The American Worker - A Diverse Workforce

In February 2005 there were approximately 140.1 million people in the American labor force. The size and diversity of this group are its greatest strengths and have led to the passage of relatively strict labor laws to protect American workers from discrimination on the basis of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and other factors. Relatively high wages and better working conditions have attracted workers from around the world who hope to improve their standard of living.

Foreign-born and Specialty Occupation Workers

Foreign-born and Specialty Occupation Workers in the United States are two separate categories, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Specialty Occupation Workers (those with what is known as H-1B status) are foreign-born individuals with certain educational or career experience that makes them desirable to U.S. companies. They are admitted to the United States for the purpose of temporarily filling specialty jobs. They maintain the citizenship of their native countries, and after fulfilling their contracts with U.S. employers they typically return to their own countries. Foreign-born (or immigrant) workers are people who have come to the United States through legal channels and intend to become citizens, obtaining jobs while they are waiting for their naturalization (the process of becoming a U.S. citizen) to be finalized.

In fiscal year 2003 the U.S. government approved the petitions of 217,000 people from other countries who wanted to attain or keep their H-1B status, up from 197,000 in 2002. Of those workers, almost 37% were from India, and 65% were between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-four. Half of the approved workers held a bachelor's degree and 31% held a master's degree. A full 39% of all H-1B workers were in computer-related professions. The median salary for all H-1B workers was $52,000; for those in computer-oriented work the median salary was $60,000 (Characteristics of Specialty Occupation Workers (H-1B): Fiscal Year 2003, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, November 2004).

Of the estimated 33.5 million foreign-born (immigrant) people in the United States in 2003 (11.7% of the total U.S. population), 23.3% worked in the service industry; 26.9% were in management or professional occupations; 18.4% in production, transportation, and material moving; 11.8% in construction, extraction, and maintenance; and 1.6% in farming, fishing, and forestry. Of foreign-born men in the United States, 25.1% held management or professional positions and 22% worked in production, transportation, and material moving. Among foreign-born women, 30.1% worked in the service industry, 29.5% had management or professional jobs, and 25.6% did sales or office work (Luke J. Larsen, The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2003, U.S. Bureau of the Census, August 2004).

According to The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2003, regions of origin of the total number of foreign-born people living legally in the United States broke down as follows: 53.3% were born in Latin America (which includes South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico), 25% in Asia, 13.7% in Europe, and the remaining 8% in Africa and Oceania. The proportion of those from Asia who held jobs in management and professional occupations, at 47% in 2003, was the highest of the foreign-born population groups; among those from Latin America the percent in management and professional occupations was 12.7%. The Central American-born group was the most likely to work in the service industry (29.7%) and production, transportation, and material moving (26.7%).

Approximately one-fourth (24.6%) of U.S. foreign-born households in 2002 had annual incomes of less than $20,000. Caribbean-born people had the highest percentage of households earning less than $20,000, at 33.1%. More than one-third (38.6%) of households headed by foreign-born people earned $50,000 or more a year. Asian-born householders were the most likely to have incomes of $50,000 or more (53.8%).

In 2003 foreign-born noncitizens living in the United States had a higher unemployment rate than U.S. natives—7.5% versus 6.2%—and in 2002, 16.6% of foreign-born people lived below the poverty line. Latin American natives had the highest poverty rate among all foreign-born individuals, at 21.6%, while European-born people had the lowest rate (8.7%) (Larsen, The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2003).

Minority Workers

Minorities make up a significant portion of the American workforce, but the median incomes of most racial and ethnic groups were lower than those of their white counterparts in 2003. Of African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and Native Americans, only Asian-American households had a median income higher than that of non-Hispanic whites ($55,500 versus $48,000). African-American households had the lowest median incomes, at $30,000. Median income for Hispanic households was $33,000.

Women in the Workforce

Although they have always held jobs and worked both in and out of the home, women did not become a significant force in the American job market until 1942. The United States entered World War II in 1941, and as the number of men joining and being drafted to serve in the armed forces grew, the void left in American workplaces was filled by women. Women worked in factories to build tanks, airplanes, and other war-related supplies—giving rise to the image of Rosie the Riveter, a symbol of women's contribution to the war effort—and throughout the American economy. As soldiers returned home from the war, women lost many of the gains they had made in the workplace, and it was not until the late 1960s and early 1970s that women once again began working outside the home in great numbers.

At that time the percentage of total U.S. women working grew to more than 50%. A steady rise in the number of women holding jobs continued through the 1980s, though growth was at a slower rate. By 2003 more than 60% of American women worked outside the home at least part time.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Highlights of Women's Earnings in 2003), women working full time earned approximately 80% of the wages earned by men working full time. This figure was up from 78% in 2002 and 63% in 1979—the first year comparative data were recorded. While it is often assumed that discrimination against women is to blame for the disparity, the U.S. General Accounting Office studied other factors, including relative experience, hours worked per week, and the longer periods of time that women tend to leave the workforce to raise children, and concluded women's lower earnings are generally the result of these and other factors. This argument was supported in a report from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Evidence from Census 2000 about Earnings by Detailed Occupation from Men and Women (May 2004), which listed such variables as educational opportunities, geographic location, labor union activity, marriage patterns, and overall regional culture as possible factors.

Young Workers

Jobs held by young people fall into one of two categories: freelance jobs and employee jobs. Freelance jobs include babysitting, snow shoveling, lawn maintenance, and similar work, while employee jobs often include those in retail stores and food establishments. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics publication Report on the Youth Labor Force (U.S. Department of Labor, 2000), young people typically began working at freelance jobs around the age of twelve before moving on to employee jobs at fifteen or sixteen. In the study, girls were slightly more likely to have jobs by age fourteen than boys (59% versus 55%), and they were more likely to do freelance work. At age fifteen the percentage of girls and boys who worked was nearly the same. The BLS report—which studied young workers from ages fourteen to eighteen—found that employment rates among teenagers increased through the age of eighteen and went up every summer as the school year ended, although many teenagers kept their employee jobs throughout the school year (18% of fourteen-year-olds worked both in the summer and during the school year, and 31% of fifteen-year-olds worked during the school year). The BLS report found that the rates of teenage employment were different among different racial and ethnic groups. At ages fourteen and fifteen, 64% of white youths held either freelance or employee jobs, as opposed to 43% of African-Americans and 41% of Hispanics.

Worker Loyalty and Multiple-Job Workers

Unlike employees in earlier generations, workers no longer expect to remain with a single employer for an entire career. For example, the BLS reported in National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (August 2004) that people born between 1957 and 1964 held an average 10.2 jobs during the twenty-year period between ages eighteen and thirty-eight. As of 2004, the length of time on the job averaged one year for workers in their twenties and thirties.

In 2003 and 2004 approximately 7.2 million Americans—or 5.2% of all employed people—held more than one job. As Table 6.1 indicates, 302,000 people worked two full-time jobs and 4.2 million worked one full-time

TABLE 6.1

Unemployed persons and multiple jobholders, by sex, 2003–04
(Numbers in thousands)
	Total		Men		Women
Category	Oct. 2003	Oct. 2004	Oct. 2003	Oct. 2004	Oct. 2003	Oct. 2004
1Data refer to persons who have searched for work during the prior 12 months and were available to take a job during the reference week.
2Includes thinks no work available, could not find work, lacks schooling or training, employer thinks too young or old, and other types of discrimination.
3Includes those who did not actively look for work in the prior 4 weeks for such reasons as school or family responsibilities, ill health, and transportation problems, as well as a small number for which reason for nonparticipation was not determined.
4Includes persons who work part time on their primary job and full time on their secondary job(s), not shown separately.
Note: Beginning in January 2004, data reflect revised population controls used in the household survey.
SOURCE: "Table A-13. Persons Not in the Labor Force and Multiple Jobholders by Sex, Not Seasonally Adjusted," in Employment Situation, Bureau of Labor Statistics, December 3, 2004, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t13.htm (accessed January 4, 2005)
Not in the labor force
Total not in the labor force	75,252	76,214	28,487	28,871	46,765	47,343
Persons who currently want a job	4,561	5,065	2,086	2,266	2,475	2,798
Searched for work and available to work now1	1,586	1,647	737	825	849	822
Reason not currently looking:
Discouragement over job prospects2	462	429	223	256	239	174
Reasons other than discouragement3	1,125	1,218	514	570	610	648
Multiple jobholders
Total multiple jobholders4	7,515	8,034	3,776	4,168	3,738	3,866
Percent of total employed	5.4	5.7	5.1	5.5	5.8	5.9
Primary job full time, secondary job part time	3,849	4,196	2,203	2,396	1,646	1,801
Primary and secondary jobs both part time	1,840	1,720	578	519	1,261	1,201
Primary and secondary jobs both full time	235	302	138	201	97	101
Hours vary on primary or secondary job	1,554	1,779	837	1,030	717	750

and one part-time job. The reasons for working more than one job varied among workers. The most common reasons included needing additional income to meet daily household expenses and paying down debt. Other reasons were saving for a major purchase, helping out a family member, or paying for an education.