Indicator III-I, Size and Occupational Distribution of the Humanities Workforce, relies on employment data collected by the BLS’s Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. According to the OES, employment is the number of workers who can be classified as full- and part-time employees, including workers on paid vacations or other types of leave; workers on unpaid short-term absences; salaried officers, executives, and staff members of incorporated firms; employees temporarily assigned to other units; and non-contract employees for whom the reporting unit is their permanent duty station regardless of whether that unit prepares their paychecks.

The OES survey includes all full- and part-time wage and salary workers in non-farm industries. Self-employed owners, partners in unincorporated firms, household workers, and unpaid family workers are excluded. (U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Appendix B: Survey Method and Reliability Statement for May 2003 Occupational Employment Statistics Survey,” 227, http://www.bls.gov/oes/2003/may/appendix_b.pdf)

The OES does not survey individual workers. Rather, it surveys “establishments”—that is, firms and businesses—concerning the jobs their employees perform. Employment figures should therefore be understood as job counts. Thus, employment as the BLS uses the term is not synonymous with workforce—the former will tend to be greater because some workers may be employed by more than one establishment. This distinction between jobs and workers is particularly important with regard to postsecondary faculty employment estimates because a substantial percentage of those teaching in postsecondary educational institutions are part-time employees (see Indicator III-11, Traditional versus Nontraditional Humanities Faculty) and either 1) work another full or part-time nonacademic job or 2) teach classes at more than one college/university.