Given how central work is to the lives of many Americans, the federal government carefully and consistently collects information on job availability, job characteristics and the demographics of the workforce. This chapter presents some of the key indicators collected by federal agencies and, when available, how they have changed over the past couple of decades. These topics include:
- The share of U.S. workers who are looking for work, and how long employees have worked for their current employer
- How much workers earn, how they are paid, and how much control they have over their work goals and processes
- How the age diversity, racial and ethnic diversity, and education of the U.S. workforce has changed in recent decades
How easy is it to find and keep a job?
National unemployment rate
The standard measure of the availability of jobs is the national unemployment rate, or the share of the labor force who is…
