New visualizations capture crucial measure of health of labor market

This second visualization, below, allows you to compare the composition of the labor force between to demographic categories. The differences are often very stark.

The dropdown filters on the left-hand side of the visualization correspond to the bar on the left-hand side, and the dropdown filters on the right-hand side of the visualization correspond to the bar on the right-hand side. You can compare the results for the same composite at two different moments in time or compare the results for two different composites at either the same or a different moment in time.

In the preset example below, you will see that in March 2014, 74.33 percent of White, Non-Hispanic men between the ages of 41-54 with a high school degree were employed full time, while only 57.73 percent of Black, Non-Hispanic women between the ages of 26 and 40 with some college were employed full time, a difference of 16.8 percentage points. By contrast, 13.35 percent of Black, Non-Hispanic women between the ages of 26 and 40 with some college were employed part time, while only 4.95 percent of White, Non-Hispanic men between the ages of 41-54 with a high school degree were employed part time. (All monthly data represents a 12-month moving average.)

Notes: The sampling error for some composites was too large to be considered reliable, and data for those categories have been excluded from this visualization. The “Unemployed” category in this visualization does not correspond to the commonly reported unemployment rate. The denominator in the calculation in this visualization is the civilian, non-institutional working-age population, while the denominator of the unemployment rate is the civilian labor force.