March 26--Women and minorities make up a greater share of the U.S. workforce according to a new report by CareerBuilder.
The report, "Changing Face of U.S. Jobs," released this week, looked at how a more diverse population is affecting the composition of nearly 800 jobs by gender, age, and race or ethnicity.
In 2014, 49 percent of jobs were held by women compared with 48 percent in 2001. That amounts to 4.9 million more female workers since 2001 compared with just 2.2 million additional male workers.
On the other hand, the rate of women in high-paying jobs declined. Women lost ground in 48 of the 50 highest-paying jobs, the report said, including surgeons, chief executives and software developers.
Men are entering a wider variety of occupations. The report found that men are gaining a share of employment in 72 percent of all occupations. Examples include gains in female-majority occupations such as pharmacists, credit analysts and physical therapists. Women gained a greater share in just 21 percent of occupations, including some male-dominated areas such as labor relations specialists, landscape architects and agriculture managers.
And the pay gap still exists, according to the CareerBuilder report. Jobs with a high concentration of male workers pay significantly more per hour on average than jobs with a high concentration of female workers. Men commanded a median hourly wage of $25.49 versus $20.85 for women.
Among the occupations that lost 10,000 jobs or more since 2001, 76 percent were male-dominated, according to the report.
Hispanic and Asian workers made gains in the overall workforce during the past 13 years. In 2014, Hispanics held 13 percent of jobs, up from 11 percent in 2001. Asians held 5 percent of jobs last year compared with 4 percent in 2001. And Asians made gains in 90 percent of occupations tracked overall. The percentage of African-American workers rose in 22 percent of all occupations. Moreover, they made gains in 44 percent of the 50 highest-paying jobs, according to the report.
The report describes one of the most dramatic changes since 2001 as the shift in age of the workforce. The group of workers age 55 and older grew 40 percent since 2001 and the teenage share of the workforce fell by 33 percent. The share of workers ages 35 to 54 shrank by 1 percent, according to the study.
crshropshire@tribpub.com
