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Labor force characteristics by race and ethnicity, 2023

In 2023, the overall unemployment rate (jobless rate) for the United States was 3.6 percent; however, the rate varied across race and ethnicity groups. Among the race groups, jobless rates were higher than the national rate for people who are American Indian and Alaska Native (6.6 percent), Black or African American (5.5 percent), and people categorized as being of Two or More Races (5.4 percent). The unemployment rate for people who are Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (4.1 percent) was little different from the national rate, while the unemployment rates for those who are White (3.3 percent) and Asian (3.0 percent) were lower than the national rate in 2023. The rate for people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity was 4.6 percent, compared with the rate of 3.4 percent for people who are not Hispanic or Latino. (See tables 1 and 2.)

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 age distribution; 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—people who are White, Black or African American, Asian, and Hispanic or Latino—and provides detailed data through a set of supporting tables. People whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. The report also contains a limited amount of data on people who are American Indian and Alaska Native, people who are Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, people who are of Two or More Races, detailed Asian groups, and detailed Hispanic or Latino groups. However, 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 sample survey of about 60,000 households that is a rich source of information on the labor force. See the technical notes for definitions of terms and concepts used in this report. 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 2023.

Composition of the labor force

People who are White made up the majority of the labor force (76 percent) in 2023. Those who are Black or African American and Asian constituted an additional 13 percent and 7 percent, respectively. People who are American Indian and Alaska Native made up 1 percent of the labor force, while those who are Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander accounted for about half a percent. People who are of Two or More Races made up 2 percent of the labor force. (See table 1.)

Among people who are Asian and participating in the labor force, the largest group was Asian Indian, making up 26 percent of all Asians. People who are Chinese made up 21 percent, followed by people who are Filipino (15 percent), Vietnamese (10 percent), Korean (7 percent), and Japanese (4 percent). The remainder—17 percent—were classified as Other Asians, including individuals in an Asian group not listed above—such as Pakistani, Cambodian, and Hmong—and those who were of two or more Asian groups. (See table 2.)

People of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, who may be of any race, made up 19 percent of the total labor force in 2023. Almost 9 in 10 people who are of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity in the labor force were White (89 percent). Another 5 percent were Black or African American and 1 percent were Asian. Most of the people who are Hispanic or Latino in the labor force were Mexican (59 percent). Central Americans made up another 12 percent, about one-third of whom were Salvadorans. Eight percent of Hispanic or Latino people in the labor force were Puerto Rican and 9 percent were South American. People of Cuban and Dominican ethnicity each represented 4 percent of the Hispanic or Latino labor force. An additional 4 percent were classified as Other Hispanic or Latino. (See table 2.)

Labor force participation

Among the race and ethnicity groups in 2023, the percentage of the population either employed or unemployed—the labor force participation rate—was highest for people who are Hispanic (66.9 percent). The participation rate for people who are Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander was 66.0 percent; people who are of Two or More Races, 65.3 percent; Asians, 65.0 percent; Blacks or African Americans, 63.1 percent; Whites, 62.3 percent; and American Indians and Alaska Natives, 59.2 percent. (See tables 1 and 2, and chart 1.)

Among adult men (20 years and older) in the largest race and ethnicity groups (people who are White, Black or African American, Asian, and Hispanic or Latino), Hispanic or Latino men were most likely to be in the labor force in 2023, with a participation rate of 79.2 percent. Black or African American men were the least likely, with a rate of 68.6 percent. The labor force participation rate was 75.8 percent and 70.1 percent for Asian adult men and White adult men, respectively. Among adult women, Black or African American women (63.2 percent) were more likely to participate in the labor force than were Hispanic or Latino women (61.3 percent), Asian women (59.9 percent), and White women (57.6 percent). Among teenagers (16 to 19 years), those who are White were more likely to participate in the labor force than were other groups, with a participation rate of 39.2 percent, followed by Hispanic or Latino teens (34.1 percent) and Black or African American teens (30.3 percent). Asian teens were the least likely to participate in the labor force at 23.1 percent. (See table 3.)

Employment

The employment–population ratio (the proportion of the population that is employed) varied among the race and ethnicity groups in 2023. The employment–population ratios for people who are Hispanic or Latino (63.8 percent), Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (63.3 percent), and Asian (63.1 percent) were higher than the ratios for people who are White (60.2 percent) and Black or African American (59.6 percent). The ratio for people who are of Two or More Races was 61.8 percent. (See tables 1, 2, 3, 5, and 5a.)

Among adult men (20 years and older), those who are Hispanic or Latino continued to have the highest employment–population ratio (75.9 percent) in 2023. Black or African American men had the lowest (65.0 percent), also continuing a long-standing employment pattern. The employment–population ratios for Asian adult men and White adult men were 73.4 percent and 67.9 percent, respectively. Among adult women, the ratios continued to show less variation compared with their male counterparts: 60.1 percent for Black or African American women, 58.7 percent for Hispanic or Latino women, 58.4 percent for Asian women, and 55.9 percent for White women. (See table 3.)

In 2023, the employment–population ratio among teenagers (16 to 19 years) continued to be higher for teens who are White than for Asian, Black or African American, or Hispanic or Latino teens. The ratio for White teens (35.2 percent) was about 14 percentage points higher than the ratio for Asian teens (20.9 percent), 10 percentage points higher than for Black or African American teens (25.1 percent), and about 5 percentage points higher than for Hispanic or Latino teens (29.8 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 92 percent each for people who are White, Black or African American, or Asian in 2023. For people who are Hispanic or Latino, the share of the labor force with at least a high school diploma was 80 percent. Continuing a long-standing pattern, people who are Asian were the most likely of the groups to have graduated from college: 68 percent of Asians in the labor force had a bachelor’s degree and higher, compared with 44 percent of White, 36 percent of Black or African American, and 25 percent of Hispanic or Latino people. (See table 6 and chart 2.)

Higher levels of educational attainment 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 the rates for those with lower levels of educational attainment in 2023. (See table 6.) Individuals with higher levels of education are also more likely to be employed in higher paying jobs—such as those in management, professional, and related occupations—than are individuals with less education. For example, median earnings of people 25 years and older increased with educational attainment across all the major race and ethnicity groups. (These earnings comparisons are on a broad level and do not control for many factors that can be important in explaining earnings differences.) (See table 17.)

Occupation

In 2023, 59 percent of Asian workers were employed in management, professional, and related occupations—the highest paying major occupational category—compared with 44 percent of White, 36 percent of Black or African American, and 26 percent of Hispanic or Latino workers. (See table 7 and chart 3.)

Among the employed, 60 percent of Asian men worked in management, professional, and related occupations, compared with 40 percent of White men, 30 percent of Black or African American men, and 22 percent of Hispanic or Latino men. In addition, 18 percent of Black or African American men and 18 percent of Hispanic or Latino men worked in service occupations, compared with 12 percent of White men and 11 percent of Asian men. Employed Black or African American men (27 percent) and Hispanic or Latino men (21 percent) were also more likely than White men (17 percent) and Asian men (11 percent) to work in production, transportation, and material moving occupations. Twenty-seven percent of employed Hispanic or Latino men worked in natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations, compared with 18 percent of employed White men, 10 percent of employed Black or African American men, and 4 percent of employed Asian men. (See table 7.)

Employed Asian women were more likely than other employed women to work in management, professional, and related occupations: 58 percent of Asian women worked in these occupations, compared with 49 percent of White women, 42 percent of Black or African American women, and 31 percent of Hispanic or Latino women. Among the employed, 55 percent of Hispanic or Latino women worked in two major occupational groups—service occupations and sales and office occupations—compared with 49 percent of Black or African American women, 44 percent of White women, and 36 percent of Asian women.

People who are Hispanic or Latino accounted for 19 percent of total employment but were substantially overrepresented in several detailed occupational categories in 2023, including painters and paperhangers (61 percent), construction laborers (52 percent), maids and housekeeping cleaners (52 percent), landscaping and groundskeeping workers (50 percent), and carpenters (44 percent). People who are Black or African American made up 13 percent of all employed workers but were substantially overrepresented in several detailed occupational categories as well, including nursing assistants (38 percent), security guards and gambling surveillance officers (36 percent), transit and intercity bus drivers (33 percent), and licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (32 percent). In addition, people who are Asian accounted for 7 percent of all employed people but made up a much larger share of workers in several occupational categories, including manicurists and pedicurists (65 percent), software developers (36 percent), computer programmers (24 percent), and pharmacists (21 percent). People who are White comprised 77 percent of all employed people and accounted for 96 percent of farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers, 92 percent of aircraft pilots and flight engineers, 91 percent of miscellaneous agricultural workers, and 90 percent of construction managers. (See table 8.)

Industry

Hispanic or Latino men were more likely to work in the construction industry (22 percent) than were White men (14 percent), Black or African American men (7 percent), or Asian men (3 percent) in 2023. Employed Black or African American men were more likely to work in transportation and utilities (15 percent) than were Hispanic or Latino (9 percent), White (8 percent), and Asian (7 percent) men. Twenty-one percent of employed Asian men worked in professional and business services, higher than the shares of White men (14 percent), Black or African American men (13 percent), and Hispanic or Latino men (12 percent). (See table 9.)

A large share of employed women across all race and ethnicity groups worked in education and health services: 40 percent of Black or African American women, 36 percent of White women, 32 percent of Asian women, and 30 percent of Hispanic or Latino women. Like their male counterparts, a higher share of Asian women (16 percent) worked in professional and business services than did White women (12 percent), Hispanic or Latino women (12 percent), and Black or African American women (10 percent). Hispanic or Latino women were more likely to work in leisure and hospitality (14 percent) than were White women (10 percent), Asian women (9 percent), and Black or African American women (8 percent).

Family and parents

Asian families (87 percent) and Hispanic or Latino families (87 percent) were more likely to have at least one family member employed in 2023 than were Black or African American families (81 percent) and White families (79 percent). (See table 10.)

Families maintained by women accounted for 39 percent of Black or African American families, 24 percent of Hispanic or Latino families, 15 percent of White families, and 11 percent of Asian families. Among families maintained by women, 86 percent of Asian families have an employed family member. By comparison, 83 percent of Hispanic or Latino families, 80 percent of White families, and 78 percent of Black or African American families that were maintained by women had at least one employed family member. In general, families maintained by men were more likely than married-couple families or families maintained by women to have an employed family member. (See table 10.)

Among mothers living with children under 18 years old, 79.5 percent of Black or African American mothers participated in the labor force, compared with 73.5 percent of White mothers, 70.7 percent of Asian mothers, and 66.1 percent of Hispanic or Latino mothers. (See table 11.)

Across all the 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. The labor force participation rates for these fathers were 94.0 percent for White men, 93.8 percent for Asian men, 93.0 percent for Hispanic or Latino men, and 90.5 percent for Black or African American men.

Unemployment

The overall unemployment rate (jobless rate) for the United States was unchanged at 3.6 percent from 2022 to 2023, but the rate varied across race and ethnicity groups. In 2023, the unemployment rate averaged 6.6 percent for people who are American Indians and Alaska Natives, 5.5 percent for people who are Black or African Americans, 5.4 percent for people of Two or More Races, 4.6 percent for people who are Hispanic or Latino, 4.1 percent for people who are Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, 3.3 percent for people who are White, and 3.0 percent for people who are Asian. (See tables 1, 2, 3, 12, and 12a, and charts 4 and 5.)

Among adult men (20 years and older) in 2023, Black or African American men and Hispanic or Latino men were more likely to be jobless (with unemployment rates of 5.3 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively) than were Asian men (3.2 percent) and White men (3.1 percent). Among adult women, the unemployment rate for Asian women (2.5 percent) was little different than the rate for White women (2.8 percent). The rates for Hispanic or Latino women (4.2 percent) and Black or African American women (4.9 percent) were higher than for the other groups. Among teenagers (16 to 19 years), the unemployment rate was 17.1 percent for Black or African American teens, 12.6 percent for Hispanic or Latino teens, 10.0 percent for White teens, and 9.6 percent for Asian teens. (See table 3.)

Unemployed people who are Asian and Black or African American experienced longer periods of unemployment than did people who are Hispanic or Latino and people who are White. The median duration of unemployment for those who are Asian and Black or African American was 11.2 weeks and 10.3 weeks, respectively, whereas the figure was 8.4 weeks for those who are White and 8.2 weeks for those who are Hispanic or Latino. (See table 13.)

Of the 6.1 million people who were unemployed in 2023, 47.2 percent were job losers (defined as workers who were on temporary layoff, lost their jobs permanently, or had completed temporary jobs). Reentrants to the labor force (30.1 percent), job leavers (13.5 percent), and new entrants (9.1 percent) accounted for the rest of the unemployed. Among the unemployed, 49.2 percent of Hispanic or Latino, 48.3 percent of White, 45.8 percent of Black or African American, and 42.7 percent of Asian people were job losers. (See table 14.)

Not in the labor force

People who are Black or African American made up 13 percent of the civilian labor force and 23 percent of people marginally attached to the labor force in 2023. 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. People who are Hispanic or Latino and Asian were represented among the marginally attached nearly proportional to their share of the labor force. Those who are White were underrepresented among the marginally attached relative to their share of the labor force: they comprised 76 percent of the labor force and 64 percent of the marginally attached.

People who are Black or African American 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

Hispanic or Latino and Black or African American workers continued to have considerably lower earnings than those who are White or Asian in 2023. The median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers in 2023 were $874 for Hispanic or Latino, $920 for Black or African American, $1,138 for White, and $1,474 for Asian workers. The earnings for employed White men ($1,225), Black men ($970), and Hispanic or Latino men ($915) were 75 percent, 59 percent, and 56 percent, respectively, of the earnings of Asian men ($1,635). The median earnings of White women ($1,021), Black or African American women ($889), and Hispanic or Latino women ($800) were 79 percent, 68 percent, and 62 percent, respectively, of the earnings of Asian women ($1,299). (These earnings comparisons are broad and do not control for many factors that can be significant in explaining earnings differences, such as job skills and responsibilities, work experience, specialization, and educational attainment.) (See table 16.)

The earnings disparity across the major race and ethnicity groups for men holds for most of the major occupational groups. For example, median usual weekly earnings of Asian men ($2,103) and White men ($1,782) working full time in management, professional, and related occupations (the highest paying major occupational group) were considerably higher than the earnings of Hispanic or Latino men ($1,475) and Black or African American men ($1,447) in the same occupational group. However, median usual weekly earnings of White men ($820) and Asian men ($797) working full time in service occupations were relatively close to the earnings of Black or African American men ($749) and Hispanic or Latino men ($719) in the same occupational group. (See table 18.)

The earnings disparity across the major race and ethnicity groups for women also holds for most of the major occupational groups. Median usual weekly earnings of Asian women ($1,667) and White women ($1,351) working full time in management, professional, and related occupations were higher than the earnings of Black or African American women ($1,209) and Hispanic or Latino women ($1,172) in the same occupational group. By contrast, median weekly earnings for women by race and ethnicity group were relatively close for service occupations: $716 for Asian women, $680 for White women, $654 for Black or African American women, and $646 for Hispanic or Latino women.