Employment composition of the pre-pandemic and pandemic workforces, by selected demographic characteristics
| Employment | Alt-2019 (millions) | Alt-2020 (millions) | Alt-2021 (millions) | Alt-2019–Alt-2020 | Alt-2020–Alt-2021 | Alt-2019–Alt-2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | 141.58 | 130.42 | 137.01 | -7.9% | 5.1% | -3.2% |
| Gender | ||||||
| Male | 73.26 | 67.90 | 71.08 | -7.3% | 4.7% | -3.0% |
| Female | 68.32 | 62.52 | 65.93 | -8.5% | 5.5% | -3.5% |
| Age | ||||||
| 24 and under | 18.92 | 16.51 | 18.18 | -12.7% | 10.1% | -3.9% |
| 25–54 | 91.67 | 85.22 | 88.87 | -7.0% | 4.3% | -3.1% |
| 55 and over | 30.99 | 28.68 | 29.96 | -7.4% | 4.4% | -3.3% |
| Race/ethnicity | ||||||
| White | 86.32 | 80.26 | 83.10 | -7.0% | 3.5% | -3.7% |
| Black | 17.99 | 16.36 | 17.37 | -9.1% | 6.2% | -3.5% |
| Hispanic | 25.58 | 23.17 | 24.98 | -9.4% | 7.8% | -2.3% |
| AAPI | 10.16 | 9.29 | 10.08 | -8.6% | 8.5% | -0.9% |
| Education | ||||||
| Less than high school | 11.29 | 9.33 | 10.36 | -17.4% | 11.1% | -8.2% |
| High school | 36.85 | 32.69 | 35.07 | -11.3% | 7.3% | -4.8% |
| Some college | 39.15 | 35.19 | 36.17 | -10.1% | 2.8% | -7.6% |
| College | 34.63 | 33.43 | 34.91 | -3.5% | 4.4% | 0.8% |
| Advanced | 19.66 | 19.78 | 20.50 | 0.6% | 3.6% | 4.3% |
Notes: AAPI refers to Asian American and Pacific Islander. Race/ethnicity categories are mutually exclusive (i.e., white non-Hispanic, Black non-Hispanic, AAPI non-Hispanic, and Hispanic any race). Data for each 12-month period is the average employment over that period. Percent changes are calculated using unrounded data. Alt-2019 refers to the 12 months before the pandemic (March 2019–February 2020), alt-2020 refers to the initial 12 months of the pandemic (March 2020–February 2021), and alt-2021 refers to the most recent 12 months of the pandemic (March 2021–February 2022).
Source: Authors' analysis of Current Population Survey basic monthly microdata, EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.27 (2022), https://microdata.epi.org.