Labor force characteristics by race and ethnicity, 2017

"In 2017, the overall unemployment rate for the United States was 4.4 percent; however, the rate varied across race and ethnicity groups. Among the race groups, the unemployment rates were higher than the national rate for American Indians and Alaska Natives (7.8 percent), Blacks or African Americans (7.5 percent), people categorized as being of Two or More Races (6.7 percent), and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (6.1 percent). Jobless rates were lower than the national rate for Asians (3.4 percent) and Whites (3.8 percent). The rate for people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, at 5.1 percent, was higher than the 4.2-percent rate for non-Hispanics.

Labor market differences among the race and ethnicity groups are associated with many factors, not all of which are measurable. These factors include variations in educational attainment across the groups; the occupations and industries in which the groups work; the geographic areas of the country in which the groups are concentrated, including whether they tend to reside in urban or rural settings; and the degree of discrimination encountered in the workplace.

This report describes the labor force characteristics and earnings patterns among the largest race and ethnicity groups living in the United States—Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics—and provides detailed data through a set of supporting tables. The report also contains a limited amount of data on American Indians and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, people who are of Two or More Races, detailed Asian groups, and detailed Hispanic groups. Because of their relatively small sample sizes, estimates for these additional groups are not included in all tables..."
Labor force

EMPLOYMENT PROJECTIONS — 2016-26

"Employment is projected to increase by 11.5 million over the 2016-26 decade, an increase from 156.1 million to 167.6 million, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This growth—0.7 percent annually—is faster than the 0.5 percent rate of growth during the 2006–16 decade, a period heavily affected by the 2007–09 recession. Health care industries and their associated occupations are expected to account for a large share of new jobs projected through 2026, as the aging population continues to drive demand for health care services. The labor force will continue to grow slowly and to become older and more diverse. The aging population is projected to result in a decline in the overall labor force participation rate over the 2016 to 2026 decade.>>"
Employment growth

Profile of the labor force by educational attainment

"Increased education is associated with both higher wages and lower unemployment. This Spotlight on Statistics highlights how that relationship has changed over time and examines additional detail on educational attainment.

The charts and analysis that follow illustrate historical and current statistics from the Current Population Survey on the U.S. labor force for people age 25 years and older by educational attainment, defined as the highest diploma or degree received at the time the survey was conducted..."

Labor force and education

Blog CBO’s Long-Term Projections of Labor Force Participation

"In preparing the economic forecast underlying its forthcoming report on the budget and economic outlook, CBO updated its projections of labor force participation. In this blog post, we explain those updates and compare them with the agency’s previous projections and with those of the Social Security Trustees. The full economic forecast will be described in The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2017 to 2027, which will be released on January 24..."
Labor force participation

Women in the Labor Force: a Databook, 2014

"This report presents historical and recent labor force and earnings data for women and men from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a national monthly survey of approximately 60,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unless otherwise noted, data are annual averages from the CPS.."

Women and Labor force

The U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce: Recent, Current, and Projected Employment, Wages, and Unemployment

"The number of scientists and engineers needed to meet growth and net replacement needs between 2010 and 2020 is 2.4 million, including 1.4 million in the computer occupations and 525,900 engineers..."
Science and Engineering Workforce

Women in the Labor Force: A Databook, 2012 ed.

An annual survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  Current Population Report series, here you will find data on women labor participation ratefor both current and historical data. 
Women in the Labor Force: 2012 ed.

Monlthly Labor Review Online

Looking for statistics on the labor market, take a look at issues of the Monthly Labor Review,  an online publication from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Monthly Labor Review online

Measuring Workforce Diversity

"Have you ever wondered about the diversity of your occupation?  What is its demographic composition, age distribution, educational attainment, earnings ranges, percent U.S. citizen, or from where people are commuting?  These questions and more can be answered using the new Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Tabulation, which will be available tomorrow, Nov. 29..."
Measuring Workforce Diversity

Foreign-Born Workers:Labor Force Characteristics -- 2011

"The unemployment rate for the foreign born was 9.1 percent in 2011, down from 9.8 percent in 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The jobless rate of the native born was 8.9 percent in 2011, compared with 9.6 percent in the prior year. The foreign born made up 15.9 percent of the labor force..."

Youth and the Labor Force: Background and Trends

"Congress has indicated a strong interest in ensuring that today’s young people—those ages 16
through 24—attain the education and employment experience necessary to make the transition to
adulthood as skilled workers and taxpayers. In the wake of the December 2007-June 2009
recession, questions remain about the employment prospects of youth today and the possible
effects on their future earnings and participation in the labor market.

This report provides context for policymakers on the youth employment situation. It includes data
on labor force participation, employment, and unemployment in the post-World War II period,
with a focus on trends since 2000. This discussion compares rates based on age, gender,
race/ethnicity, and income, where applicable. The report also explores the factors that influence
youth participation in the labor force and their prospects for employment..."

The Asian American Labor Force in Recovery
"Asian-Americans and Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are a growing share of the United States labor market. They are also a diverse population who identify their ethnicity as Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and several other ethnicities. Aggregate numbers show that the Asian-American community as a whole exhibits better labor market outcomes than other racial groups, but the aggregate measurements veil the wide variations within this highly diverse group. Numbers broken down by gender, by age and by country of origin, illustrate that there exists significant disparity within those who identify their race as Asian . These numbers demonstrate that some Asian-Americans face greater challenges and therefore need more attention and assistance than the aggregate data suggest..."

Reversals in the patterns of women’s labor supply in the United States, 1977–2009
"Most analyses of women’s labor force participation in the past 15 years or so have focused on married women. The labor force participation rate of this group increased dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s, as reported by Marisa DiNatale and Stephanie Boraas, and Chinhui Juhn and Simon Potter, among many others. But the labor force participation of married women—especially those with
children—increased only marginally in the 1990s, and began to decline toward the end of that decade. For married women with children, for example, the rate increased from 39.7 percent in 1970 to 66.3 percent in 1990, but then to only 70.6 percent in 2000; the rate was 69.3 percent in 2007. For married mothers with infants, the rate peaked in 1997, at 59.2 percent, and declined to 53.5
percent by 2005..."

Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment, 2009
"Annual data on the labor force, employment, and unemployment in States and substate areas are available from two major sources: the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. The CPS is a sample survey of about 60,000 households nationwide conducted for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the Census Bureau. The LAUS program is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor in which State workforce agencies prepare estimates using concepts, definitions, and estimation procedures prescribed by BLS.

This bulletin presents 2009 annual averages from the CPS for census regions and divisions; the 50 States and the District of Columbia; and 54 large metropolitan areas, 22 metropolitan divisions, and 41 principal cities. Data from the CPS differ from the official estimates produced by the individual States through the LAUS program. CPS estimates are provided herein because they are a current source of information on the demographic and economic characteristics of the labor force in subnational areas, from the same source as the official labor force data for the U.S. as a whole..."

THE ROLE OF IMMIGRANTS IN THE U.S. LABOR MARKET: AN UPDATE
"People born in other countries are a growing presence in the U.S. labor force. In 1994, 1 in 10 people in the U.S. labor force was born elsewhere, but in 2009, 1 in 7 was foreign born. About 40 percent of the foreign-born labor force in 2009 was from Mexico and Central America, and more than 25 percent was from Asia.

This document updates the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO’s) November 2005 paper The Role of Immigrants in the U.S. Labor Market. That earlier report included data through 2004; this update, the first of several on various aspects of immigration, incorporates data through 2009. It focuses on the growing number of foreign-born workers, the countries from which they have come, their educational attainment, the types of jobs they hold, and their earnings. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide objective, nonpartisan analysis, this report makes no recommendations..."
View entire report.

Women in the Labor Force: A Databook, 2009 ed.
"The past several decades have been marked by notable changes in women’s labor force activities. Women’s labor force participation is significantly higher today than it was in the 1970s, particularly among women with children, and a larger share of women work full time and year round than in past decades. In addition, women have increasingly attained higher levels of education: among women aged 25 to 64 who are in the labor force, the proportion with a college degree roughly tripled from 1970 to 2008. Women’s earnings as a proportion of men’s earnings also have grown over time. In 1979, women working full time earned 62 percent of what men did; in 2008, women’s earnings were 80 percent of men’s.

This report presents historical and current labor force and earnings data for women and men from the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a national monthly survey of approximately 60,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Unless otherwise noted, data are annual averages from the CPS. Users should note that the comparisons of earnings in this report are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be significant in explaining earnings differences. For a detailed description of the source of the data and an explanation of concepts and definitions used, see the Technical Note
at the end of this report..."

america's dynamic workforce: 2008
"This report presents an overview of current conditions and notable trends affecting the American labor market and economic activity. Primary emphasis is on measures of labor market performance – employment, labor force participation, unemployment, and compensation. General measures of economic performance such as gross domestic product (GDP) and productivity growth are also described as they relate to labor market conditions and trends."

A Profile of the Working Poor, 2006
"In 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 36.5 million people, or 12.3 percent of the population, lived at or below the official poverty threshold, roughly the same number as in 2005. The majority of the Nation’s poor were children and adults who had not participated in the labor force during the year. However, 7.4 million were among the working poor—those who spent 27 weeks or more in the labor force, working or looking for work, but whose incomes still fell below the offi cial poverty level. These individuals represented 5.1 percent of all persons aged 16
years and older who were in the labor force for 27 weeks or more in 2006, down from 5.4 percent the previous year."