Monthly Labor Review March 2002 3

Women from ‘‘Generation X'

The labor force experience

of women from ‘Generation X’

Women aged 25 to 34 years in 2000 participated

in the labor force in greater proportions, were more educated,

earned more, and generally enjoyed more labor market

benefits than their counterparts 25 years earlier; moreover,

the “earnings gap” between young women and men

narrowed substantially over the period

Marisa DiNatale

and

Stephanie Boraas During the 1960s and 1970s, legislation

and changing social mores dramatically

altered the choices young women had

about their futures. Girls growing up during this

period were influenced both by the conventions

of their parents’ generation and by the new opportunities that were becoming available to them.

In contrast, girls born in later years grew up in an

era in which women often were expected to combine market work1 with family responsibilities.

Consequently, women who were aged 25 to 34

years in 2000 had a markedly different relationship to the labor market than did their counterparts in 1975.

The first part of this article focuses on the

major demographic and labor market indicators

that are used to describe young women. These

indicators will be used to see how the group and

its relationship to the labor market has changed

over the past quarter century. The second part

focuses on issues facing young women in the

labor market today.2

The highlights include the following:

• About three-quarters of women aged 25 to

34 years participated in the labor force in the

year 2000, compared with a little more than

half in 1975.

• Young women today are more highly educated than were their counterparts in 1975;

in 2000, 30 percent of women aged 25 to 34

years had completed 4 or more years of college, compared with 18 percent 25 years

earlier.

• Young women have substantially closed

the “earnings gap” with their male counterparts since 1979 (the first year for which

comparable earnings data are available

from the CPS). They earned 82 percent as

much as young men in 2000 for full-time

work, compared with 68 percent in 1979.

• Married women aged 25 to 34 years—particularly those who had children—were far

more likely to be in the labor force in 2000

than 25 years earlier.

• Young women were working more hours

and more weeks out of the year in 1999 than

were their counterparts 25 years ago; black

women were more likely than either white

or Hispanic women to work full time and

year round.

• Nearly one million women aged 25 to 34

were displaced from a job between January

1997 and December 1999; when surveyed

in February 2000, displaced young women

were more than 4 times as likely as their

male counterparts to have left the labor

force.

• The vast majority (83 percent) of employed

women aged 25 to 34 had health insurance covMarisa DiNatale and

Stephanie Boraas are

economists in the Division of Labor Force Statistics, Bureau of Labor

Statistics.
4 Monthly Labor Review March 2002

Women from ‘Generation X’

erage in February 2001; about 60 percent of women in this age

group received coverage through their employers.

Indicators of change

As a group, women who were aged 25 to 34 years in 2000

differed in a number of their demographic and labor force characteristics from their counterparts 25 years earlier. The subsections that follow describe some of these differences.

Educational attainment. The level of education among

women aged 25 to 34 improved dramatically between 1975 and

2000. In those 25 years, the share of women in this age group

who had completed at least 4 years of college rose from 18 to

30 percent. At the same time, the share of men with that level of

education only edged up 3 percentage points to 29 percent.

Over the same period, the proportion of young women who

had dropped out of high school fell from 20 percent to 11

percent. (See table 1.)

While white women continued to have the most schooling

among the three major race-ethnic groups in 2000, black

women made large strides in educational attainment over this

period. In 1975, 32 percent of black women aged 25 to 34 had

completed fewer than 4 years of high school, and just 10 percent had completed 4 or more years of college. In 2000, by

 Selected characteristics of women and men aged 25 to 34, March 1975 and 2000

1975 2000 1975 2000

Civilian noninstitutional population,

aged 25 to 34, total (in thousands)....................... 15,316 19,188 14,366 18,310

 Race and Hispanic origin1

White ................................................................ 86.6 79.0 88.7 81.6

Black ................................................................ 11.3 14.9 9.3 12.4

Hispanic origin .................................................... 5.4 14.6 5.1 15.4

 Education2

Less than four years of high school or less than

a high school diploma ........................................ 20.2 10.9 17.9 13.0

Four years of high school, no college

or high school diploma, no college........................ 45.9 28.9 36.9 32.4

1 to 3 years of college or some college or

associates degree ............................................ 16.3 30.3 19.6 25.9

4 or more years of college or college degree ............. 17.6 29.9 25.6 28.7

 Marital status3

Married, spouse present ....................................... 76.3 57.0 74.6 49.5

Unmarried, total .................................................. 23.7 43.0 25.4 50.5

Never married .................................................. 10.8 30.2 17.1 41.0

Other marital status .......................................... 12.9 12.8 8.2 9.5

Divorced ....................................................... 6.8 7.7 4.6 5.7

Separated ..................................................... 5.5 4.7 3.5 3.6

Widowed ....................................................... .7 .4 .1 .1

 Presence and age of children

With children under age18 ..................................... 76.0 59.8 – 38.8

With children ages 6 to 17, none younger .............. 23.3 18.2 – 7.8

With children under age 6 ...................................... 52.6 41.7 – 31.0

Under age 3 .................................................... 27.6 25.1 – 21.1

With no children under age 18 ................................ 24.0 40.2 – 61.2

1 Detail for race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals because

data for the “other races” group are not presented and Hispanics may be

included in either the white or black population groups. 2 Since 1992, data on educational attainment have been based on the

“highest diploma or degree received” rather than the “number of years of school

completed.”

3 Marital status data for men in 1975 is for the total population and

includes members of the Armed Forces.

NOTE: Data from 1994 forward are not directly comparable with data for

1993 and earlier years due to the CPS redesign. Dashes indicate data not

available.

 Characteristic

Women Men

Table 1.
Monthly Labor Review March 2002 5

contrast, just 13 percent of black women in this age group did

not have a high school diploma, and 17 percent had college

degrees. Among young Hispanic women in 2000, however, a

relatively high proportion (36 percent) had not completed high

school. (This compares with about half in 1975.) About 11

percent had college degrees. More than half (55 percent) of

the young Hispanic women living in the United States in 2000

were foreign born, and these immigrants typically have less

education than their U.S.-born counterparts. In fact, half the

foreign-born Hispanic women of this age group had not completed high school (compared with 19 percent of those born

in the United States), and only 9 percent had a Bachelor’s

degree or more (compared with 17 percent of those born in

the United States).

The advances in educational attainment among young

women during the 25-year period were much sharper than

those of their male counterparts. In 1975, the proportion of

men with a college education exceeded that of women by a

considerable margin. By 2000 however, the proportions with

college degrees were about equal, and, in the case of whites

and Hispanics, the women were somewhat more likely to be

college graduates than were the men.

Marital status and motherhood. Over the 1975–2000 period,

trends in marriage and family formation changed considerably.3 For example, women aged 25 to 34 years in 2000 were

 Labor force participation of women and men aged 25 to 34 by selected demographic characteristics, March

(Numbers in thousands)

1975 2000 1975 2000 1975 2000 1975 2000

Civilian labor force, aged 25 to 34 ........................... 8,304 14,787 54.2 77.1 13,692 17,091 95.3 93.3

 Race and Hispanic origin1

 White ............................................................. 7,054 11,622 53.2 76.7 12,219 14,097 95.9 94.4

 Black .............................................................. 1,083 2,298 62.8 80.6 1,216 1,984 91.2 87.7

 Hispanic origin .................................................. 384 1,784 46.6 63.6 686 2,658 94.1 94.1

 Education2

Less than 4 years of high school or less than

 a high school diploma ....................................... 1,260 1,141 40.8 54.7 2,371 2,053 92.3 86.0

 4 years of high school, no college or high school

 diploma, no college .......................................... 3,753 4,124 53.3 74.3 5,155 5,559 97.2 93.7

1 to 3 years of college or some college

 or associates degree ....................................... 1,434 4,592 57.5 79.0 2,638 4,474 93.8 94.3

4 or more years of college or college degree ............. 1,858 4,930 68.9 85.9 3,528 5,005 96.0 95.4

 Marital status

Married, spouse present ....................................... 5,648 7,788 48.3 71.2 10,365 8,765 97.3 96.7

Unmarried, total .................................................. 2,656 6,999 73.3 84.9 3,327 8,326 89.7 90.0

 Never married ................................................... 1,325 4,918 80.4 84.9 2,213 6,704 88.2 89.3

 Other marital status ........................................... 1,331 2,080 67.4 84.7 1,114 1,623 92.7 93.4

 Divorced ........................................................ 796 1,295 76.8 87.7 626 991 92.7 94.4

 Separated ...................................................... 486 734 57.9 81.7 471 612 92.8 92.2

 Widowed ........................................................ 49 51 48.5 63.7 18 20 91.2 84.3

 Presence and age of children

With children under age 18 .................................... 5,281 8,054 45.4 70.1 – 6,855 – 96.5

 With children aged 6 to 17, none younger ............... 2,147 2,739 60.0 78.4 – 1,352 – 94.6

 With children under age 6 .................................... 3,134 5,315 38.9 66.5 – 5,504 – 96.9

 Under age 3 ................................................... 1,402 3,024 33.2 62.7 – 3,752 – 97.2

With no children under age 18 ................................ 3,023 6,733 82.2 87.4 – 10,236 – 91.4

1

 Detail for race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals because

data for the “other races” group are not presented and Hispanics may be

included in either the white or black population groups. Since 1992, data on

educational attainment have

 2 Since 1992, data on educational attainment have been based on the

“highest diploma or degree received,” rather than the “number of years of

school completed.”

NOTE: Data from 1994 forward are not directly comparable with data for 1993

and earlier years due to the CPS redesign. Labor force and participation rates

are for the civilian population. Dashes indicate data not available.

Characteristic

 Women Men

Table 2. 1975 and 2000

 Number Participation rate Participation rate Number
6 Monthly Labor Review March 2002

Women from ‘Generation X’

less likely to be married than their counterparts 25 years earlier

and less likely to be mothers. In 1975, more than 3 out of 4

women in this age group were married; by 2000, the proportion

had dropped to 3 out of 5. Additionally, in 1975, just 11 percent

had never married; this proportion had nearly tripled to 30

percent in 2000.

The changing marital status of women also impacted family

formation. In 1975, 76 percent of women in the 25- to 34-year

age group had children; this figure had declined to 60 percent

by 2000. Also, as the average age of childbearing rose, women

aged 25 to 34 were far less likely to have older children, but

they were nearly as likely to have children under age 3 as were

their counterparts a generation earlier.

Labor force characteristics. Since 1975, the labor force participation rate—the proportion of the population that is either

working or actively looking for work—of women aged 25 to 34

years has increased by about 20 percentage points. White

women had the largest increase in participation, although black

and Hispanic women also showed large gains. In contrast, the

labor force participation rate for men in the same age group

drifted down, from 95 to 93 percent, with the decline far larger

for black men than for whites. (See table 2.) The growing labor

force participation rate of women is related to a number of

factors, but perhaps the two that have had the greatest impact

are the increasing rates of educational attainment among

women and the lower propensity to marry among women aged

25 to 34. In 1975, the median age at first marriage for women

was 21.1 years; in 1998, it was 25.0 years.4

Women’s labor force participation rates are strongly correlated with levels of educational attainment. In 2000, 86 percent

of women in the 25- to 34-year age group with college degrees

were in the labor force, compared with only 55 percent of those

with less than a high school diploma, a difference of about 31

percentage points. Men’s participation rates also were closely

correlated with education levels, but the difference between

those with a college degree and those with less than a high

school diploma was less pronounced—about 95 percent of

young adult men with college degrees were in the labor force,

compared with 86 percent of those with less than a high school

education, a difference of only 9 percentage points.

Occupations. Women aged 25 to 34 work in virtually every

occupation, but they are more heavily represented in some

occupations than others. (See table 3.) Due to a change in the

way occupations were classified in the CPS, comparable data

are available only to 1983. It is still useful to examine them to

look for any trends that may have emerged over the past couple

decades.

Since 1983, women have made headway into the higher-paying executive, administrative, and managerial occupations, and

professional specialty occupations. They also have become more

likely to work in sales and service occupations. While the latter

tend to be lower-paying jobs, men aged 25 to 34 years also are

increasingly likely to work in these occupations.

Women made up 46 percent of all employed 25- to 34-yearolds in 2000 and 44 percent in 1983. They made up about 80

percent of all workers in this age group in administrative support (clerical) jobs in both years. Women also were more concentrated in service occupations in 2000 than they were in

1983. They accounted for about 65 percent of the total in service occupations in 2000 and 59 percent in 1983. (See table 4.)

In contrast, women continued to represent a smaller portion of

employed 25- to 34-year-olds in manufacturing-related occupations such as precision production, craft and repair, where

they made up only about 8 percent of workers in both years.

Among young workers in executive/managerial, professional, and technical occupations overall, about half were

women in 2000. While the proportions of young women in

professional specialty and technical occupations were about

Table 3. Employed women and men aged 25 to 34 years by major occupation, annual averages, 1983 and 2000

Women Men

1983 2000 1983 2000

 Total employed

Number (in thousands) .................................................. 12,540 14,006 16,216 16,494

Percent ...................................................................... 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Executives, administrators, and managers ......................... 9.2 15.5 11.4 12.8

Professional specialty workers ........................................ 18.5 20.5 13.0 14.7

Technicians and related support workers ........................... 4.7 4.4 3.9 3.5

Sales workers .............................................................. 9.9 11.5 10.5 10.8

Administrative support, including clerical workers ................ 30.2 22.6 5.9 5.8

Service workers ........................................................... 14.9 16.3 8.0 9.9

Precision production, craft, and repair workers ................... 2.5 2.0 22.2 19.6

Operators, fabricators, and laborers ................................. 9.1 6.4 20.7 19.7

Farming, forestry, and fishing workers ............................... 1.0 0.8 4.3 3.2

Occupation
Monthly Labor Review March 2002 7

the same in 1983, there was a considerable movement of women

into executive, administrative, and managerial occupations

over the period. Young women made up only about 38 percent

of total employment in this age group and occupation in 1983.

By 2000, the percentage had increased to 51 percent.

Nonetheless, it should be noted that, within these broad

groups, women continued to be concentrated in some fairly

traditional “women’s” occupations. For instance, in 2000,

women 16 years and older made up about 99 percent of kindergarten and preschool teachers, 85 percent of librarians, and 84

percent of legal assistants. These proportions were roughly

the same in 1983. In contrast, women overall are still

underrepresented in some professional occupations, although

they have made substantial inroads. For example, women have

about doubled their proportions among lawyers and engineers

since 1983—to about 30 and 10 percent, respectively—and

those proportions are even higher among younger cohorts.

While women made up more than half of the 25- to 34-yearolds employed in managerial and professional specialty occupations in 2000, relatively small proportions of young black

and Hispanic women were represented in these occupations.

Black women made up about 6 percent of total employment in

both executive, administrative, and managerial occupations

and professional specialty occupations, while Hispanic

women represented just 4 percent of executive and managerial

jobs, and only 3 percent of professional jobs. In 1983, however, the corresponding figures for black and Hispanic women

were even lower.

Earnings. In 1979 (the first year for which comparable data

were available), median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage

and salary workers aged 25 to 34 were $440 for women and

$653 for men (in 2000 inflation-adjusted dollars). During the

1980s and early 1990s, inflation-adjusted earnings of women

in this group increased slowly, while those of their male counterparts decreased relatively rapidly. (See chart 1.) Since about

1993 however, changes in the earnings of men and women

have generally been of similar size and in the same direction.

Despite the upturn in earnings that occurred for both men and

women during the 1990s, men’s earnings ($603 in 2000) remained below their inflation-adjusted 1979 level, while

women’s earnings ($493) rose. As a result of these movements,

young women in 2000 earned approximately 82 percent as

much as their male counterparts, compared with 67 percent in

1979.

The shrinking earnings gap has many causes, including

young women moving into higher-paying occupations, their

shift toward year-round work, their increasing educational attainment, and reduced incidences of gaps in their labor force

participation. These factors likely led to a rise in the real earnings of young women at the same time that young men were

experiencing declines.

Marital status and motherhood. Never-married women and

divorced women had the highest labor force participation rates

among 25- to 34-year-old women in both 1975 and 2000. Since

1975, however, the gap between these nonmarried women’s

participation rates and those for married women has narrowed

substantially. During that period, the rate for never-married

women changed little and that for divorced women grew by

about 11 percentage points. In contrast, the participation rate

for married women (spouse present) jumped by about 23 percentage points. (See table 2.)

In both 1975 and 2000, women aged 25 to 34 who had no

Table 4. Employed persons aged 25 to 34 by major occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic origin, 2000 annual averages

(Numbers are in thousands)

 Percent women

 Occupation

Total White Black Hispanic

 Total, aged 25 to 34 ......................................................... 30,501 45.9 36.2 7.1 5.6

Executive, administrative, and managerial occupations .............. 4,281 50.6 41.9 5.7 4.1

Professional specialty occupations ........................................ 5,300 54.2 44.0 5.9 3.3

Technicians and related support occupations ........................... 1,196 51.8 41.6 7.4 5.2

Sales occupations .............................................................. 3,386 47.4 38.4 6.4 5.3

Administrative support occupations, including clerical ................ 4,129 76.8 60.0 13.5 10.0

Private household occupations .............................................. 118 94.1 80.5 11.0 42.4

Protective service occupations ............................................. 632 16.6 10.1 6.0 1.3

Service occupations, excluding protective and household ........... 3,157 65.3 48.4 13.9 10.8

Precision production, craft and repair occupations .................... 3,514 8.1 6.3 1.1 1.6

Machine operators, assemblers and inspectors ........................ 1,743 34.0 24.7 6.0 9.2

Transportation and material moving occupations........................ 1,235 8.9 5.3 3.3 1.0

Handlers, equipment cleaners,helpers,laborers ......................... 1,176 16.8 11.7 4.4 4.2

Farming, forestry and fishing occupations ............................... 634 17.4 16.6 0.5 5.5

NOTE: Detail for the race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals

because data for the “other races” group are not presented and Hispanics are

included in both the white and black population groups.

Total employed
8 Monthly Labor Review March 2002

Women from ‘Generation X’

Alternative work arrangement.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines four types of

alternative work arrangements:

Independent contractors: These include consultants, freelance workers, and independent contractors,

regardless of whether or not they are wage and salary

workers or self employed.

On-call workers: These include persons who are

called into work only when they are needed.

Temporary help agency workers: These include

workers who are paid by a temporary help agency

but work temporarily at a client site.

Contract company workers: These workers are employees of a contract company who usually work for

only one customer and at that customer’s work site.

Contingent workers

These workers were defined as those who do not

have an explicit or implicit contract for long-term employment. To assess the impact of altering some of

the defining factors on the estimated size of the contingent workforce, three measures of contingent employment were developed as follows:

Estimate 1. This is the narrowest, measures contingent workers as wage and salary workers who indicated that they expected to work in their current

job for 1 year or less and who had worked for their

current employer for 1 year or less. Self-employed

workers, both incorporated and unincorporated, and

independent contractors are excluded from the count

of contingent workers under estimate 1; the rationale

was that people who work for themselves, by definition, have ongoing employment arrangements, although they may face financial risks. Individuals who

worked for temporary help agencies or contract companies are considered contingent under estimate 1 only

if they expect their employment arrangement with the

temporary help or contract company to last for 1 year

of less and they had worked for that company for 1

year of less.

Estimate 2. This estimate expands the measure of

the contingent work force by including the self employed—both the incorporated and unincorporated—and independent contractors who expect to

be, and had been, in such employment arrangements

for 1 year or less. In addition, temporary help and contract company workers are classified as contingent under estimate 2 fi they had worked and expected to work

for the customers to whom they were assigned for 1

year or less. For example, a “temp” secretary who is

sent to a different customer each week but has worked

for the same temporary help firm for more than 1 year

and expects to be able to continue with that firm indefinitely is contingent under estimate 2, but not under estimate 1. In contrast, a “temp” who is assigned to a single

client for more than a year and expects to be able to stay

with that client for more than a year is not counted as

contingent under either estimate.

Estimate 3. This estimate expands the count of

contingency by removing the 1-year requirement on

both expected duration of the job and current tenure

for wage and salary workers. Thus, the estimate effectively includes all the wage and salary workers who

do not expect their employment to last, except for

those who, for personal reasons, expect to leave jobs

that they would otherwise be able to keep. Thus, a

worker who had held a job for 5 years could be considered contingent if he or she now viewed the job as

temporary. These conditions on expected and current

tenure are not relaxed for the self employed and independent contractors, because they were asked different set of questions from wage and salary workers.

Definition of contingent workers and alternative work arrangements
Monthly Labor Review March 2002 9

children under 18 were considerably more likely to be in the

labor force than those who were mothers. However, while the

participation rate for childless women changed little over this

period, the rate for those with children under age 18 grew by

about 25 percentage points to 70 percent in 2000. In fact, the

labor force participation rate for those with children under three

years almost doubled over the period, growing from 33 percent in 1975 to 63 percent in 2000.

While women with children were less likely to be labor force

participants than those without children, the reverse was true for

men—those with children were somewhat more likely to be in the

labor force than those without. Although labor force participation rates for women with children grew rapidly between 1975

and 2000, they still remain well below those of men with children,

suggesting that raising children continues to have a greater impact on the working lives of mothers than on those of fathers.

Table 5. Women aged 25 to 34 with work experience in 1975 and 1999 by race, Hispanic origin, and marital status, March

1975 1999

Percent with work experience Percent with work experience

Usually worked full time Usually worked full time

Total, all races .............................. 10,141 63.9 74.3 45.5 25.7 15,517 80.9 80.3 62.9 19.7

 Married, spouse present .............. 6,936 58.4 68.8 38.3 31.2 8,372 76.5 75.7 57.6 24.3

 Unmarried, total ......................... 3,205 80.2 86.3 61.2 13.7 7,146 86.6 85.7 69.2 14.3

 Married spouse absent .............. 91 73.4 79.1 44.0 20.9 220 82.1 85.0 60.0 15.0

 Widowed ................................. 65 59.1 84.6 46.2 15.4 51 63.0 76.5 60.8 23.5

 Divorced ................................. 1,013 81.5 87.0 59.3 12.9 1,319 89.3 86.2 70.4 13.8

 Separated ............................... 483 66.9 79.1 55.1 20.7 512 81.3 86.6 65.4 13.3

 Never married .......................... 1,553 86.4 88.6 68.8 11.5 5,044 87.1 85.7 69.7 14.3

White, total .................................. 8,634 62.9 72.3 44.2 27.7 12,234 80.8 78.9 61.9 21.1

 Married, spouse present .............. 6,170 57.3 66.8 37.0 33.3 7,188 76.5 74.1 56.2 25.9

 Unmarried, total ......................... 2,463 83.2 86.4 62.3 13.6 5,046 87.7 85.7 69.9 14.3

 Married spouse absent .............. 67 72.0 77.6 41.8 22.4 156 83.9 82.7 57.7 17.3

 Widowed ................................. 46 59.7 89.1 54.3 10.9 33 57.9 69.7 57.6 30.3

 Divorced ................................. 849 81.6 87.3 58.5 12.7 1,086 89.2 86.1 71.4 13.9

 Separated ............................... 296 70.3 77.0 43.2 23.0 342 79.4 86.5 63.7 13.5

 Never married .......................... 1,205 90.5 88.4 71.1 11.6 3,429 88.8 85.7 70.7 14.3

Black, total .................................. 1,267 70.4 85.6 53.0 14.4 2,387 83.8 86.9 70.0 13.1

 Married, spouse present .............. 615 71.6 86.2 50.4 13.8 725 82.7 86.6 73.0 13.1

 Unmarried, total ......................... 652 69.4 85.0 55.4 15.0 1,662 84.3 87.0 68.7 13.0

 Married spouse absent .............. 22 78.6 86.4 50.0 13.6 37 75.5 91.7 59.5 10.8

 Widowed ................................. 17 56.7 70.6 23.5 29.4 18 78.3 88.9 66.7 11.1

 Divorced ................................. 149 79.3 85.9 61.7 14.1 181 88.3 87.8 66.9 12.2

 Separated ............................... 179 60.9 74.4 46.2 15.6 153 86.0 89.5 71.9 10.5

 Never married .......................... 285 71.3 86.7 56.8 13.3 1,273 83.9 86.5 68.9 13.5

Hispanic origin, total ...................... – – – – – 1,844 65.7 82.2 60.0 17.8

 Married, spouse present .............. – – – – – 1,038 60.2 80.3 55.4 19.7

 Unmarried, total ......................... – – – – – 806 74.5 84.6 66.0 15.3

 Married spouse absent .............. – – – – – 43 71.7 83.7 67.4 16.3

 Widowed ................................. – – – – – 11 64.7 90.9 54.5 9.1

 Divorced ................................. – – – – – 109 77.9 87.2 62.4 12.8

 Separated ............................... – – – – – 94 65.3 86.2 59.6 12.8

 Never married .......................... – – – – – 549 76.1 83.7 67.9 16.2

Race, Hispanic origin, and

marital status

As percent

 of

population

As percent

 of

population

Total with

work

experience

 (in

thousands)

Total with

work

experience

 (in

 thousands)

Usually

 worked

part time1

Usually

 worked

part time Total 1 50–52 1

weeks

50–52

weeks Total1

1Percents may not sum to 100 due to rounding.

 NOTE: Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum

to totals because data for the “other races” group are not presented

and Hispanics are included in both the white and black population groups.

Dashes indicate data not available

 2000 status, March 2000 CPS
10 Monthly Labor Review March 2002

Women from ‘Generation X’

Unemployment. In 2000, the unemployment rate for women

aged 25 to 34 was little different from that of men, 4.0 percent

compared with 3.4 percent; both rates were at their lowest

points in 25 years. (See chart 2.) A quarter of a century earlier,

however, the women’s rate exceeded the men’s by a little more

than 2 percentage points. The gap virtually disappeared in

1980 when the men’s rate shot up in response to a short but

sharp recession, while the women’s rate increased less rapidly. The gap has remained quite narrow ever since, although

the rate for men tends to increase more sharply during

recessionary periods than the rate for women.

In terms of employment, economic downturns typically

have a greater impact on men than women because men are

more likely to work in industries such as manufacturing and

construction that are highly sensitive to changes in the business cycle. Women, on the other hand, tend to work in industries such as services and government, which are less responsive to business cycles. Consequently, the swings that are

evident in the unemployment rate for men are more muted in

the rate for women.

Work schedules. Young women worked more throughout the

year in 1999 than in 1975.5 Table 5 shows that 81 percent of

women aged 25 to 34 worked at some time during 1999, compared with 64 percent in 1975. Moreover, of those with such

work experience, about 63 percent worked full time and year

round6 in 1999, compared with less than half (46 percent) in

1975.

Average weekly hours for young women working in nonagricultural industries increased by 2.5 hours over the period,

rising from 35.4 in 1976 to 37.9 in 2000, while men’s average

weekly hours grew only slightly, from 43.2 hours in 1976 to

43.9 hours in 2000. The increase in average hours worked by

young women resulted not only from an increase in the number working full time, but also from a decrease in the proportion with short workweeks and an increase in the proportion

with very long workweeks. In 1976, only about 7 percent of

young women worked 49 hours or more per week, and 21 percent worked fewer than 30 hours. By 2000, the proportion working very long workweeks had nearly doubled to 13 percent,

while the proportion working less than 30 hours per week decreased to 17 percent.

Among the race-ethnic groups, black women were more

likely to work full time and year round than were white women:

about 70 percent of the young black women with work experience in 1999 worked year round, full time, compared with 62

percent for their white counterparts. The comparable proportion for Hispanic women was 60 percent. In 1975, the proportions were 53 percent for black women and 44 percent for white

women.

Multiple jobholding. Women aged 25 to 34 years were more

likely to hold two or more jobs in 2001 than in 1975. About 6

percent of all employed women in May 2001 held more than

one job, compared with 3 percent 25 years earlier. (See table 6.)

Interestingly, the multiple jobholding rate for men in the same

age group was lower in 2001 than in 1975. As a result, although

men were twice as likely as women to hold more than one job in

1975, there was little difference in their proportions in 2000.

Current labor market issues

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, additional measures of such

labor force concepts as contingent and alternative work arrangements, worker displacement, and pension and health

insurance coverage were developed by the Bureau of Labor

Statistics. Although these measures did not exist in 1975, we

include a discussion of them here in order to gain a broader

picture of the labor market in which young women participate

today.

Alternative work arrangements and contingent workers In

recent years, contingent workers and those working in alternative arrangements have become the focus of debate. (See

the box on page 8 for BLS definitions of alternative work arrangements and contingent workers.) Critics of these arrangements raise concern about these jobs because often they provide lower pay and lower rates of employer-provided pension

and health care coverage than more traditional arrangements.7

Other researchers point out that these kinds of jobs may proTable 6. Multiple jobholders by age and sex, May 1975 and May 2001

 Multiple jobholders Multiple jobholders

Total Percent of Total Percent of

 employed employed employed employed

Women 25 to 34 years .......................... 7,574 248 3.3 13,680 781 5.7

Men 25 to 34 years ............................... 12,798 850 6.6 16,215 901 5.6

Number Number

 Age and sex

May 1975 May 2001
Monthly Labor Review March 2002 11

Chart 1. Real median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers aged 25 to 34

 years by sex, 1979–2000 2000

dollars

1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

400

450

500

550

600

650

700

400

450

500

550

600

650

700

2000

dollars

Women

Men

Chart 2. Unemployment rates for women and men aged 25 to 34 years, 1975–2000

 Percent

1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999

2

4

6

8

10

12

2

4

6

8

10

12

Percent

Women

Men
12 Monthly Labor Review March 2002

Women from ‘Generation X’

vide women with flexibility and convenience that may not be

available with traditional work arrangements. Also, there is

some evidence that these arrangements may provide jobs to

persons who would otherwise be unemployed.8 In addition,

as pointed out in recent BLS analyses,9 while nearly half of oncall workers and temporary help agency workers say they

would prefer regular employment, most consultants and independent contractors seem to prefer their current arrangements.

Moreover, pay, benefits, and other aspects of these kinds of

jobs differ greatly among the various alternative arrangements.

In 1995, BLS began collecting data on the prevalence of alternative work arrangements through a supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS).10 Data from the supplement

clearly indicate that the incidence of such work arrangements

is not very widespread. Only about 6 percent of women aged

25 to 34 are employed in the four BLS-defined alternative work

arrangements, the most common being independent contracting. (See table 7.) In fact, since 1995, the proportion of women

aged 25 to 34 with alternative arrangements has edged down.11

Among the alternative work arrangements, perhaps the one

that has received the most attention is the temporary help

arrangement. Data from the supplement show that workers in

these jobs have the lowest median weekly earnings among all

of the arrangements, as well as the lowest rates of health and

pension benefit coverage.12 And while only a very small proportion of all employed 25- to 34-year-old women were temporary help agency workers, young black and Hispanic women

were somewhat more likely than white women to be employed

in this type of arrangement; at the same time, they were somewhat less likely than white women to work as independent

contractors.

One interesting fact about independent contractors is that

men in the arrangement earn, on average, more than men in

traditional work arrangements. Female independent contractors, on the other hand, earn less, on average, than their

counterparts in traditional arrangements—most likely due to

the high percentage of female independent contractors who

work part time.

As seen in the box, BLS defines contingent workers as those

who do not have an explicit or implicit contract for long-term

employment. Within that group, three progressively broader

measures of contingent employment are defined, known as

estimates 1–3. The broadest measure, estimate 3, is the one

most often cited, and the statements made in this article about

contingent workers are all based on this third definition.

As with alternative work arrangements, the proportion of

25- to 34-year-old women who are contingent workers is quite

small and has been falling since the survey was first conducted

in 1995. About 4 percent of both white and black women in this

age group were contingent workers, while the comparable figure for Hispanic women was 6.5 percent. On average, contingent workers have lower pay and benefit coverage than persons in traditional arrangements. In addition, because they

view their jobs as short term, they may have little attachment

to their employers.

Work at home and flexible schedules. Women frequently

cope with the challenge of meeting their job and family responsibilities by selecting jobs that allow them the freedom to

change their work schedules or work locations. The tabulation that follows shows some of the results of a May 1997 CPS

supplement, about 3 million women aged 25 to 34 who worked

full time held jobs that allowed flexibility in their work schedules (numbers in thousands):

13

Table 7. Employed women aged 25–34 in alternative and traditional work arrangements and in contingent and

Total White Black Hispanic

Total employed1 ................................................ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

 Contingent workers2 ........................................ 4.0 4.0 4.1 6.5

 Noncontingent workers .................................... 96.0 96.0 95.9 93.4

Workers with alternative arrangements

 Independent contractors .................................. 3.9 4.2 1.6 2.7

 On-call workers .............................................. 0.8 0.8 0.7 1.0

 Temporary help agency workers ......................... 1.3 0.9 3.7 2.3

 Workers provided by contract firms .................... 0.2 0.3 – 0.2

Workers with traditional arrangements ................... 93.7 93.8 94.0 93.3

Arrangement

 Women

 1 Detail may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding. 2 Data on contingent workers refers to those who fall under estimate 3 of

contingency. Estimate 3 is the broadest measure of contingency and includes

anyone who does not expect his/her job to last.

NOTE: Dash indicates data not available.

noncontingent arrangements by race and Hispanic origin, as a percentage of all employed women aged

25 to 34, February 2001

Table 7.
Monthly Labor Review March 2002 13

With flexible schedules

 Total Number Percent

Women, 25 to 34 years ........ 10,486 2,931 28.0

Men, 25 to 34 years ............ 14,721 4,231 28.7

Interestingly, roughly equal proportions of young women and

men in this age group work flexible schedules. In addition, 25-

to 34-year-old women were more likely than women of other

ages to have this kind of flexibility in their jobs.14

Data from the same 1997 CPS supplement show that about

18 percent of 25- to 34-year-old women did at least some work

at home, although less than a third of those who worked at

home did so for pay—that is, in addition to their normal wages.

Women in this age group were more likely than their male counterparts to work at home, and they also were more likely than

men to get paid for their at-home work. The vast majority of 25-

to 34-year-old women worked only partly at home, with just 4

percent reporting that they had worked exclusively from home.

Finally, among the racial and ethnic groups, 20 percent of white

women worked at home, compared with 11 percent of Hispanic

women and 8 percent of black women. (See table 8.)

Worker displacement. Nearly a million women aged 25 to 34

lost or left their jobs from January 1997 to December 1999 because their plant or company closed or moved, there was insufficient work to do, or their positions or shifts were abolished.

(See table 9.) In the latest CPS supplement on displaced workers

conducted in February 2000, workers who were displaced during

the January 1997–December 1999 period were asked questions

about their employment status in February 2000.

About 86 percent of women aged 25 to 34 who were displaced were in the labor force in February 2000. This compares

with about 97 percent of their male counterparts. Women in

this age group were the most likely among all displaced female

workers to be re-employed. Moreover, of all displaced female

workers in the prime working-age group (25 to 54 years), 25-to34-year-olds were the least likely to be unemployed when surveyed in February 2000. White women in this age group who

were displaced were more likely to be re-employed in February

2000 and less likely to be unemployed or not in the labor force

than either their black or Hispanic counterparts.

The fact that young women were more likely than young

men to have left the labor force after being displaced may

suggest that some women take the opportunity to begin a

family or to pursue personal goals that do not involve work for

pay during these primary child-bearing years. The movement

out of the labor market, however, comes with a price. Research

has shown that when women leave the labor force for extended

periods to pursue family responsibilities, they return to work

facing lower wages than those who remained in the labor force,

and they never quite catch up.15

Working poor. For many women, economic gains over the

past 25 years have narrowed the gap in earnings with men and

have led to more economic and financial independence.

Nonetheless, nearly 1 million young women (25 to 34 years)

were classified among the working poor in 1999. (See table 10.)

These are women who were in the labor force (working or

looking for work) for at least 27 weeks during the year, but

whose income fell below the official poverty threshold.16

Women in this age group were somewhat more likely than their

male counterparts to be among the working poor in 1999 (7

percent versus 5 percent).

Black women of this age were far more likely to be among

the working poor than were either white or Hispanic women.

Nearly 16 percent of the young black women who had been in

the labor force for at least 27 weeks in 1999 were considered to

be below the poverty level—nearly three times the rate of their

white counterparts. A little more than 10 percent of young

Hispanic women were among the working poor.

In contrast to young black women, black men in this age

group were no more likely to be among the working poor

than white men (5 percent). Hispanic men, however, were

more than twice as likely to be among the working poor as

either their white or black counterparts.

Health insurance and pension plan coverage. Monetary

earnings are only part of a worker’s compensation—health

insurance, pensions, and other benefits are important components as well. The rising costs of health care and prescription

drugs in the United States have made health insurance a vital

Table 8. Persons aged 25 to 34 working on primary job in

 nonagricultural industries by prevalence

 of work at home, sex, and race, May 1997

Women Men

Number Percent Number Percent

Total, at work.................. 13,792 100.0 16,414 100.0

 Reporting work at home .. 2,498 18.2 2,358 14.5

 Primary job partly

at home .................. 1,949 14.2 2,172 13.2

 Primary job entirely

 at home 549 4.0 186 1.1

White, at work 11,165 100.0 13,703 100.0

 Reporting work at home 2,230 20.0 2,122 15.5

Black, at work 1,850 100.0 1,735 100.0

 Reporting work at home 151 8.2 108 6.2

Hispanic origin, at work .... 1,434 100.0 2,280 100.0

 Reporting work at home .. 158 11.0 133 5.8

NOTE: Percentages are based on unpublished figures of the number of

persons who responded to the question on work at home.

Work at home
14 Monthly Labor Review March 2002

Women from ‘Generation X’

necessity for most people. The vast majority (83 percent) of

women aged 25 to 34 have health insurance from some

source.17 White women had higher rates of coverage than

either black or Hispanic women, although the rates for whites

and blacks were quite close. (See table 11.)

About 60 percent of female wage and salary workers in the

25- to 34-year age group received health insurance on their

primary job.18 Black women were the most likely to receive

health insurance through their employer, followed by white

and Hispanic women. Less than half of all young Hispanic

women received health insurance through their main job.

Pension plans, either in the form of an employer-provided retirement plan, Individual Retirement Account (IRA), or Keogh

Plan, are essential for future financial security. About half of all

female wage and salary workers aged 25 to 34 years had a pension plan in February 2001. As with health insurance, the rates

for white and black women were quite similar, at 50 percent and 48

percent, respectively, while only 38 percent of Hispanic women

reported having a pension plan through their employer.

YOUNG WOMEN TODAY face many of the same career choices

and challenges as did their peers 25 years earlier. While decisions about school, family, marriage, and careers often factor

into one another, it is clear that today’s young women are

making somewhat different choices. In particular, they are

spending more time at market work than their predecessors.

As a result, more women today are having to balance their

roles as wives and mothers with their jobs.

As the statistics described throughout this article indicate,

25- to 34-year-old women today are much more likely to participate in the labor force. They also are more likely to have gone to

college, to work more, and to pursue careers in higher paying

occupations. These decisions and opportunities, while rendering them better off financially than they were 25 years ago, also

 Displaced workers aged 25 to 34 who lost jobs between January 1997 and December 1999 by sex, race,

(Numbers in thousands)

Total Employed Unemployed

Women, total ................................. 917 100.0 75.9 9.6 14.5

 White ......................................... 715 100.0 78.0 9.0 13.0

 Black ......................................... 165 100.0 70.9 9.7 19.4

 Hispanic ..................................... 122 100.0 63.8 16.0 20.2

Men, total ..................................... 1,002 100.0 84.8 11.7 3.5

 White ......................................... 822 100.0 84.4 12.3 3.3

 Black ......................................... 151 100.0 89.4 10.2 0.4

 Hispanic ..................................... 159 100.0 82.2 13.6 4.2

 Sex and race

 Number

 (in

thousands)

 Persons aged 25 to 34 in the labor force for 27 weeks or more: Poverty status by age, sex, race, and

(Numbers in thousands)

Total, 25 to 34 years ... 30,695 24,839 4,096 4,178 1,835 1,290 433 486 6.0 5.2 10.6 11.6

Men, 25 to 34 years .... 16,728 13,865 1,899 2,558 852 707 93 315 5.1 5.1 4.9 12.3

Women, 25 to 34

years .................... 13,967 10,975 2,197 1,620 983 582 340 172 7.0 5.3 15.5 10.6

1Number below the poverty level as a percent of the total in the labor force

for 27 weeks or more.

NOTE: Detail for the race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to totals

 Age and sex

Total White Black

Total White Black

Total White Black

 Hispanic

 origin Hispanic

 origin

Poverty rate1 Below poverty level

Percent distribution by employment status in February 2000

NOTE: Detail for the above race and Hispanic-origin groups will not sum to

totals because data for the “other races” group are not presented and Hispanics

are included in both the white and black population groups.

Table 9.

Hispanic origin, and employment status in February 2000

who were Hispanic origin, 1999

Table 10.

 Not in the

labor force

because data for the “other races” group are not presented and Hispanics are

included in both the white and black population groups.

 Hispanic

 origin
Monthly Labor Review March 2002 15

present them with the difficult problems involved in deciding

how to prioritize their lives among work, marriage, and children.

Although women aged 25 to 34 tend to earn more—in real

terms—than they did in 1975, black and Hispanic women still

do not have parity with white women in terms of earnings and

benefits. While these minority women have closed the gap

significantly over the past decade and a half, there is still much

progress to be made.

 Female wage and salary workers aged 25 to 34 by health insurance coverage and pension coverage,

Total White Black Hispanic

Total wage and salary workers ....................... 12,964 10,209 2,029 1,690

With health insurance coverage ...................... 10,775 8,555 1,622 1,160

 Percent of total wage and salary workers .... 83.1 83.8 79.9 68.6

 With coverage through main job ................... 7,766 6,068 1,233 802

 Percent of total wage and salary workers .... 59.9 59.4 60.8 47.5

With pension coverage ................................. 6,423 5,116 964 639

 Percent of total wage and salary workers .... 49.5 50.1 47.5 37.8

Notes

1

 In this article, the term "market work" refers to jobs outside the

home, whether paid or unpaid.

2

 Most of the data in this chapter were derived from the Current

Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of households conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For more information regarding the Current Population Survey, see

Current Population Survey: Design and Methodology, Bureau of Labor

Statistics Technical Paper 63, March 2000. Where the CPS did not

provide complete information, other sources were used.

3

 See Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2000 (Bureau of the

Census, 2000), pp. 51–54; see also comparable tables in earlier editions.

4

 Lugaila, Terry A., “Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March

1998 (Update),” Current Population Reports, Series P20–514 (Bureau of the Census, December 1998).

5

 Data on work experience come from the March supplement to the

CPS in which respondents are asked questions about their work experience in the prior year.

6

 Full-time, year-round workers are those who worked at least 50

weeks out of the calendar year and worked full time (35 hours or more)

for the majority of weeks that they worked.

7

 See, for example, Helene J. Jorgensen, When Good Jobs Go Bad

(Washington, DC, 2030 Center, 1999.)

8

 See, for example, Anne E. Polivka, “Into contingent and alternative employment: by choice?” Monthly Labor Review, October 1996,

pp. 55–74 and Marisa DiNatale, “Characteristics of and preference for

alternative work arrangements, 1999” Monthly Labor Review, March

2001, pp. 47–49.

9

 Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements, February

2001, USDL 01–153, (U.S. Department of Labor) May 24, 2001.

10 The first supplement on Contingent and Alternative Work Arrangements was conducted in February 1995. Subsequent supplements

were conducted in February of 1997, 1999, and 2001.

11 In the February 1995 and 1997 Contingent and Alternative Work

Arrangements supplements to the CPS, 7.5 percent of employed young

women were working in one of the four alternative arrangements. In

February 1999 and in February 2001, the percentage edged down to 6.3

percent.

12 In the February 1999 supplement, full-time female temporary

help agency workers age 16 and over earned a median weekly salary of

$331 compared with $474 for women in traditional arrangements.

Earnings data for workers with traditional arrangements were not collected in the February 2001 supplement.

13 The discussion that follows on workers with flexible schedules is

limited to those who usually work full time, because altering the beginning and ending hours of work often is a requirement in part-time

jobs.

14 See Lonnie Golden, “Flexible work schedules: what are we trading

off to get them?” Monthly Labor Review, March 2001, pp. 52–53.

15 See Lori G. Kletzer and Robert W. Fairlie “The Long-Term Costs

of Job Displacement for Young Adult Workers,” unpublished manuscript, Department of Economics, University of California at Santa

Cruz. See also Joyce P. Jacobsen and Laurence M. Levin, “Effects of

intermittent labor force attachment on women’s earnings,” Monthly

Labor Review, September 1995, pp. 14–19.

16 For information about how poverty is determined, see Poverty in

the United States: 1999—Current Population Report series P–60, no.

210 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, September 2000). For persons living

with family members, the earnings thresholds used to define poverty

status are defined in terms of total family income, including the earnings

of other family members, as well as income from other sources. For

persons living alone or with nonrelatives, the earnings thresholds are

based solely on their personal income.

17 Data on health insurance and pension coverage are from a CPS

supplement conducted in February 2001.

18 Note that others might have been offered health insurance by their

employers, but declined coverage because they were covered by a spouse’s

policy or for other reasons.

February 2001

Table 11.

Characteristic