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Labor force characteristics by race and ethnicity, 2020

In 2020, the overall unemployment rate (jobless rate) for the United States averaged 8.1 percent. However, the rate varied across race and ethnicity groups. Among the race groups, jobless rates were higher than the national rate for American Indians and Alaska Natives (11.7 percent), people categorized as being of Two or More Races (11.6 percent), and Blacks or African Americans (11.4 percent). For the year as a whole, the unemployment rates for Asians (8.7 percent) and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (8.9 percent) were not much different from the overall unemployment rate. The jobless rate was lower than the national rate for Whites (7.3 percent). The rate for people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, at 10.4 percent, was higher than the rate of 7.5 percent for non-Hispanics. (See table 1 and 2.)

The labor market downturn in 2020 reflected the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to contain it. The effects of the pandemic on the job market, while widespread, varied across race and ethnicity groups. For example, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics were disproportionally affected by the pandemic-induced recession in the spring of 2020, in part reflecting their overrepresentation in some of the hardest hit sectors of the economy.¹ In addition to the effects of the pandemic, there are long-standing labor market differences among the race and ethnicity groups. These differences 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.

The data were obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about 60,000 households that is a rich source of information on the labor force. For definitions of terms and concepts used in this report, see the technical notes. Additional information about the CPS can be found at https://www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm.

The sections that follow highlight some of the major findings on the labor force characteristics of race and ethnicity groups in 2020.

Composition of the labor force

By race, Whites made up the majority of the labor force (77 percent). Blacks and Asians constituted an additional 13 percent and 6 percent, respectively. American Indians and Alaska Natives made up 1 percent of the labor force, while Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders accounted for less than half a percent. People of Two or More Races made up 2 percent of the labor force. (See table 1.)

Among Asians participating in the labor force, the largest group was Asian Indian, making up 25 percent of all Asians. Chinese made up 22 percent, followed by Filipinos (14 percent), Vietnamese (9 percent), Koreans (8 percent), and Japanese (5 percent). The remainder—17 percent—were classified as Other Asians, a category that includes individuals in an Asian group not listed above—such as Pakistani, Cambodian, Hmong, etc.—and those who were of two or more Asian groups (as calculated from the data in table 2).

People of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, who may be of any race, made up 18 percent of the total labor force. Almost 9 in 10 Hispanics in the labor force were White (89 percent). Another 5 percent were Black, and 1 percent were Asian. By detailed ethnicity, the majority of Hispanics in the labor force were Mexican (60 percent). Central Americans made up another 11 percent, about two-fifths of whom were Salvadorans. Nine percent of Hispanics in the labor force were Puerto Rican, and 8 percent were South American. People of Cuban and Dominican ethnicity each represented 4 percent of the Hispanic labor force. An additional 5 percent were classified as Other Hispanic or Latino. (See table 2.)

Labor force participation

Among the race and ethnicity groups, the percentage of the population either employed or unemployed—the labor force participation rate—was highest for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (66.7 percent in 2020), Hispanics (65.6 percent), and people of Two or More Races (64.4 percent). The participation rate for Asians was 62.7 percent; Whites, 61.8 percent; Blacks, 60.5 percent; and American Indians and Alaska Natives, 59.3 percent. (See tables 1, 2, 3, 4, and 4A, and chart 1.)

Among adult men (20 years and older) in the largest race and ethnicity groups (White, Black, Asian and Hispanic), Hispanics were more likely to engage in labor force activity than were the other groups, with a participation rate of 79.1 percent, and Blacks were the least likely, with a rate of 65.6 percent. The labor force participation rate for Asian adult men (74.0 percent) was higher than the rate for White adult men (70.3 percent). Among adult women, Blacks (60.7 percent) were more likely to participate in the labor force than were Hispanics (58.8 percent), Asians (57.7 percent), and Whites (56.8 percent). Among teenagers (16 to 19 years), Asians (19.2 percent) were less likely to participate in the labor force than were Whites (36.8 percent), Hispanics (32.4 percent), and Blacks (29.8 percent). (See table 3.)

Employment

The employment-population ratio (the proportion of the population that is employed) ranged from 52.4 percent for American Indians and Alaska Natives to 60.8 percent for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders. The employment-population ratio was 58.7 percent for Hispanics, 57.3 percent for Asians, 57.3 percent for Whites, 56.9 percent for individuals of Two or More Races, and 53.6 percent for Blacks. (See tables 1, 2, 3, 5, and 5A.)

Among adult men (20 years and older) in the largest race and ethnicity groups, Hispanics continued to have the highest employment-population ratio (71.8 percent). Black men had the lowest (58.0 percent), also continuing a longstanding employment pattern. The employment-population ratios for Asian adult men and White adult men were 68.3 percent and 65.6 percent, respectively. Among adult women, the ratios showed less variation across the major race and ethnicity groups: 54.4 percent for Blacks, 52.7 percent for Whites, 52.4 percent for Hispanics, and 52.3 percent for Asians. (See table 3.)

The employment-population ratio among teenagers (16 to 19 years) continued to be higher for Whites than for Hispanics, Asians, or Blacks. The ratio for White teens (30.6 percent) was about 14 percentage points higher than the ratio for Asian teens (16.4 percent), 8 percentage points higher than for Black teens (22.6 percent), and about 5 percentage points higher than for Hispanic teens (25.5 percent).

Educational attainment

Among people 25 years and older, the share of the labor force with at least a high school diploma was more than 90 percent each for Whites, Blacks, and Asians. For Hispanics, the share of the labor force with at least a high school diploma was 79 percent. Asians were the most likely of the groups to have graduated from college: 67 percent of Asians in the labor force had a bachelor’s degree and higher, compared with 43 percent of Whites, 34 percent of Blacks, and 24 percent of Hispanics. (See chart 2)

Higher levels of education are generally associated with a greater likelihood of employment, and a lower likelihood of unemployment. For all major race and ethnicity groups, jobless rates for people with a bachelor’s degree and higher were lower than for other levels of educational attainment. (See table 6.)

Individuals with higher levels of education are more likely to be employed in higher paying jobs—such as those in management, professional, and related occupations—than are individuals with less education. Median earnings of people 25 years and older increased with educational attainment across all major race and ethnicity groups. Among full-time wage and salary workers, median usual weekly earnings for Blacks ($1,166) and Hispanics ($1,230) with a bachelor’s degree and higher were lower than for Whites ($1,433) and Asians ($1,650). (These earnings comparisons are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be significant in explaining earnings differences.) (See table 17.)

Occupation

In 2020, 58 percent of employed Asians worked in management, professional, and related occupations—the highest paying major occupational category—compared with 43 percent of employed Whites, 35 percent of employed Blacks, and 26 percent of employed Hispanics. (See table 7 and chart 3.)

Among employed men, 60 percent of Asians worked in management, professional, and related occupations, compared with 39 percent of Whites, 29 percent of Blacks, and 21 percent of Hispanics. About 18 percent of employed Black and Hispanic men worked in service occupations, compared with 11 percent and 12 percent of employed Asian and White men, respectively. Employed Black and Hispanic men also were more likely than White and Asian men to work in production, transportation, and material moving occupations. Twenty-six percent of employed Hispanic men worked in natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations, compared with 18 percent of White men, 11 percent of Black men, and 5 percent of Asian men. (See table 7.)

Employed Asian women were more likely than other employed women to work in management, professional, and related occupations: 57 percent of Asian women, compared with 48 percent of White women, 40 percent of Black women, and 31 percent of Hispanic women. Among employed women, 56 percent of Hispanics worked in two major occupational groups—service occupations and sales and office occupations—compared with 51 percent of Blacks, 45 percent of Whites, and 36 percent of Asians.

Hispanics accounted for 18 percent of total employment but were substantially overrepresented in several detailed occupational categories, including painters and paperhangers (51 percent), maids and housekeeping cleaners (46 percent), and construction laborers (46 percent). Blacks made up 12 percent of all employed workers, but were substantially overrepresented in several detailed occupational categories, including home health aides (37 percent), transit and intercity bus drivers (37 percent), nursing assistants (35 percent), correctional officers and jailers (33 percent), and security guards and gaming surveillance officers (31 percent). Asians accounted for 6 percent of all employed workers but made up a much larger share of workers in several occupational categories, including manicurists and pedicurists (77 percent), software developers (34 percent), computer programmers (28 percent), and financial and investment analysts (21 percent). Whites made up 78 percent of all employed people, and accounted for 96 percent of farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers; construction managers (91 percent); and wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives (89 percent). (See table 8.)

Industry

Among employed men, Hispanics were more likely to work in the construction industry (20 percent) than were Whites (14 percent), Blacks (7 percent), or Asians (3 percent). Employed Black men were more likely than employed men of other race and ethnicity groups to work in transportation and utilities (14 percent). Twenty-two percent of employed Asian men worked in professional and business services, higher than the shares of White men (14 percent), Black men (12 percent), and Hispanic men (12 percent). Among employed women, Hispanics were more likely to work in leisure and hospitality (12 percent) than were Whites, Blacks, or Asians (8 percent each). A large share of employed women across all race and ethnicity groups worked in education and health services: Blacks (41 percent), Whites (37 percent), Asians (32 percent), and Hispanics (31 percent). (See table 9.)

Family and parents

Asian families and Hispanic families were more likely to have at least one family member employed (85 percent and 84 percent, respectively) than were White families (78 percent) and Black families (76 percent). (See table 10.)

Families maintained by women accounted for 41 percent of Black families, 24 percent of Hispanic families, 15 percent of White families, and 10 percent of Asian families. Among families maintained by women, Asian families were the most likely to have an employed family member (82 percent). In comparison, 72 percent of Black families, 76 percent of White families, and 78 percent of Hispanic families that were maintained by women had at least one employed family member. In general, families maintained by women were less likely than married-couple families or families maintained by men to have an employed family member. (As calculated from the data in table 10.)

Among mothers living with children under 18 years old, Black mothers were more likely to participate in the labor force (76.0 percent) than White mothers (71.3 percent), Asian mothers (64.3 percent), or Hispanic mothers (62.8 percent). (See table 11.)

Across all race and ethnicity groups, fathers living with children under 18 years were much more likely to be in the labor force than were mothers with children under 18 years. Labor force participation rates for these fathers were 93.4 percent for White men, 92.6 percent for Hispanic men, 92.5 percent for Asian men, and 86.0 percent for Black men.

Unemployment

In 2020, the overall unemployment rate for the United States averaged 8.1 percent, but the rate varied across race and ethnicity groups. The unemployment rate averaged 11.7 percent for American Indians and Alaska Natives, 11.6 percent for people of Two or More Races, 11.4 percent for Blacks, 8.9 percent for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, 8.7 percent for Asians, and 7.3 percent for Whites. The unemployment rate was 10.4 percent for Hispanics. (See tables 1, 2, 3, 12, and 12A, and charts 4 and 5.)

Among adult men (20 years and older) in the largest race and ethnicity groups, Blacks were the most likely to be jobless (with an unemployment rate of 11.6 percent), while Whites (6.7 percent) were the least likely. The jobless rate for Asian men (7.7 percent) was lower than the rate for Hispanic men (9.2 percent). Among adult women, the unemployment rate for Whites (7.3 percent) was lower than for Asians (9.5 percent), Blacks (10.4 percent), and Hispanics (10.9 percent). Among teenagers (16 to 19 years), Blacks and Hispanics had the highest unemployment rates, at 24.1 percent and 21.2 percent, respectively, compared with 16.6 percent for Whites and 14.9 percent for Asians. (See table 3.)

Unemployed Asians and Blacks experienced longer periods of unemployment than did Hispanics and Whites. The median duration of unemployment for Asians and Blacks was 11.2 weeks and 11.0 weeks, respectively, whereas the figures for Hispanics and Whites were 9.6 weeks and 9.3 weeks, respectively. (See table 13.)

Of the 12.9 million people unemployed in 2020, 76 percent were job losers (workers who were on temporary layoff, lost their jobs permanently, or who completed temporary jobs). Reentrants to the labor force (15 percent), job leavers (5 percent), and new entrants (4 percent) accounted for the rest of the unemployed. Of the total unemployed for each major race and ethnicity group, about 78 percent of Asians, 77 percent of Whites, and 77 percent of Hispanics were job losers, compared with 71 percent of Blacks. (See table 14.)

Not in the labor force

As calculated from the data in table 15, Blacks made up 13 percent of the civilian labor force, and 23 percent of people marginally attached to the labor force. Those marginally attached to the labor force are individuals who were not in the labor force; wanted to work and were available to work; and had looked for a job sometime in the previous 12 months, but not in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Hispanics and Asians were represented among the marginally attached nearly proportionately to their share of the labor force. Whites were underrepresented among the marginally attached relative to their share of the labor force: 77 percent of the labor force versus 66 percent of the marginally attached.

Blacks also made up a high proportion of discouraged workers (26 percent) relative to their share of the labor force. Discouraged workers, who represent a subset of the marginally attached, are people not currently looking for work because they believe that no jobs are available for them. (See table 15.)

Earnings

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Hispanics and Blacks continued to have considerably lower earnings than Whites and Asians. The median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers in 2020 were $758 for Hispanics, $794 for Blacks, $1,003 for Whites, and $1,310 for Asians. The earnings for White men ($1,110), Black men ($830), and Hispanic men ($797) were 77 percent, 57 percent, and 55 percent, respectively, of the earnings of Asian men ($1,447). The median earnings of White women ($905), Black women ($764), and Hispanic women ($705) were 79 percent, 67 percent, and 62 percent, respectively, of the earnings of Asian women ($1,143). (These earnings comparisons are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be significant in explaining earnings differences, such as job skills and responsibilities, work experience, and specialization.) (See table 16.)

The earnings disparity across the major race and ethnicity groups for men holds for all major occupational groups. For example, median usual weekly earnings of Asian men and White men working full time in management, professional, and related occupations (the highest paying major occupational group), at $1,883 and $1,599, respectively, were considerably higher than the earnings of Hispanic men ($1,316) and Black men ($1,232) in the same occupational group. (See table 18.)

Median weekly earnings for women by race and ethnicity group were relatively close for service occupations: $600 for Asians, $578 for Whites, $551 for Blacks, and $535 for Hispanics. By contrast, in management, professional, and related occupations, the earnings of Asian women were considerably higher than those for women in other race and ethnicity groups.