that Congress and the President direct the United States Department of Labor to reconsider the Bureau of Labor Statistics' decision to discontinue collecting data on women workers in the Current Employment Statistics survey after July 2005.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Testimony For: The Current Employment Statistics survey provides more and better information about women workers. This information tells us what they do and what they are paid, and will help us make better policy decisions.

Testimony Against: None.

Persons Testifying: Representative Hudgins, prime sponsor.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: None.