Where to find: Labor trends, Labor force information, Turnover rates, Compensation & Benefits information, Safety Regulations, Job descriptions

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)

This federal agency provides information and assistance on wages, safety issues, collective bargaining issues and pension and benefit laws and programs. Some agencies of the DOL are listed below:

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) "The BLS is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics."

Some useful links:

• Wages and benefits Note: the National Compensation Survey(NCS) program produces information on wages by occupation for many metropolitan areas including the Charlotte area.
• Information by Industry
• Employment & unemployment
• Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)

• "Frequently Cited OSHA Standards"
• Industry Specific Resources

Employment & Training Administration (ETA)

• O*NET: Linked via the ETA web site, the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) is a database of occupational requirements and worker attributes. It describes occupations in terms of the skills and knowledge required, how the work is performed, and typical work settings.It also includes up-to-date information on U.S., state, and local metro area wages in certain occupations.

Where to find: Local recruitment costs

According to Wikipedia article on "Media In Charlotte," the Charlotte Observer is the "dominant newspaper" in the region. Search these links for informtion on media outlets in Charlotte, and for the cost of advertising in these outlets.

Where to find: State wage information, State health & safety information

North Carolina Labor Department (local employment and labor markets)

Where to find: Cost of living and salary calculators; job descriptions

These are just a few free geographic salary and "cost of living calculators." Some include job descriptions.

• http://salary.nytimes.com
• http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html
• http://www.moving.com/Find_A_Place/Calculators/SalaryCalc/index.asp
• http://astd.salary.com/
• http://astd.salary.com/CostOfLivingWizard/layoutscripts/coll_start.asp

Where to find: Full-text articles on the industry and on specific companies ("environmental scan")

• ProQuest (includes ABI Inform)
• Business Source Premier
• Business & Company Resource Center
• Small Business Resource Center (trial subscription until 11/9/07)
  

Some Major RTA Companies:

• Sauder Woodworking
• Bush Industries
• See also "Ready To Assemble Furniture Overview" from Hoovers.com
  

Useful HR & RTA Websites:

• Human Resource Management & Human Resources & the Internet (web guides from Cornell School of ILR's Catherwood Library; links not working as of 10-26-07))
• A Market Analysis of the Ready-To-Assemble Furniture Industry (Louisiana State University)
• American Home Furnishings Alliance (trade organization)

Barbara Greil
Hinkle Library
Alfred State College
Alfred, NY 14802

Updated 10-26-07

Human Resources Management
RTA "Ready-to-Assemble" Furniture Project