Representatives Van Hollen, DeLauro Lead Effort to Protect Data on Women Workers at BLS

Representatives Van Hollen, DeLauro Lead Effort to Protect Data on Women Workers at BLS

Washington, D.C. - United States Representatives Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and a bipartisan group of legislators - including the co-chairs of the Congressional Women's Caucus and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi - today sent a letter to the Bureau of Labor Statistics asking the agency to reconsider its recent decision to discontinue data collection on women workers in the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program.

The CES survey of payroll records provides detailed industry data on employment, hours and earnings of non-farm workers on a monthly basis. The payroll survey is considered the most reliable source for tracking changes in month-to-month employment and covers more than 300,000 businesses.

"The value of this data far outweighs the burden of providing it," said Van Hollen. "No one questions the importance of minimizing needless respondent burden -- but eliminating vital information about women's employment is the wrong thing to do."

"I oppose the change proposed by the Department of Labor to discontinue data collection on the number of women in the Current Employment Statistics program," said Representative DeLauro. "This is crucial information for policymakers and researchers regarding women's employment and unemployment on a month-to-month basis. Without this data, we would not have a complete picture of employment changes in our country."

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/md08_vanhollen/womenworkerrelease.html