The Workforce - The Potential Future Workforce

The graph above shows the high school completion rates for those 25 years old and older for 1980-2000. There were no high school data available for the Asian population, but we can assume that the high school completion rates are high if we look at college completion rates. Asian-Americans, in 1996, had the highest college completion levels, 50.2%. This exceeded all other races by 7.5 percentage points or more.

As the graph illustrates, over time high school completion rates have been going up for all races reported. Whites have consistently had the highest high school completion rates. Blacks are second, and steadily gaining on the whites. Hispanics trail blacks by a large margin, but that population also has been increasing its high school completion rate. Blacks' completion rates are lower than whites, but blacks have gained the most in the past decade. In the year 2000, 12.3% more blacks graduated than they did in 1980. This is quite a bit more than the 5.8% increase for whites, and the 6.2% increase for Hispanics.

With education comes increased employability; more of the population enters the workforce. It might be concluded, therefore, that since blacks have increased their graduation rates the most, they have the highest percentage of workers ready to enter the workforce. But, as shown on an earlier graph, Hispanics and Asians have a greater percentage of entrants to the workforce.

The fertility rates of the various races must be looked at in conjunction with the educational attainment rates to get a better understanding of this issue. The table below shows fertility rates by race. Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians all have higher fertility rates than whites. This partially explains why the whites' workforce population share is decreasing and the minority share is increasing, even though employability is high for whites. Hispanics have consistently the highest fertility rate at over 100 births per 1,000 women. That is at least 30 births more per 1,000 women than the rate for blacks and Asians, and at least 50 more births per 1,000 women than shown for whites. The rates are based on the total number of births per 1,000 women aged 15-44. A dash (-) means that data were unavailable.

Fertility Rate by Race, 1995-1997 and 1999-2000

	1995	1996	1997	1999	2000
White	57.6	57.3	57.0	57.8	58.7
Black	74.5	72.5	72.4	70.1	71.4
Hispanic	105.0	104.9	102.8	102.0	106.9
Asian	-	-	-	65.6	70.7

Although higher education levels and higher fertility levels do help to increase the number of people in the workforce, immigration also influences the number of people entering the workforce. A closer look at immigration's role in the diversification of the workforce follows.

Sources: Educational Attainment data: U. S. Census Bureau. "Table A-2. Percent of People 25 Years Old and Over Who Have Completed High School or College, by Race, Hispanic Origin and Sex: Selected Years 1940 to 2000," December 19, 2000. Kim Mahoney. "UCLA Study Finds Number of College Students Successfully Earning Bachelor's Degrees is Declining," UCLA Higher Education Research Institute, October 1, 1996. Retrieved December 10, 2001 from http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/press_darcu.htm. Fertility rate data: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Table 1-4. Birth Rates by Live-Birth Order and Hispanic Origin of Mother and by Race for Mothers of Non-Hispanic Origin: United States, 1990-97." Vital Statistics of the United States, 1997, Volume I, Natality, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, August 2000. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Table 1. Births and birth rates by age, race, and Hispanic origin of the mother: United States final 1999 and preliminary 2000." National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 49, No. 5, July 24, 2001.