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African-American Women

Quick Takes

Published: December 2009

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Labor Force
  • In 2008:
    • Number of African-American women in the labor force: 9,393,0001
    • Percentage of labor force: 6.1%1
    • Percentage of African-American women who participated in the labor force: 61.3%1
    • Number of African-American women employed in management, professional, and related occupations: 2,674,000 (5.1% of all people employed in management, professional, and related occupations)2
  • In 1996:
    • Number of African-American women in the labor force: 7,869,0003
    • Percentage of labor force: 5.9%3
  • Projections for 2016:
    • Number of African-American women in the labor force: 10,701,0003
    • Percentage of labor force: 6.5%3
    • Increase of African-American women in the labor force between 1996 and 2016: 36.0%3
  • Women of Color held 3.1% of board seats in the Fortune 500 in 2009. Black women held 63.3% of Women of Color board directorships.4
Educational Achievement
  • Bachelor’s degrees in 2006-2007: 96,968 (6.4% of those getting BA’s) compared to 49,685 African-American men (3.3%).5
  • Master’s degrees in 2006-2007: 44,667 (7.4% of those getting MA’s) compared to 17,907 African-American men (3.0%).5
  • Doctoral degrees in 2006-2007: 2,445 (4.0% of those getting PhDs) compared to 1,282 African-American men (2.1%).5
Income
  • In 2008, 20.5% of African-American women who worked full-time earned more than $50,000, and 7.0% had incomes of more than $75,000.6
  • In 2008, 61.9% of African-American married-couple families who worked had incomes of $50,000 or more, and 39.6% had incomes of $75,000 or more.7
Buying Power
  • African-Americans’ buying power will increase from $318.1 billion in 1990 to $1.2 trillion in 2013, an increase of 289.6%, which is significantly higher than the 209.1% growth rate for Whites, but lower than other race/ethnic groups. African-Americans’ share of the consumer market will be 8.8% in 2013, larger than Asian-Americans or Native Americans.
SOURCES

1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, "Table 3. Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population by detailed age, sex, and race," Annual Averages 2008 (2009).

2 Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, "Table 1. Employed and experienced unemployed persons by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity," Annual Averages 2008 (2009, unpublished data).

3 Mitra Toosi, "Labor force projections to 2016: more workers in their golden years," Monthly Labor Review (November 2007). 

4 Rachel Soares, Nancy M. Carter, and Jan Combopiano, 2009Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors (Catalyst: 2009).

5 National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics 2008(2009).

6 U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, "Income tables 2008" (PINC-01) (2009).

7 U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, "Income tables 2008" (HNC-02) (2009).

8 Jeffrey M. Humphreys, "The multicultural economy 2008," Selig Center for Economic Growth, University of Georgia (2008).

UPDATED December 9, 2009

Quick Takes