Voice in the Wilderness: Interesting Information Women Workers, from Venus 2009

Of the 122 million women age 16 years and over in the U.S., 72 million, or 59.2 percent, were labor force participants—working or looking for work.

Women comprised 46.8 percent of the total U.S. labor force and are projected to account for 46.9 percent of the labor force in 2018.

Women are projected to account for 51.2 percent of the increase in total labor force growth between 2008 and 2018.

66 million women were employed in the U.S.—74 percent of employed women worked on full-time jobs, while 26 percent worked on a part-time basis.

The largest percentage of employed women (40 percent) worked in management, professional, and related occupations; 32 percent worked in sales and office occupations; 21 percent in service occupations; 5 percent in production, transportation, and material moving occupations; and 1 percent in natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations.

The largest percentage of employed Asian, white, and black women (47, 41, and 34 percent, respectively) worked in management, professional, and related occupations. For Hispanic women, it was sales and office occupations—32 percent.

The 20 most prevalent occupations for employed women in 2009 were—

Secretaries and administrative assistants, 3,074,000
Registered nurses, 2,612,000
Elementary and middle school teachers, 2,343,000
Cashiers, 2,273,000
Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides, 1,770,000
Retail salespersons, 1,650,000
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers, 1,459,000
Waiters and waitresses, 1,434,000
Maids and housekeeping cleaners, 1,282,000
Customer service representatives, 1,263,000
Child care workers, 1,228,000
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, 1,205,000
Receptionists and information clerks, 1,168,000
First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers, 1,163,000
Managers, all other, 1,106,000
Accountants and auditors, 1,084,000
Teacher assistants, 921,000
Cooks, 831,000
Office clerks, general 821,000
Personal and home care aides, 789,000

The unemployment rate for all women was 8.1 percent and 10.3 percent for men in 2009. For Asian women it was 6.6 percent; white women, 7.3 percent; Hispanic women, 11.5 percent; and black women, 12.4 percent.

The median weekly earnings of women who were full-time wage and salary workers was $657, or 80 percent of men’s $819. When comparing the median weekly earnings of persons aged 16 to 24, young women earned 93 percent of what young men earned ($424 and $458, respectively).

The 20 occupations with the highest median weekly earnings among women who were full-time wage and salary workers in 2009 were--

Pharmacists, $1,475
Lawyers, $1,449
Computer and information systems managers, $1,411
Computer software Chief executives, $1,553
Engineers, $1,311
Physicians and surgeons, $1,228
Computer programmers, $1,182
Management analysts, $1,177
Computer scientists and systems analysts, $1,167
Occupational therapists, $1,155
Speech-language pathologists, $1,148
General and operations managers, $1,110
Education administrators, $1,093
Psychologists, $1,091
Personal financial advisors, $1,088
Human resources managers, $1,072
Marketing sales managers, $1,052
Managers, all other, $1,037
Registered nurses, $1,035
Network systems and data communications analysts, $1,032

Women accounted for 51 percent of all workers in the high-paying management, professional, and related occupations. Here is just a sample of these occupations where women were the larger percentage of those employed:

Occupation
Percent Female
Registered nurses.................................................. 92.0 percent
Meeting and convention planners.................. 83.3
Elementary and middle school teachers............ 81.9
Tax examiners, collectors, and revenue agents 73.8
Medical and health services managers............. 69.5
Social and community service managers........... 69.4
Psychologists.......................................... 68.8
Other business operations specialists.............. 68.4
Human resources managers......................... 66.8
Financial specialists, all other...................... 66.6
Tax preparers...................................... 65.9
Insurance underwriters............................. 62.8
Education administrators........................... 62.6
Accountants and auditors........................ 61.8
Veterinarians......................................... 61.2
Claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners,
and investigators.................................. 60.6
Budget analysts...................................... 59.3
Medical scientists.................................... 56.9
Advertising and promotions managers........... 56.5
Financial managers................................. 54.7

Of persons aged 25 years and older, 29 percent of women and 30 percent of men had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher; 31 percent of women and men had completed only high school, no college.

The higher a person’s educational attainment, the more likely they will be a labor force participant (working or looking for work) and less likely to be unemployed.

For women age 25 and over with less than a high school diploma, 34 percent were labor force participants; high school diploma, no college, 53 percent; some college, but no degree, 62 percent; associate degree, 72 percent; and bachelor’s degree or higher, 73 percent.

For women age 25 and over with less than a high school diploma, their unemployment rate was 14.2 percent; high school diploma, no college, 8.0 percent; some college, but no degree, 8.0 percent; associate degree, 5.9 percent; and bachelor’s degree or higher, 4.5 percent.
http://www.dol.gov/wb/stats/main.htm