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OPA News Release: [08/31/2006]
Contact Name: Office of Public Affairs
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
Release Number: 06-1537-NAT

America’s Workforce: Strong, Competitive and Growing

U.S. Department of Labor Releases Report on State of the U.S. Workforce — Labor Day 2006

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today released America's Dynamic Workforce 2006, a new report highlighting major trends in the American labor market and the importance of education and skills training to maintaining the competitiveness of America's workforce.

"The American economy is strong and growing, unemployment is low and more than 5.4 million new jobs were created from August 2003 through the first half of 2006," U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao said. "More Americans are working now than ever. The majority of new jobs created over the next decade will require some kind of post-secondary education. The Department of Labor is committed to providing American workers with the tools and protections they need to succeed in the 21st century economy, including a stronger pension system."

Here are some of the current trends that illustrate the state of the economy and importance of education and job training: Many of these figures were compiled from the newly released "America's Dynamic Workforce 2006," http://www.dol.gov/asp/media/reports/workforce2006/. A highlight sheet is available at http://www.dol.gov/asp/media/reports/workforce2006/factsheet.htm.

Highlights of America's Workforce: Labor Day 2006

Overall

• In the first half of 2006, the national unemployment rate averaged 4.7 percent. That's a full point lower than the average 5.7 percent unemployment rate of the 1990s.
• As of June 2006, more than 5.4 million net new jobs were created in the United States since August 2003.
• By June 2006, total jobs reached an all-time high of 135.2 million — nearly 2.7 million more jobs than the previous record set in 2001.
• In 2005, real hourly wages were 1.9 percent higher than in 2000, compared to the 1.1 percent rise in wages between 1990 and 1995. This means that wages are increasing at a rate that's more than 1½ times faster than that of the early '90s.
• The average level of compensation in 2005 was 7 percent higher than in 2000.
• From 2003 to 2005, the total number of displaced workers dropped by nearly 30 percent compared to the previous two-year period for which data were collected.

Working Women

• During the first half of 2006, the unemployment rate for women averaged 4.7 percent versus 5.5 percent for the same period 10 years earlier.
• Over the past year, employment growth among women nearly doubled the rate for men.
• More women than ever are in higher-paying jobs: women held 56.3 percent of all professional and related jobs and 42.5 percent of management-related, business and finance positions in 2005.
• Earnings potential for women is expected to continue to rise because education has proven to be a key factor in increased earnings, and more than 50 percent of bachelor's degrees over the last five years have been earned by women.
• In addition, over 50 percent of workers who have benefited from services offered through the Department of Labor's Adult and Dislocated Worker programs at One-Stop Career Centers are women.
• Although women, on average, may earn less than men for a variety of reasons, including differences in work schedules and career decisions to accommodate raising their families or taking care of loved ones, education is a great equalizer, accounting for more favorable changes in real earnings for women than for men over the last 25 years.
• What has been called the "pay gap" is shrinking and is now the smallest it has ever been since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) began tracking this data.

Minority Workers

• The strong labor market in 2005 benefited American workers across all categories of race and ethnicity. Average annual employment of black, Asian, and Hispanic workers rose in numbers and as a percent of the total employed.
• In 2005, unemployment rates fell across all racial and ethnic categories.
• The unemployment rate for Hispanic workers averaged 5.4 percent in the first half of 2006 compared to 9.4 percent during the same period ten years ago — that's a significant drop.
• The number of minority workers employed in professional and managerial jobs — higher-paying jobs requiring higher levels of education — has steadily increased in recent years.

Working Veterans

• While the national unemployment rate for non-veterans averaged 4.6 percent in the first half of 2006, the rate for veterans averaged 4 percent — 0.6 percent lower than the non-veteran average during this period.
• A 37 percent drop in the rate of complaints under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) between two major mobilization efforts — Desert Storm in 1991 and today's larger Global War on Terror — underscores the effectiveness of both the Labor Department's first-ever regulations implementing the act and outreach activities to employers and service members.