Key Career & Employment Stats for Journalists Use

This page contains facts and statistics for journalists who report on employment and the workplace. We’ve provided insights on the careers and employment space, including info on job seekers, hiring managers and employers.

Blue-Collar Jobs

Job Interviews

Retirement

Reentering the Workforce

Blue-Collar Jobs

The trucking industry predicts that the economy will be short 175,000 workers by 2026. (American Trucking Associations)

The great majority of blue-collar workers (86 percent) are satisfied with their jobs. (The Harris Poll)

In the past three years, white-collar workers have seen their wages grow by nearly 7.5 percent while other workers, most of them without college degrees, saw their pay increase by 10 percent. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

About half of Apple’’s hires in 2018 did not have a four-year college degree, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. (Business Insider)

Here are the top 20 occupations that don’t require a four-year college degree:

• Mechanical designer
• Electrical technician
• Chef
• Manufacturing technician
• Telecommunications technician
• Computer network technician
• Information technology technician
• Food and beverage specialist
• Technical support specialist
• Driver
• Public safety officer
• Cashier
• Customer service representative
• Network operations analyst
• Insurance agent
• Cosmetologist
• Information technology coordinator
• Marketing representative
• Healthcare assistant
• Retail consultant

(LinkedIn)

The number of degree-holders in the labor force grew from one-quarter to two-fifths of the labor force in less than 25 years. (Deloitte)

Over the decades, the participation rate of prime-age workers, especially men 25 to 54 years old, has fallen steadily, from 98 percent in 1954 to 88 percent today. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Here are the top-three job sectors with the highest risk of workers being replaced by AI:

(Brookings Institute)

Here are the highest-paying blue-collar jobs:

• Nuclear power reactor operator ($94,350 median annual salary)
• First-line supervisor of police and detectives ($89,030)
• Power distributor and dispatcher ($86,410)
• Detectives and criminal investigator ($81,920)
• Powerhouse, substation, and relay electrical and electronics repairer ($80,200)
• Elevator installers and repairer ($79,780)
• Power plant operator ($79,610)
• First-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention worker ($76,330)
• Transit and railroad police ($74,030)
• Gas plant operator ($71,070)

(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Job Interviews

Only 2 percent of applicants will be called for an interview for the average job opening. (Glassdoor)

About one-third of bosses (33 percent) know within the first 90 seconds of the interview whether they’re going to hire someone. (Come Recommended and Classes & Careers)

Share of university graduates who are confident their job interview skills will get them a job they want in the United States in 2019:

(iCIMS)

People who use mental imagery of feeling confident and in control before a job interview had a higher performance and lower stress than those who don’t. (Journal of Managerial Psychology)

Chronic self-promoters perform better in job interviews than others. (Journal of Applied Social Psychology)

Ninety-one percent of people who take an interview-training program felt it helped them do better in their real interviews. (Personnel Psychology)

You’ll likely be seen as smart if you make a lot of eye contact while talking. (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin)

Here are 10 interview mistakes that could instantly destroy your chances:

(CareerBuilder)

Retirement

While 10,000 baby boomers retire every day, only 5,900 leave the workforce. (Population Reference Bureau)

In 2016, 45 percent of workers ages 55 and older are expected to retire after age 65, up from 15 percent of such workers in the 1996 survey. (Population Reference Bureau)

Fifty-three percent of workers ages 60+ say they are postponing retirement, with 57 percent of men putting it off compared to 48 percent of women. (CareerBuilder)

Four in 10 workers (40 percent) doubt they’ll be able to retire until 70 or older. (CareerBuilder)

The number of age-related discrimination charges filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by workers aged 65+ doubled from 1990 to 2017. A total of 18,376 cases were filed in 2017. (EEOC)

Data shows more than half of older U.S. workers are pushed out of longtime jobs before retirement — suffering irreversible financial damage. (ProPublica and the Urban Institute)

Forty-seven percent of working seniors say they wish they were retired. Thirty-three percent say they’re happy to be working, while 20 percent say they like it but would prefer fewer hours. (Provision Living)

Here are the primary financial reasons seniors continue working:

(Provision Living)

About one-in-four workers (23 percent) say they don’t participate in a 401(k), IRA or other retirement plan. (CareerBuilder)

Here are some of the occupations in which workers age 55+ make up a large percentage of the workforce:

(Emsi and CareerBuilder)

Here are the five most common jobs for men 62 and older who didn’t attend college:

(Urban Institute)

Here are the five most common jobs for women 62 and older who didn’t attend college:

(Urban Institute)

Here are the jobs that workers 62 and older find most enjoyable:

(Urban Institute)

Here are the jobs workers 62 and older find least enjoyable:

(Urban Institute)

Millennials Reentering the Workforce

84 percent of millennials foresee taking significant breaks during their career. (Manpower Group)

Here’s why millennial women say they’ll need to take a break:

(Manpower Group)

Here’s why millennial men will temporarily exit the workforce:

(Manpower Group)

Here’s the percentage of companies that accept the following types of breaks:

Phasing into retirement by working reduced hours (54 percent of employers allow some employees to do so)

Sabbaticals and return to a comparable job (28%)

Extended career breaks for caregiving or other personal or family responsibilities (52%)

Special consideration when returning to the organization after an extended career break (20%)

(SHRM)

Here are the fastest-growing occupations in the United States and what they pay:

(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)