Benefits April 24, 2002

Flexible Schedules Still Popular

April 24, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The popularity of flexible work schedules exploded in the last decade as the percentage of flextime workers doubled to nearly 30% in 2001, according to the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
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The latest figure also represents a slight hike from a similar BLS study in 1997 when 27.6% of workers reported a flexible schedule.

The BLS survey also found that, in 2001:

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  • men were slightly more likely to enjoy flextime with 30% of men and 27% of women with flexible hours,
  • some 14.5% of full-time and salaried workers have a shift other than a standard daytime setup, slightly lower than was reported in May 1991,
  • there were wide variations in the use of flextime from industry to industry, and
  • three out of ten white workers enjoyed flex schedules, compared to 21% of blacks, and 19.8% of Hispanics


Managers, Sales Reps

Some 45% of executives and managers worked flexible hours. Among sales representative, 40.7% had a flexible schedule, while only 18.3% of precision production, craft, and repair workers had flextime.

In the public sector, flexible schedules were more common among federal workers at 34.4% and state workers at 29.7% compared to local government employees at 14%.
 
Although more than one in four workers generally can vary their schedules, only about one in ten are enrolled in a formal, employer-sponsored flextime program, according to the BLS.

Full-time wage and salary workers in managerial and professional specialty occupations were the most likely to have a formal flextime program at 15.6%.

Finally, the study reflects the typical work start and end times. About two-thirds of all full-time wage and salary workers began work between 6:30am and 9:29am, with the greatest concentration during the one-hour period around 8am.

Investing April 23, 2002

ETF Assets Up in March

April 23, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Assets invested in exchange traded funds (ETF) added up to $88.2 billion at the close of March 2002, up 10% from the previous month's total of $80.9 billion, according a report by the Investment Company Institute (ICI).
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The value of shares issued exceeded that of shares redeemed by $3.25 billion over the month. Gross issuance rose to $6.84 billion from $5.10 billion in February, and redemptions increased to $3.59 billion from $2.60 billion the previous month.

Broad-based domestic equity ETF assets edged up to $74.8 billion at the end of the month, from a February total of $68.95 billion, while domestic sector/industry funds were up to $9.55 billion, from $8.84 billion in February.

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Global/international ETFs also rose over the month, reaching $8.86 billion from $3.10 billion a month earlier.

The ICI report includes 35 broad-based domestic equity ETFs, 33 domestic sector/industry focused funds, and 34 global/internationally-oriented ETFs.

An ETF is similar to a mutual fund, but trades like a single stock. Like a mutual fund, an ETF is a basket of stocks, most typically reflecting a particular index, specific market or geographic sectors.
 

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