ECONOMIC

crepancy reflects the large increase in the proportion of the labor force madeup of women and young workers of both sexes, two groups whose unemploymentrates are substantially higher than the national average. Thehigher than average unemployment rates for women and for teenagers areclosely related to their labor force participation patterns. In addition totheir jobs, people in these groups have responsibilities in household managementor schooling, which tend to weaken their attachment to the laborforce. Since a new entry or a reentry into the labor force is generally followedby a period of searching, and hence unemployment, these groups havehigher unemployment rates almost by definition. Even among persons intheir early twenties, there are many who have not yet developed an attachmentto a specific occupation and who thus change their jobs frequently.Teenagers, persons in the 20 to 24 age group, and women 25 or olderaccounted for only 41 percent of the civilian labor force in 1956. By 1973they accounted for 52 percent (Table 8). The gap between the actual unemploymentrate and the fixed-weight unemployment rate follows thischanging proportion closely. The difference between the two rates was 0.2percentage point in 1965, 0.5 point in 1969, and 0.8 point in 1973.A number of other aspects of the employment situation suggest that ifwe were not at "maximum employment" in 1973 we were at least veryclose to it (Table 9). The average duration of unemployment declined, andthe proportion of the unemployed who were without jobs for 5 weeks orless was high, indicating a large turnover among the unemployed and relativelyshort durations of search for work. Only 38.7 percent of the unemployedhad lost their last job, which was nearly the same as the proportionin 1968, when the overall unemployment rate was 3.6 percent. AsideTABLE 9.—Aspects of labor utilization, selected years, 1948-73PeriodUnemployment rate(percent)TotalAdultmalesJob losersas percentoftotalunemploymentAverage monthly labor turnoverrate in manufacturing(per 100 employees)QuitsLayoffsNew hiresRatio ofhelp-wantedads to nonagriculturalemploymentAverageweeklyovertimehours inmanufacturing1948195319553.82.94.43.22.53.80)C 1 )0)3.42.81.9.6] .6.50)3.63.01.03.86.770)0)0)19595.54.70)1.51.02.6.732.7196519661967196819694.53.83.83.63.53.22.52.32.22.1C 1 )0)41.338.035.91.92.62.32.52.71.41.2.41.2.23.13.83.33.53.7.911.071.001.061.133.63.93.43.63.6197019711972197324.95.95.64.93.54.44.03.244.346.343.238.72.11.82.22.71.81.6L.I.92.82.53.33.9.86.76.913 1.073.02.93.53.81 Not available.2 Preliminary.311-month average.Sources: Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics) and The Conference Board.527-867 O - 74 - 561