- The proportion of the civilian noninstitutional population age 16 years old and over that worked at some time during the year was 67.8 percent in 2006, essentially unchanged from 2005.
- The proportion of workers who worked full time, year round in 2006 (68.4 percent) was up from 2005 (67.5 percent).
- The "work-experience unemployment rate"-defined as the number unemployed at some time during the year as a proportion of the number who worked or looked for work during the year-was 9.1 percent in 2006, little changed from 9.3 percent in 2005.
Persons with Employment
The proportion of men who worked at some time during 2006 held at 74.4 percent. The percent of women who worked during 2006, at 61.6 percent, was little changed from a year earlier.
The proportions of whites (68.5 percent), blacks (63.6 percent), and Asians (67.5 percent) that worked some time during the year were essentially unchanged in 2006. The proportion of Hispanics who worked at some point during 2006 (69.1 percent) was up from 2005 (68.0 percent).
Among those with work experience during 2006, 78.0 percent were employed year round (working 50 to 52 weeks, either full or part time), up
by 0.6 percentage point from 2005. The percentage of women working year round rose to 74.8 percent in 2006, and the percentage of men employed year round edged up to 80.9 percent.
Of those employed at some time during 2006, 80.9 percent usually worked full time, up from 80.3 percent in 2005. Men were more likely to work full time during the year (87.8 percent) than were women (73.0 percent).
Persons with Unemployment
Overall, 14.4 million persons experienced some unemployment in 2006,essentially unchanged from 14.5 million in 2005. The number of persons that experienced some unemployment during the year was down by 2.4 million from its recent high of 16.8 million in 2002.
At 9.1 percent in 2006, the "work-experience unemployment rate" (those looking for work during the year as a percent of those who worked or looked for work during the year) was little changed from 9.3 percent in 2005. The 2006 rate is low by historical standards, but is above the series low of 8.6 percent reached in 2000. The rate for blacks fell in 2006; however, at 13.0 percent, it was higher than the rates for Hispanics (10.2 percent), whites (8.5 percent), and Asians (7.3 percent).
Overall, men continued to have higher "work-experience unemployment rates" than women in 2006. Among whites, the rate for men (9.0 percent) was higher than that for women (7.9 percent). This also was true for black men and women (14.5 and 11.7 percent, respectively). The rates for Asian men and women (7.5 and 7.0 percent, respectively) were little different from each other, as were the rates for Hispanic men and women (10.7 and 9.6 percent, respectively).
Among those who experienced unemployment in 2006, the median number of weeks spent looking for work was 13.8, down from 14.6 in 2005. About 1.9 million individuals had looked for a job but did not work at all in 2006, down from 2.4 million in 2005. Of the 12.5 million persons who worked during 2006 and also experienced unemployment, 24.5 percent had two or more spells of joblessness, about the same share as in 2005.
