ACTION ALERT . . . 1/12/2005

A December 22, 2004, Federal Register (Vol. 69, No. 245) notice by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Current Employment Statistics program (CES) proposes that the CES discontinue collecting and publishing data on female workers beginning with the release of the May 2005 data scheduled for publication in July 2005. (See announcement on BLS website.) Thus, BLS would no longer track the number of women workers in the United States in its monthly survey of 400,000 businesses.

ASA joins the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) and several congressional members (e.g., Representatives Rosa L. DeLauro, Chris Van Hollen, Shelley Moore Capito, Louise M. Slaughter), to urge instead that BLS continue to provide reliable, gender-disaggregated data on U.S. workers. (Capito and Moore are co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. See also p. A19 of the Jan. 12, 2005, Washington Post.) As these representatives and researchers maintain, policymakers, economists, and scientists need these data in order to document progress and obstacles to female workers, but they also need it in order to formulate sound public policies and hold government- and private-sector entities accountable to laws, regulations, and basic principles of equity that are central to a strong democracy.

The public has a 60-day "comment period" during which to submit reactions to BLS' proposed action (i.e., through Feb. 18). ASA encourages sociologist members to visit the BLS website, contact your congressperson (ask to be connected to your member of Congress by calling the Capitol switchboard at 1-800-839-5276), and politely urge that these important data continue to be collected and distributed. Also consider sending your comments directly to BLS, at the following address:

Amy Hobby, BLS Clearance Officer, Division of Management Systems, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 4080, 2 Massachusetts Ave., NE, Washington, DC 20212 (tel: 202-691-7628).