Richmond Group USA News

According to a new study from the Beer Institute, America’s favorite alcoholic drink may help put many thousands of people to work. The group’s report revealed that more than 2 million U.S. jobs are supported by beer brewing.

Each brewery job has an economic effect stretching to many other industries. For example, breweries must purchase raw materials and equipment, which supports agriculture and manufacturing. Marketing, transporting and selling the beer they produce also creates jobs in different sectors. An estimated 45 positions are made available by each job directly with a brewery. Total wages and benefits supported by the beer industry are said to be around $79 billion annually. The industry’s economic impact was more than $246 billion.

California saw the biggest brewing benefits. According to the Beer Institute, the industry supports 241,680 jobs in the state. Breweries paid more than $11 billion in wages in California and contributed more than $34 billion to the nation’s economy. Breweries in Florida, Texas and New York each supported more than 100,000 positions, the report stated.

According to the Brewers Association, sales of domestic craft beers have overtaken imports in terms of growth. Although craft beers make up only 7.8 percent of the market – just over half of imports’ share – sales grew 17.2 percent in 2013, while import sales dropped 0.6 percent.

Employees who have lost their jobs are likely happy to find any work they can, but a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that they may be able to do even better. According to data released by the agency, more than half of workers who were laid off between 2011 and 2013 and had spent at least three years at their jobs found work that paid more than their lost jobs by January 2014.

Back to work 
The BLS reported that more than 4 million of those long-tenured people were laid off during that period, and 61 percent had found work by the beginning of this year. Including those who had lost jobs that they held for less than three years, about 9.5 million workers had been laid off during that time. The agency’s previous survey, covering the years between 2009 and 2011, found 12.9 million displaced workers in the country. Of those laid-off employees, only 56 percent were working again by January 2012.

Employment gaps 
Layoffs and re-employment were uneven across industries and occupations. Construction workers made up the largest number of those laid off in the three-year survey period, representing 18 percent of all layoffs. These employees were some of the most likely to find new work, however, with 68 percent re-employed by the time of the survey. Only workers in the trade and utilities sector and employees in leisure and hospitality fared better, with a 69 percent re-employment rate.

Job function also affected the likelihood of finding new work. The highest re-employment was seen in managerial professions, which had a rate of 67 percent, while just 54 percent of those previously working in transportation and production found jobs by 2014.

Rising pay 
Fortunately for those who returned to work, many found more gainful employment than they had left. Among those reporting salaries, 52 percent of displaced workers were making more at their new jobs than they were being being laid off.

According to the Payscale Index, salaries in general have increased slightly in the last year. Between the first quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014, pay reportedly rose 0.7 percent. The year’s second quarter saw a 1.8 percent increase from the previous year. The organization expects the trend to continue, anticipating a salary increase of 1.9 percent for 2014’s third quarter.

Many economists have criticized news of the ongoing employment recovery, saying that growth has mostly been seen in low-paying jobs. A recent report from the National Employment Law Project showed that low-wage jobs have in fact been created more quickly in the last five years, but that trend may be changing. The study revealed that, in the last six months, employment in high-paying positions has finally begun to climb.

Wages fall 
Between 2009 and 2013, the median hourly wage dropped 3.4 percent, according to NELP. Most of the impact was seen in jobs with lower wages. The median wage for positions making between $8.84 and $10.85 per hour dropped 4.3 percent, while for those with a pay of $10.86 to $14.42 per hour it declined 4.6 percent. Among the highest-paying jobs – those with an hourly pay of $31.40 to $86.34 – wages only fell 2.1 percent.

Even through the second half of 2013, jobs in low-wage occupations continued to dominate most employment opportunities. While pay was falling, low-wage jobs made up 41 percent of job growth between July of 2013 and 2014, while high-wage jobs accounted for 33 percent of employment growth. According to the report, this uneven growth has resulted in a loss of 1.2 million mid- and high-wage jobs since before the recession, and the addition of 2.3 million low-paying positions.

Changing fortunes 
However, the pattern began to change in the first half of this year. Over the year, low-wage jobs are still the dominant area of growth, but counting only jobs gained in 2014, high-wage positions have taken over. According to the study, 40 percent of 2014’s employment gains have been in high-paying jobs. Mid-wage jobs continue to lag behind, contributing just 21 percent of jobs gained in the last six months.

The Washington Post said that much of the growth in jobs with high wages – those with a median pay of at least $20 per hour – has come from the construction, manufacturing and professional services sectors.

“I often hear that the recovery is only in low-wage jobs. That is categorically inaccurate. This recovery is creating a lot of good jobs,” Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez told the Post.

A slow climb 
Sam Coffin, a UBS economist, told the Post that it’s common for low-wage jobs to recover more quickly from a recession, but that high-wage positions have taken longer than usual to catch up. Generally the lead of low-wage jobs lasts around two years, compared to the five-year trend seen in the current recovery.

For those looking to improve their prospects in the programming industry, coding boot camps may provide a valuable addition to – or in some cases substitute for – a traditional education. A survey from Course Report showed that these short, intensive programming courses may increase the chances of finding a job or boost salaries for those who are already employed.

According to the report, 48 percent of programming boot camp students were working full-time jobs before the course. This figure jumped to 63 percent after these individuals attended a boot camp. Only 18 percent of students said that they had programming experience at work before the boot camp, and just 5 percent started as full-time programmers. More than one-third of applicants to programming courses had no experience coding, either at work or for personal projects.

Those who had jobs before starting the course also benefited. The average salary of boot camp applicants was $52,809. After completing the course, the average pay rose to $75,965, a 44 percent increase. On a scale of one to 10, students reported an average satisfaction level of 8.1 with the courses.

According to the Taulbee Survey, just 14.2 percent of graduates from bachelor’s degree programs in computer science are female. Women make up 38 percent of boot camp classes.