TED: The Economics Daily

In 2024, a plan network was available to 99 percent of private industry workers participating in medical care plans. Plan participants typically pay a lower price for using in-network services. Of those participating in medical plans, 18 percent of private industry workers had one plan network and 75 percent had two networks available.

Overall, 64.2 percent of the U.S. population worked in 2023, up from 63.8 percent in 2022. In 2023, the percentage of women who worked at some time during the year increased by 0.5 percentage point to 59.4 percent, and the percentage of men who worked at some time during the year was up by 0.4 percentage point to 69.2 percent. Men continued to be more likely to work at some time during the year than women.

Labor unions celebrated the first Labor Day with a parade in 1882, and Congress declared it a federal holiday 12 years later. In recognition of labor unions and the federal holiday, let’s look at some wage and benefit data by bargaining status (that is, whether workers are represented by unions).

In July 2025, the District of Columbia had the highest unemployment rate, 6.0 percent. The next highest rates were in California, 5.5 percent, and Nevada, 5.4 percent. South Dakota had the lowest jobless rate in July, 1.9 percent. In total, 21 states had unemployment rates lower than the U.S. figure of 4.2 percent, 4 states and the District had higher rates, and 25 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.