Role of Gender in the American Workforce - Essay Example

American workforce comprises almost equal numbers of male and female workers with such diverse ethnic backgrounds as Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics. The workers are witnessing a steady rise in various new segments such as health, computers, information technology, and numerous other public sectors. The service sector itself saw a substantial rise in the number of laborers in transportation, services, wholesale and retail trade, utilities, finance, real estate, insurance, and even in government jobs. Now let us look closely at the changing percentage of gender, age, race, and disability in the face of the changing job market.

Role of Gender

Men are historically known to contribute the largest part of the employee ratio, with white men leading the show. However, this statistic is witnessing an amazing transformation as more and more ladies step out of their homes to earn a living.

Women play a very significant role in the contribution of the total labor force as they account for 46.8 percent of labor as of 2009. America gives employment to 66 Million women of which 74 percent worked on a full-time basis while the remaining 26 percent comprised of part-time workers. 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 (United States Department of Labor, 2009). The biggest percentile of women belonging to White, Black, and Asian ethnicity worked in professional, management, or related positions in the ratio of 41, 34, and 47 respectively, while the Hispanic women comprising 32 percent worked in sales or office occupation.

Age Factor

With the steady increase in population, the working age is also finding growth in the employment chart. In 2005, 22,290 workers were found in the age group of 16-24 which would increase to 25,808 in 2050. Similarly, 102,773 workers comprising the working age group of 25-54 in 2005 would increase to 124,392 in 2050. And lastly, of the 24,257 people working above the age limit of 55 years (in 2005), there would be a double workforce increase in 2050 with 44,556 active workers.

Race and Employment Rate

The current trend is showing that the minority group is slowly rising to bag more jobs while the majority group is slowly losing its occupations. The Hispanic Labor Force is expected to grow by 2.0 percent annually during 2005-2050 and reach 47.3 million and constitute 24.3 percent of the labor force (Projected Composition of the American Workforce, Race and Ethnicity). The labor force from Asian backgrounds would find the same rate of increment while the Blacks will witness one percent of annual employment growth. However, the White, non-Hispanic group would witness a poor rate of job growth at 0.1 percent only.

Disability and Labor

The proportion of the population in 2009- the employment-population ratio was 19.2 percent among those with a disability (Persons With a Disability: Labor Force Characteristics- 2009). However, the employment-population ratio for people without a disability was 64.5 percent. Thus, disability caused a major problem in occupation.