FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2000
Public Information Office CB00-47
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
Renee E. Spraggins
301-457-2378
Profile of the Nation's Women Released by Census Bureau
In 1999, nearly 1 out of every 4 women had a bachelor's degree, 6 in 10
were in the labor force and about half were married and living with their
spouse, according to a Census Brief released today by the Commerce
Department's Census Bureau.
The two-page brief, titled Women in the United States: A Profile,
commemorates Women's History Month. It shows data on age, race, education,
earnings, poverty, marital status, living arrangements, occupation and
child-support awards, as well as comparable national data for men and
historical data.
Other highlights:
- Women have almost achieved educational parity with men. In 1999,
23 percent of women age 25 and over had a bachelor's degree or
higher, compared with 27 percent of men. In 1980, 14 percent of women
and 21 percent of men had completed four years of college or more.
- The median earnings of women age 25 years and over who worked
full-time, year round in 1998 was 73 percent of their male
counterpart's earnings ($26,711 and $36,679 respectively).
- Women continue to be over-represented in administrative support and
service occupations. For example, in 1999, 79 percent of the
18.6 million people working in administrative support (including
clerical) were female, as were 95 percent of the 859,000 people
employed as service workers in private households.
- In 1999, nearly 3 in 4 women age 15 and over worked in four
occupational groups: administrative support, including clerical
(24 percent); professional specialty (18 percent); service workers,
except private households (17 percent); and executive, administrative
and managerial (14 percent).
- Between 1970 and 1998, the number of women living alone doubled from
7.3 million to 15.3 million. The percentage of women who lived alone
rose for every age group, except those ages 65 to 74.
- Women outnumbered men 139 million to 133 million in 1999. The
male-to-female ratio declined with age, so that among people age
85 and over, it was 49 males for every 100 females .
As in all surveys, the data are subject to sampling variability and
other sources of error.
available free from Adobe.
