Bureau of Labor Statistics > Employment Projections > Data

Civilian labor force, by age, sex, race, and ethnicity

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 Table 3.1 Civilian labor force by age, sex, race, and ethnicity, 1998, 2008, 2018, and projected 2028 (Numbers in thousands)

Group

Level

Change

Percent change

Percent distribution

Annual growth rate (percent)

1998

2008

2018

2028

1998–08

2008–18

2018–28

1998–08

2008–18

2018–28

1998

2008

2018

2028

1998–08

2008–18

2018–28

Total, 16 years and older

137,673

154,287

162,075

170,994

16,614

7,788

8,919

12.1

5.0

5.5

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

1.1

0.5

0.5

16 to 24

21,894

22,032

20,984

19,698

138

-1,048

-1,286

0.6

-4.8

-6.1

15.9

14.3

12.9

11.5

0.1

-0.5

-0.6

16 to 19

8,256

6,858

5,885

5,144

-1,398

-973

-741

-16.9

-14.2

-12.6

6.0

4.4

3.6

3.0

-1.8

-1.5

-1.3

20 to 24

13,638

15,174

15,099

14,553

1,536

-75

-546

11.3

-0.5

-3.6

9.9

9.8

9.3

8.5

1.1

0.0

-0.4

25 to 54

98,718

104,396

103,705

108,182

5,678

-691

4,477

5.8

-0.7

4.3

71.7

67.7

64.0

63.3

0.6

-0.1

0.4

25 to 34

32,813

33,332

36,774

36,950

519

3,442

176

1.6

10.3

0.5

23.8

21.6

22.7

21.6

0.2

1.0

0.0

35 to 44

37,536

35,061

33,619

38,285

-2,475

-1,442

4,666

-6.6

-4.1

13.9

27.3

22.7

20.7

22.4

-0.7

-0.4

1.3

45 to 54

28,368

36,003

33,311

32,948

7,635

-2,692

-363

26.9

-7.5

-1.1

20.6

23.3

20.6

19.3

2.4

-0.8

-0.1

55 and older

17,062

27,858

37,386

43,114

10,796

9,528

5,729

63.3

34.2

15.3

12.4

18.1

23.1

25.2

5.0

3.0

1.4

55 to 64

13,215

21,615

27,354

26,999

8,400

5,739

-355

63.6

26.6

-1.3

9.6

14.0

16.9

15.8

5.0

2.4

-0.1

65 to 74

3,179

4,985

8,206

12,374

1,806

3,221

4,169

56.8

64.6

50.8

2.3

3.2

5.1

7.2

4.6

5.1

4.2

75 and older

668

1,258

1,826

3,741

590

568

1,915

88.3

45.2

104.9

0.5

0.8

1.1

2.2

6.5

3.8

7.4
 

Men, 16 years and older

73,959

82,520

86,096

89,595

8,561

3,576

3,499

11.6

4.3

4.1

53.7

53.5

53.1

52.4

1.1

0.4

0.4

16 to 24

11,464

11,538

10,695

9,709

74

-843

-986

0.6

-7.3

-9.2

8.3

7.5

6.6

5.7

0.1

-0.8

-1.0

16 to 19

4,244

3,472

2,909

2,443

-772

-563

-466

-18.2

-16.2

-16.0

3.1

2.3

1.8

1.4

-2.0

-1.8

-1.7

20 to 24

7,221

8,065

7,786

7,266

844

-279

-520

11.7

-3.5

-6.7

5.2

5.2

4.8

4.2

1.1

-0.4

-0.7

25 to 54

53,002

56,202

55,440

57,489

3,200

-762

2,049

6.0

-1.4

3.7

38.5

36.4

34.2

33.6

0.6

-0.1

0.4

25 to 34

17,796

18,302

19,789

19,649

506

1,487

-140

2.8

8.1

-0.7

12.9

11.9

12.2

11.5

0.3

0.8

-0.1

35 to 44

20,242

18,972

18,123

20,796

-1,270

-849

2,673

-6.3

-4.5

14.7

14.7

12.3

11.2

12.2

-0.6

-0.5

1.4

45 to 54

14,963

18,928

17,528

17,045

3,965

-1,400

-483

26.5

-7.4

-2.8

10.9

12.3

10.8

10.0

2.4

-0.8

-0.3

55 and older

9,493

14,780

19,961

22,397

5,287

5,181

2,436

55.7

35.1

12.2

6.9

9.6

12.3

13.1

4.5

3.1

1.2

55 to 64

7,253

11,345

14,436

13,811

4,092

3,091

-625

56.4

27.2

-4.3

5.3

7.4

8.9

8.1

4.6

2.4

-0.4

65 to 74

1,826

2,724

4,471

6,523

898

1,747

2,052

49.2

64.1

45.9

1.3

1.8

2.8

3.8

4.1

5.1

3.8

75 and older

413

711

1,054

2,063

298

343

1,009

72.1

48.3

95.7

0.3

0.5

0.7

1.2

5.6

4.0

6.9
 

Women, 16 years and older

63,714

71,767

75,978

81,399

8,053

4,211

5,421

12.6

5.9

7.1

46.3

46.5

46.9

47.6

1.2

0.6

0.7

16 to 24

10,430

10,494

10,289

9,989

64

-205

-300

0.6

-2.0

-2.9

7.6

6.8

6.3

5.8

0.1

-0.2

-0.3

16 to 19

4,012

3,385

2,977

2,701

-627

-408

-276

-15.6

-12.1

-9.3

2.9

2.2

1.8

1.6

-1.7

-1.3

-1.0

20 to 24

6,418

7,109

7,312

7,288

691

203

-24

10.8

2.9

-0.3

4.7

4.6

4.5

4.3

1.0

0.3

0.0

25 to 54

45,716

48,195

48,264

50,693

2,479

69

2,430

5.4

0.1

5.0

33.2

31.2

29.8

29.6

0.5

0.0

0.5

25 to 34

15,017

15,030

16,986

17,302

13

1,956

316

0.1

13.0

1.9

10.9

9.7

10.5

10.1

0.0

1.2

0.2

35 to 44

17,294

16,089

15,496

17,489

-1,205

-593

1,993

-7.0

-3.7

12.9

12.6

10.4

9.6

10.2

-0.7

-0.4

1.2

45 to 54

13,405

17,075

15,782

15,903

3,670

-1,293

121

27.4

-7.6

0.8

9.7

11.1

9.7

9.3

2.4

-0.8

0.1

55 and older

7,569

13,078

17,425

20,717

5,509

4,347

3,292

72.8

33.2

18.9

5.5

8.5

10.8

12.1

5.6

2.9

1.7

55 to 64

5,962

10,270

12,918

13,188

4,308

2,648

270

72.3

25.8

2.1

4.3

6.7

8.0

7.7

5.6

2.3

0.2

65 to 74

1,352

2,261

3,735

5,852

909

1,474

2,117

67.2

65.2

56.7

1.0

1.5

2.3

3.4

5.3

5.1

4.6

75 and older

255

547

772

1,678

292

225

906

114.5

41.1

117.3

0.2

0.4

0.5

1.0

7.9

3.5

8.1
 

White

115,415

125,635

125,815

128,912

10,220

180

3,097

8.9

0.1

2.5

83.8

81.4

77.6

75.4

0.9

0.0

0.2

Men

63,034

68,351

68,082

68,840

5,317

-269

758

8.4

-0.4

1.1

45.8

44.3

42.0

40.3

0.8

0.0

0.1

Women

52,380

57,284

57,733

60,072

4,904

449

2,339

9.4

0.8

4.1

38.0

37.1

35.6

35.1

0.9

0.1

0.4
 

Black

15,982

17,740

20,414

22,211

1,758

2,674

1,797

11.0

15.1

8.8

11.6

11.5

12.6

13.0

1.0

1.4

0.8

Men

7,542

8,347

9,694

10,448

805

1,347

754

10.7

16.1

7.8

5.5

5.4

6.0

6.1

1.0

1.5

0.8

Women

8,441

9,393

10,720

11,763

952

1,327

1,044

11.3

14.1

9.7

6.1

6.1

6.6

6.9

1.1

1.3

0.9
 

Asian

6,278

7,202

10,137

12,540

924

2,935

2,403

14.7

40.8

23.7

4.6

4.7

6.3

7.3

1.4

3.5

2.2

Men

3,383

3,852

5,346

6,559

469

1,494

1,213

13.9

38.8

22.7

2.5

2.5

3.3

3.8

1.3

3.3

2.1

Women

2,895

3,350

4,790

5,981

455

1,440

1,191

15.7

43.0

24.9

2.1

2.2

3.0

3.5

1.5

3.6

2.2
 

All other groups1

—

3,710

5,709

7,331

—

1,999

1,622

—

53.9

28.4

—

—

3.5

4.3

—

4.4

2.5

Men

—

1,970

2,974

3,748

—

1,004

774

—

51.0

26.0

—

—

1.8

2.2

—

4.2

2.3

Women

—

1,740

2,735

3,583

—

995

848

—

57.2

31.0

—

—

1.7

2.1

—

4.6

2.7
 

Hispanic origin

14,317

22,024

28,336

35,721

7,707

6,312

7,385

53.8

28.7

26.1

10.4

14.3

17.5

20.9

4.4

2.6

2.3

Men

8,571

13,255

16,113

19,989

4,684

2,858

3,876

54.6

21.6

24.1

6.2

8.6

9.9

11.7

4.5

2.0

2.2

Women

5,746

8,769

12,223

15,732

3,023

3,454

3,509

52.6

39.4

28.7

4.2

5.7

7.5

9.2

4.3

3.4

2.6
 

Other than Hispanic origin

123,356

132,263

133,739

135,273

8,907

1,476

1,534

7.2

1.1

1.1

89.6

85.7

82.5

79.1

0.7

0.1

0.1

Men

65,388

69,265

69,983

69,606

3,877

718

-377

5.9

1.0

-0.5

47.5

44.9

43.2

40.7

0.6

0.1

-0.1

Women

57,968

62,998

63,755

65,668

5,030

757

1,913

8.7

1.2

3.0

42.1

40.8

39.3

38.4

0.8

0.1

0.3
 

White non-Hispanic

101,767

105,210

100,666

97,375

3,443

-4,544

-3,291

3.4

-4.3

-3.3

73.9

68.2

62.1

56.9

0.3

-0.4

-0.3

Men

54,833

55,971

53,675

51,084

1,138

-2,296

-2,591

2.1

-4.1

-4.8

39.8

36.3

33.1

29.9

0.2

-0.4

-0.5

Women

46,935

49,238

46,991

46,291

2,303

-2,247

-700

4.9

-4.6

-1.5

34.1

31.9

29.0

27.1

0.5

-0.5

-0.2

Age of baby boomers

34 to 52

44 to 62

54 to 72

64 to 82

Footnotes:
  1 The "all other groups" category includes (1) those classified as being of multiple racial origin and (2) the racial categories of (2a) American Indian and Alaska Native and (2b) Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders.
Note: Dash indicates no data collected for category. Details may not sum to totals because of rounding.
Source: Employment Projections program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Last Modified Date: September 4, 2019