Employment Status of Women and Men in 2006
CIVILIAN NON-INSTITUTIONAL POPULATION (persons aged 16 years or older): There were 228,815,000 total persons of which 118,210,000 were women and 110,605,000 were men. The three largest race/ethnic groups in the U.S. were whites, blacks, and Hispanics.
| Racial Group |
1996 |
2006 |
Percent Increase |
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|
|
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| Total Population |
200,591,000 |
228,815,000 |
14.1 |
| White women: |
86,828,000 |
95,242,000 |
9.7 |
| White men: |
81,489,000 |
91,021,000 |
11.7 |
| Black women: |
13,029,000 |
14,877,000 |
14.2 |
| Black men: |
10,575,000 |
12,130,000 |
14.7 |
| Hispanic women: |
9,610,000 |
14,630,000 |
52.2 |
| Hispanic men: |
9,604,000 |
15,473,000 |
61.1 |
| Asian women: |
Not available |
5,328,000 |
----- |
| Asian men: |
Not available |
4,827,000 |
----- |
- 35.8 percent of persons aged 16–19 were either Hispanic, black, or Asian in 2006.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 1997 and 2007.
CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE—Persons 16 years of age and over who are working or looking for work.
- Total labor force--151.4 million persons of which 70.2 million were women and 81.3 million were men.
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|
|
|
| Total Labor Force |
133,943,000 |
151,428,000 |
12.9 |
| White women |
51,325,000 |
56,221,000 |
9.4 |
| White men |
61,783,000 |
67,613,000 |
9.1 |
| Black women |
7,869,000 |
9,186,000 |
18.1 |
| Black men |
7,264,000 |
8,128,000 |
11.3 |
| Hispanic women |
5,128,000 |
8,206,000 |
60.3 |
| Hispanic men |
7,646,000 |
12,488,000 |
62.5 |
| Asian women |
Not available |
3,106,000 |
----- |
| Asian men |
Not available |
3,621,000 |
----- |
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 1997 and 2007.
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE—the percent of persons in the labor force as compared with the number of persons in the population.
59.4 percent of all women were in the labor force.
73.5 percent of all men were in the labor force.
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|
|
|
|
| White women: 59.0% |
Black women: 61.7% |
| White men: 74.3% |
Black men: 67.0% |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Hispanic women: 56.1% |
Asian women: 58.3% |
| Hispanic men: 80.7% |
Asian men: 75.0% |
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 2006 and Current Population Survey, Annual Social Economic Tables, March 2005.
EMPLOYMENT and UNEMPLOYMENT—66,925,000 women were employed as compared with 77,502,000 men; 3,247,000 women were unemployed compared with 3,753,000 unemployed men.
- Between 1990 and 2006, total U.S. employment grew 22 percent--from 118.8 to 144.4 million persons; between 1980 and 2006, total U.S. employment grew 45 percent--from 99.3 to 144.4 million persons.
- Over the past decade (1996-2006), roughly 18 million jobs have been created. Women secured nearly half of these jobs (47.5 percent).
- Multiple job holders totaled 7.6 million in 2006—3.8 million women; 3.8 million men.
- Within this total of multiple job holders, over half, 4.1 million (55 percent) were in married couples; 2.1 million (28 percent) were single (never married); and 1.3 million (17 percent) were widowed, divorced, or separated.
- Between 1996 and 2006, the number of dual-income married-couple families increased by 31%, from 25.5 to 33.4 million families.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 2006 and Annual Social Economic Tables, March 1996 and 2006.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE--the percent of unemployed persons in the labor force as compared to the number of persons in the labor force.
- The unemployment rate for women and men was identical at 4.6 percent in 2006. The unemployment rate for teen women (ages 16-19) was 13.8 percent and for teen men, 16.9 percent.
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| |
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| White women: 4.0% |
Black women: 8.4% |
| White men: 4.0 % |
Black men: 9.5% |
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|
|
|
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| Hispanic women: 5.9% |
Asian women: 3.1% |
| Hispanic men: 4.8% |
Asian men: 3.0% |
-
Most unemployment rates have remained fairly steady over the past decade or have experienced slights declines, however, Hispanic women’s unemployment rate has been nearly halved—from 10.2 percent in 1996 to 5.9 percent in 2006.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 1997 and 2007.
FULL TIME/PART TIME EMPLOYMENT—Full time--working 35 hours or more per week; Part time—working less than 35 hours per week. 17% of U.S. workers had part time jobs in 2006.
- 120 million Americans worked on full-time jobs while 25 million Americans worked on part-time jobs.
- 50,380,000 or 75.3 percent of employed women worked full time; 16,545,000 or 24.7 percent of employed women worked part time.
- 69,307,000 or 89.4 percent of employed men worked full time; 8,194,000 or 10.6 percent of employed men worked part time.
- Women comprised two-thirds of all part-time workers—16.5 million workers out of 25 million.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 2007.
OCCUPATIONS-- In 2006, for women who were full-time, wage and salary workers, the ten most prevalent occupations were:
Secretaries and administrative assistants (3,348,000)
Registered nurses (2,309,000)
Cashiers (2,291,000)
Elementary and middle school teachers (2,220,000)
Retail salespersons (1,740,000)
Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides (1,694,000)
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers (1,436,000)
Waiters and waitresses (1,401,000)
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (1,364,000)
Customer service representatives (1,349,000)
Among women who were full-time wage and salary workers, here are the ten occupations with highest median weekly earnings in 2006.
Pharmacists ($1,564)
Chief executives ($1, 422)
Lawyers ($1,333)
Computer and information systems managers ($1,330)
Physicians and surgeons ($1,329)
Computer software engineers ($1,372)
Physical therapists ($1,086)
Management analysts ($1069)
Medical and health services managers ($1,064)
Computer scientists and systems analysts ($1,039)
- Women made up 45% of public administration (government) workers.
- Self-employed workers: In 1996, 9.0 million—3.5 million women; and 5.5 million men. In 2006, 9.7 million—3.7 women; and 6.0 million men.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 1997 and 2007.
EARNINGS-- Overall, women earned 81 percent of what men earned when comparing median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers.
- Median yearly earnings for full-time year-round workers was $32,168 for women; $41,965 for men and in 2005.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, January 2007 and U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, 2005 American Community Survey.
PROJECTIONS for YEAR 2014—
Labor Force—
- Of the total estimated labor force increase of 14.7 million between 2004 and 2014, about 7.5 million (51 percent) will be women.
- In the year 2014, women are expected to comprise 46.8 percent of the estimated 162.1 million persons in the labor force.
Employment—
- During the 2004-2014 period, total job growth is projected to be 13 percent.
- Over the 2004-2014 period, employment in management and professional occupations is projected to grow at the same rate as employment in service occupations—both at 19%.
- Between the 2004-2014 period, manufacturing is expected to see a loss of more than half a million jobs; and farming, fishing, and forestry occupations will decline by 13,000 jobs.
Occupations: Fastest Growth
- The fastest growing occupations are projected to grow between 30 to 56 percent.
- Rapid growth in health-related occupations reflects an aging population that requires more health care, a wealthier population that can afford better health care, and advances in medical technology that permit more health problems to be treated more aggressively.
- Nearly two-thirds of the fastest growing occupations have median weekly earnings lower than the average for all occupations--$671 in 2006.
- Of the 10 fastest growing occupations between the 2004 and 2014, women already comprise the majority in 7 of these occupations. These seven are: home health aides; medical assistants; physical assistants; physical therapists assistants; dental hygienists; dental assistants; and personal and home care aides.
- Sixteen of the 30 fastest growing occupations between 2004 and 2014 are health related; another 6 are computer specialist occupations, 3 are environment related, and 2 are in teaching. Examples of these occupations are:
- Health related: home health aides; medical assistants; physician assistants, physical therapist assistants; dental hygienists; dental assistants; personal and home care aides.
- Computer related: network systems and data communications analysts; software engineers; and network and computer systems administrator.
- Environment related: hydrologist; hazardous materials removal workers; and environmental engineers.
- Teaching related: preschool teachers, except special education; and post-secondary teachers.
Occupations: Largest Growth
- The 30 occupations with the largest job growth will account for 8.8 million new jobs--or 47 percent of total job growth from 2004-2014.
- Of these, 5 are professional and managerial occupations; 4 are service occupations; 4 are office and administrative support; 4 are health care support; 3 are food preparation and serving related; 3 are in teaching; and 3 are in transportation and material moving, among others.
- Professional and managerial: registered nurses; general and operations managers; accountants and auditors; computer software engineers, applications; and computer systems analysts.
- Service related: retail salespersons; janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners; child care workers; and maids and housekeeping cleaners.
- Office and administrative support: customer service representatives; office clerks, general; receptionists and information clerks; and executive secretaries and administrative assistants.
- Health care support: home health aides; nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants; personal and home care aides; and medical assistants.
- Food preparation and serving related: waiters and waitresses; combined food preparation and workers, including fast food; and food preparation workers.
- Teaching: post secondary teachers; elementary school teachers, except special education; and teacher assistants.
- Transportation and material moving: laborers and freight and stock, and material movers, hand; truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer; and truck drivers, light and delivery services.
- Other: landscaping and groundskeeping workers; maintenance and repair workers, general; sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products; and carpenters.
- Short-term on-the-job training is the level of post-secondary education or training most workers will need to become fully qualified in the majority of these large growth occupations.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monthly Labor Review, November 2005.
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