2000 United States Population Data Sheet

The American Work Force

The 2000 United States Population Data Sheet focuses on the American worker. It examines labor force participation, unemployment, health insurance coverage, and other social and economic characteristics. This data sheet will give you an understanding not only of the current state of the U.S. labor force but also of what to anticipate in the future.

Also, go to www.ameristat.org for instant text and graphic summaries of many U.S. demographic characteristics, including education, income and poverty, and the labor force. And two recent Population Bulletins — "America's Diversity and Growth: Signposts for the 21st Century" and "America's Racial and Ethnic Minorities" — discuss the changing dynamics of the U.S. population.

Table of Contents

• Highlights of Findings
• Who's Entering the Labor Force?
• What Jobs Do Women Have?
• When Do Americans Retire?
• How Educated Are Young Workers?
• How Do States Compare?
• Sources and Definitions
• Related Publications from PRB
• Section 1:
  • Resident Population, 1999 & 2015
• Section 2:
  • Average annual growth rate (percent), 1990–1999
  • Persons per square mile of land area, 1999
  • Percent of population under age 18, 1999
  • Percent of population ages 65 & over, 1999
• Section 3:
  • Median household income (3 year average), 1996–1998
  • Persons in the labor force, 1999
• Section 4:
  • Percent of women in the labor force, 1999
  • Percent of employed women with children under age 6 (3-year average), 1997–1999
  • Percent change in the working age (ages 16-64) population, 1999–2015
• Section 5:
  • Percent unemployed, 1999
  • Percent of workers who worked full-time, year-round, 1998
  • Percent of workers with employer-based health insurance, 1998
• Section 6:
  • Percent of workers who are members of unions, 1999
  • Percent of 16–19 year-olds who are not in school and not working, 1997
  • Percent of 25–54 year-olds who are college graduates (3-year average), 1997–1999
• Section 7:
  • Percent of full-time, year-round workers with incomes less than 200% of poverty (3-year average), 1996–1998
  • Percent of working-age population who are foreign-born, 1999
  • Percent of workers who are self-employed (3-year average), 1997–1999

Highlights of Findings

• By 2015, the working age population (ages 16 to 64) is expected to grow 14 percent. The pool of potential workers is projected to increase by at least 20 percent in 11 states.
• Those persons entering the work force in the next decade will include more women (50 percent) and more members of minority groups (41 percent) than the current work force.
• Just over half (54 percent) of workers have health insurance provided by their employer or union. The percentage ranges from 62 percent in Hawaii to 43 percent in North Dakota.
• Membership in unions ranges from 25 percent in New York to 3 percent in North Carolina. It is 14 percent nationwide.
• Twenty-eight percent of Americans ages 25 to 54 are college graduates. The share ranges from 44 percent in the District of Columbia to 18 percent in Arkansas.
• In five states (led by California at 31 percent), at least 20 percent of the working-age population was born outside the United States. In 20 other states, however, less than 5 percent of working-age persons were foreign-born.

Who's Entering the Labor Force?

Between 1998 and 2008, about 42 million people are expected to enter the labor force. The composition of these new entrants differs significantly from the 112.5 million people who will remain in the labor force during this period. Those "stayers" — 40 percent white male and 25 percent minority — will be joined by a group of new workers that is just 30 percent white male but 41 percent minority. About one-fourth of the entrants are expected to be Hispanic or Asian-two groups who make up one-seventh of today's labor force. (Women are expected to be 50 percent of the entrants, compared with 47 percent of the stayers.) These projected developments largely reflect the growth in racial and ethnic diversity in the total U.S. population, as well as the younger age structure of minority populations.

Assuming that these trends continue into 2025, the American labor force will become slightly more female (48 percent vs. 46 percent today) and noticeably more minority (36 percent vs. 26 percent today). The aging of the baby boom generation also will make the labor force older in 2025 — 40 percent of workers will be ages 45 and over, compared with 33 percent in 1998. The integration between the new workers and the current ones will provide both opportunities and challenges for American businesses, as well as for the country as a whole.

Sources: Howard N. Fullerton, Jr., "Labor force projections to 2008: steady growth and changing composition," Monthly Labor Review (November 1999): 19–32; and "Labor force participation: 75 years of change, 1950–98 and 1998–2025," Monthly Labor Review (December 1999): 3–12.

What Jobs Do Women Have?

In recent decades, the biggest change in the American occupational structure has been the increasing representation of women in the managerial, administrative, and professional ranks. Since 1985, the share of women who are managers, administrators, or professionals has increased from 24 percent to 32 percent.

But there are still occupational categories where women or men are heavily concentrated. For example, nearly one in four working women are in administrative support positions, compared with one in 20 men. One in five working men are precision production workers, compared with one in 50 working women. Also, a higher proportion of working women than of working men are classified as professionals, but most professional women are primary or secondary school teachers and registered nurses.

The movement of women into the highest paid occupational categories has helped reduce the difference between women's and men's wages. In 1998, the median wage for women who worked full-time, year-round was $456 per week, compared with $598 per week for men. Even within occupational categories, however, women's wages remain lower than men's.

Sources: PRB analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, March 1999; and Mary Bowler, "Women's Earnings: An Overview," Monthly Labor Review (December 1999): 13-21.

When Do Americans Retire?

Americans are more likely than the residents of most other wealthy nations to continue working for pay after age 65. But Americans retire at younger ages than did earlier generations. The median age at retirement for men has fallen from 74 in 1910 to 63 in 1999.

Labor force participation rates declined for men at every age over 55 during the 1960s and 1970s, leveling off after the mid-1980s. Labor force participation for older women has shown mixed trends during this period, increasing somewhat for those under age 65 while holding steady for those ages 65 and over.

Labor force participation for older people has been influenced by changes in the Social Security program, which offers full retirement benefits at age 65. (This age is scheduled to increase gradually to age 67 for future retirees.) Since Social Security began in 1935, coverage has expanded steadily, as has the proportion of workers covered by private pensions. Since 1960, Social Security has paid partial benefits to those as young as age 62. Benefits also have become more generous, especially since the automatic cost-of-living increase began in 1972. And until this year, Social Security benefits were reduced by the amount of current earnings that were over $17,500 — a provision that had the effect of discouraging work.

Sources: PRB analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, March 1999; and Gary Burtless and Joseph F. Quinn, "Retirement Trends and Policies to Encourage Work Among Older Americans," U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics working paper, January 2000.

How Educated Are Young Workers?

Young American workers are more educated than at any time in the past. Among those ages 25 to 29 (when most people have completed their formal schooling), nearly 90 percent have graduated from high school, and 27 percent have at least a bachelor's degree. By contrast, among those now reaching retirement age, around 60 percent had finished high school when they were ages 25 to 29 back in the 1950s. Barely 10 percent had four years of college.

In recent decades, however, this progress has been uneven. The strongest gains in higher education have been made by young women, who are more likely than men to have completed college. The percentage of black men in their late 20s who have a college degree has doubled since the early 1970s, but still lags behind the percentage for white men. The percentage of young white men — and of young Hispanic men of any race — completing at least four years of college is about the same as it was in the 1970s.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, data accessed online here, on June 16, 2000.

How Do States Compare?

Sources and Definitions

Estimates of 1999 resident population and growth rates are from the U.S. Census Bureau, accessed online here (Dec. 31, 1999). Projections for 2015 resident population are from the U.S. Census Bureau, accessed online here (Oct. 17, 1996). Resident population is as of July 1 of the years indicated, and does not include Armed Forces personnel stationed overseas. Land area data are from the U.S. Census Bureau, State and Metropolitan Area Data Book 1997-98. Age distribution data are from the U.S. Census Bureau, accessed online here (April 6, 2000). Median household income data are from the U.S. Census Bureau, "Money Income in the United States: 1998," Current Population Reports P60-206. Income is in 1998 dollars and rounded to the nearest $100.

Data on percent change in the working age population, 1999-2015, concern the resident population ages 16 to 64 as of July 1 of their respective years. They are from the U.S. Census Bureau, accessed online here (April 6, 2000); here (June 17, 2000); and here (various files, Feb. 7, 1999). Data for percent unemployed are calendar-year averages of monthly data, and come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings. Data for percent of workers who are members of unions also are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data for percent of 16–19 year-olds not in school and not working reflect three-year averages of tabulations from 1996 through 1998, and are from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, KIDS COUNT Data Book: 2000.

Data on persons in the labor force, including percent of women in the labor force, are for the civilian noninstitutional population ages 16 and over as of March 1999. The labor force includes persons actively looking for work, as well as those already working. Percent of workers who worked full-time, year-round measures those persons working at least 35 hours a week for at least 50 weeks during 1998. Percent of working-age population who are foreign-born measures persons ages 16 to 64. Data for these items, as well as for percent of workers with employer-based health insurance, come from PRB's analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), March 1999.

Percent of employed women with children under age 6 concerns the share of working women living with at least one child under age 6 (by birth, marriage, or adoption) during March of the survey year. Percent of workers who are self-employed reflects workers' status for March of the survey year, while percent of full-time, year-round workers with incomes less than 200 percent of poverty reflects status for the previous calendar year. Data for these items, as well as for percent of 25-54 year-olds who are college graduates, are from PRB's analysis of the March CPS and reflect three-year averages of data from the surveys of 1997 through 1999.

Related Publications

For more information on population in the United States, here are several other PRB publications:

America's Diversity and Growth: Signposts for the 21st Century
This Population Bulletin, published in June 2000, discusses many of the "signposts of the U.S. population, including robust population growth, increasing life expectancy, continued immigration, changes in the family, increased education levels, and population growth outside urban areas.

America's Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Population Bulletin that offers readers a chance to see how America's racial and ethnic groups compare with one another across a host of demographic dimensions.

Immigration to the United States
Population Bulletin that examines current immigration patterns and policies in the United States, reviews the peaks and troughs of immigration flows, and provides a historical perspective on contemporary trends.

Women, Work, and Family in America
Population Bulletin that explores the lives of American women, which have been transformed by new patterns of marriage and childbearing, educational attainment, and labor force participation.

The Rural Rebound (PDF: 437KB)
After many decades of rural population loss, this demographic trend is reversing itself: More people are moving from urban to rural areas and fewer rural people are leaving. A complex set of economic, social, and geographic forces explains this rebound.

• Resident Population, 1999 & 2015

• Average annual growth rate (percent), 1990–1999
• Persons per square mile of land area, 1999
• Percent of population under age 18, 1999
• Percent of population ages 65 & over, 1999

• Median household income (3 year average), 1996–1998
• Persons in the labor force, 1999

• Percent of women in the labor force, 1999
• Percent of employed women with children under age 6 (3-year average), 1997–1999
• Percent change in the working age (ages 16-64) population, 1999–2015

• Percent unemployed, 1999
• Percent of workers who worked full-time, year-round, 1998
• Percent of workers with employer-based health insurance, 1998

• Percent of workers who are members of unions, 1999
• Percent of 16–19 year-olds who are not in school and not working, 1997
• Percent of 25–54 year-olds who are college graduates (3-year average), 1997–1999

• Percent of full-time, year-round workers with incomes less than 200% of poverty (3-year average), 1996–1998
• Percent of working-age population who are foreign-born, 1999
• Percent of workers who are self-employed (3-year average), 1997–1999