December 14, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

The labor force in 2008: race and Hispanic origin

The Hispanic population is expected to continue to grow faster than the black population—as a result, the Hispanic labor force should be larger than the black labor force by the middle of the next decade, according to new BLS projections.

[Chart data—TXT]

The Hispanic labor force is expected to comprise 12.7 percent of the total labor force in 2008, up from 10.4 percent in 1998. The black labor force is expected to account for 12.4 percent of the overall labor force in 2008, up from 11.6 percent in 1998.

The Asian and other labor force is projected to make up 5.7 percent of the total labor force in 2008, compared to 4.6 percent last year. The white labor force is projected to comprise 81.9 percent of the total in 2008, down from 83.8 percent in 1998.

Labor force projections are a product of the Employment Projections program. The "Asian and other" group includes (1) Asians and Pacific Islanders and (2) American Indians and Alaska Natives. To find out more, see "Labor force projections to 2008: steady growth and changing composition," by Howard N Fullerton, Jr., Monthly Labor Review, November 1999.