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Q: United States Employment Statistics ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: United States Employment Statistics
Category: Reference, Education and News > Job and Careers
Asked by: leander1234-ga
List Price: $3.00
Posted: 01 Jun 2005 14:40 PDT
Expires: 01 Jul 2005 14:40 PDT
Question ID: 528290
How many (1) firemen, (2) law enforcement officers, and (3) teachers
are there in the United States?
Answer  
Subject: Re: United States Employment Statistics
Answered By: cynthia-ga on 01 Jun 2005 16:51 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Hi leander1234,

There are many good sources of statistics for these occupations.  Your
Answer is below, and I included the US Census Bureau's page on
Employment Stats for you to browse.

***************************************************************

1.5 Million Firefighters (6,500 are women)
800,000 Law Enforcement Officers (sworn, full-time)
6.2 Million Teachers

***************************************************************

Firefighters
http://www.gwu.edu/~ccps/rcq/issues/5-1.pdf
Approximate number of firefighters in the United States: 1.5 million
Percentage of those firefighters who are volunteers: 85 percent
Source: National Volunteer Fire Council, Washington, D.C.

[of those, 6,500 are women]
http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/Fire/Recruitment/Women+in+Fire+Service.htm
Approximately 6,500 women are career firefighters in the United
States.  Another 40,000 women are active in volunteer fire
departments.


Law Enforcement Officers
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/lawenf.htm
In 2000 there were nearly 800,000 full-time sworn law enforcement
officers in the United States.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics


Teachers
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/001737.html
6.2 million - Number of all teachers in the United States.


FOR YOU TO EXPLORE FURTHER:

US Census EEO Data Tool - Census 2000
http://www.census.gov/eeo2000/index.html

2000 Occupation Codes (OCC)
http://www.ipums.umn.edu/usa/volii/00occup.html


If I can be of further assistance in regards to the number of workers
n these vocations, please don't hesitate to ask via the "Request For
Clarification" feature.


Sincerely,
~~Cynthia


Search strategy used at Google:
2000 Census * number
* = Firefighters, LEO's, Teachers

Request for Answer Clarification by leander1234-ga on 01 Jun 2005 21:56 PDT
Cynthia, thank you for excellent research.  I don't have a
clarification, but since you did a good job (and this was the first
time I've used this service and am probably a bit naive) can I ask a
bit harder question for which I can pay and you get the payment?

If so, how many employees are there in security capacities at
America's vital infrastructure facilities -- transportation, energy,
power, banking, etc.  A rough figure is probably all we can hope
for...

Leander

Clarification of Answer by cynthia-ga on 02 Jun 2005 04:21 PDT
Leander1234,

Thanks so much for the 5 stars, the kind words, and the generous tip! 
Normally new questions in a clarification are asked as a "new
question," however, I understand your meaning.  I did some exploring. 
This search string, entered EXACTLY as it appears, it very telling:

infrastructure security "number of personnel" national 

...not surprisingly, most of the results that came up were military related:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&client=ig&q=national+infrastructure+security+%22number+of+personnel%22&btnG=Search

As stated ..."security capacities at America's vital infrastructure
facilities -- transportation, energy, power, banking, etc..." --by
it's very

By changing it slightly to the line below:

infrastructure security "number of personnel in the US OR United States" national

I arrived at ONE SINGLE LINK:

Comprehensive Homeland Security Act of 2003
://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http%3A//biotech.law.lsu.edu/blaw/bt/smallpox/2003s6.htm&ei=q-OeQvmoBJq2YJzk5c0D
If clicked on, it seems to be about Small Pox, however, if you scroll
down and read, it is very revevant to your last question.

I suspect that the further I look, the more information I will get
about "Homeland Security."

These numbers are simply not available, or more to the point, although
cities HAVE infrastructure, and these seperate utilities and services
have employees, the major responsibility for protecting all this falls
on the military.

Consider this:

Transit police stop drunks from falling asleep on the bus.

Railroad police [attempt] to stop hobos from riding trains.

Electric Company police stop people from climbing towers.

Bank security guards stop people from disturbing the peace, in the
bank to keep it silent, like a library. They certainly don't stop
robberies.

In Nevada, the "water police" stop homeowners from running sprinklers
in summer betweem the hours of 7am to 7pm (no kidding)

...see what I mean?  The nation's infrastructure is guarded by the
military, by their very presense... there is no way to break down the
number of security guards at those locations, because those location's
personnel numbers are very closely guarded, even if they only write
tickets for running your lawn sprinkler in Las Vegas at 10am...

The number of security guards in general might be found, but it
includes the gaming industry, which is ALSO booming.

This link describes the duties of security guards:

Security Guards and Related Occupations
http://www.jobfutures.stats.gov.nt.ca/g42.html
Some of the main duties for these occupations include:

    * Control access to establishments, issue passes and direct
visitors to appropriate areas
    * Patrol assigned areas to guard against theft, shoplifting, vandalism and fire
    * Enforce regulations of an establishment to maintain order
    * Perform security checks of passengers and luggage at airports
    * Drive and guard armoured trucks and deliver cash and valuables
to banks, automated teller machines and retail establishments
    * May supervise and coordinate the activities of other security guards. 

...There are no national numbers for each industry, let alone the most
sensitive catagory of all. One of the most interesting pages I found
was the link below. WHat is MOST SHOCKING is that this was written in
1997, BEFORE 9/11/2001.

Read this, then try to imagine how BOOMING this industry is NOW!   ...

GATING AMERICA
http://www.asu.edu/caed/proceedings97/blakely.html
Scroll to:  "Policy Issues - The Fortress Mentality" ...to see this:
..."The number of security guards has doubled in the last decade and
now surpasses the number of police. Private security outspends public
law enforcement by 73 percent, and is now clearly the nation's primary
protective resource. Security is the driving force for all gated
communities..."

Anyway...  I not only can't get a ball park estimate, any estimate at
all would be very wrong.

Maybe post a new question, another reasercher might take a stab at
it...  I did, and ended up looking at "Homeland Security" straight in
the face.

~~Cynthia

Request for Answer Clarification by leander1234-ga on 02 Jun 2005 06:36 PDT
Thanks again, Cynthia!  I knew the second question would be tough --
kind of like boiling the ocean, but it was worth a try.

All the best,
Leander
leander1234-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $5.00
Cynthia, i just learned I can tip you -- so I'm going to see if I can
combine that with my second request.  Make sense?

Leander

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