The U.S. Census Bureau released today the 2006-2010 American Community Survey Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation. The tabulation consists of 107 tables about the labor force crossed by sex, race and ethnicity. The U.S. Census Bureau has produced this tabulation after every decennial census since the 1970s. However, for the first time, this tabulation uses American Community Survey (2006-2010) estimates.

The tabulation — available on American FactFinder (the Census Bureau's online statistics search tool) — is produced for the federal agencies responsible for monitoring employment practices and enforcing civil rights laws for the workforce. Employers use these estimates to measure their compliance with laws and regulations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the Department of Labor, and the Office of Personnel Management sponsored this tabulation.

The latest tabulation provides information about the labor force across several variables, including detailed occupations, industry, earnings, education, and age by residence, worksite and commuting flows for the nation, states, metro areas, counties and places. The estimates include new tables on unemployment status and citizenship status. The 488 detailed occupations in the tabulation are based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification.

"The Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation allows us to examine the diversity of the labor force," said Jennifer Cheeseman Day, assistant division chief for Employment Characteristics of the Census Bureau's Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division. "With it, we can look at the intersection of race, ethnicity and sex across detailed occupations for many levels of geographies."

The tabulation shows, for example, that women's representation increased in many health care occupations over the past decade. Women were 50 percent of veterinarians in 2006-2010, increasing from 40 percent in 2000. About 32 percent of physicians and surgeons were women, increasing from 27 percent in 2000. Dentists also showed an increase in female representation from 18 percent to 23 percent.

However, more women were employed as secretaries and administrative assistants than in any other occupation (3.8 million), followed by cashiers (2.8 million) and elementary and middle school teachers (2.7 million). Since the first Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation based on the 1970 Census, secretary has been the largest occupation category among women.

Among men, the largest occupation category was truck driver (3.2 million), while their representation grew among tellers, loan interviewers and clerks, and insurance claims and policy processing clerks.

Women's share of the labor force has increased since the first Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation (see figure). The largest increase was between 1970 and 1980, increasing by 4.6 percentage points. Between 1980 and 1990, women's share of the labor force increased by 3.1 percentage points. The pace of growth slowed to 1.1 percentage points between 1990 and 2000 and 0.4 percentage points between 2000 and 2006-2010. Women's share of the labor force stands at 47.2 percent in the current Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation. Among the occupations that most closely approximated men's and women's share of the labor force were bus drivers (47.5 percent were women) and food service managers (46.9 percent were women).

Compared with the 2000 Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation, the size of the Hispanic labor force grew by 53 percent (from 14.7 million to 22.5 million), the largest increase for any major race and ethnic group category. In the latest tabulation, non-Hispanic whites made up 67 percent of the labor force in 2006-2010, followed by Hispanics at 15 percent, non-Hispanic blacks at 11 percent and non-Hispanic Asians at 5 percent.

Secretary and administrative assistant was the largest occupation category among non-Hispanic whites (3.0 million). Nursing, psychiatric and home health aides was the largest occupation category among non-Hispanic blacks (731,000), while the largest occupation category for Hispanics was construction laborer (409,000). The largest occupation category for non-Hispanic Asians was computer software engineer (247,000). Personal care aide was the fastest-growing occupation among non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics and non-Hispanic Asians. The number of personal care aides tripled over the last decade.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation provides a wealth of demographic information on the labor force for the nation, states, metro areas, counties and places. Some examples of the questions that the tabulation can answer are:

• What percent of cashiers in Austin, Texas, are non-Hispanic Asian? 7.7 percent
• What percent of flight attendants in Atlanta are 40 to 44 years old? 22.0 percent
• How many workers in Suffolk, Worcester and Berkshire counties in Massachusetts are 35- to-39-year-old high school graduates? Suffolk: 9,190, Worcester: 11,875, Berkshire: 1,850
• How many financial analysts work in Los Angeles County and live in Orange County, Calif.? 110
• What is the demographic composition of elementary and middle school teachers in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C., metro area? 84.9 percent are female, 15.1 percent are male; 3.3 percent are Hispanic, 69.5 percent are non-Hispanic white, 24.0 percent are non-Hispanic black, 0.5 percent are non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native and 1.3 percent are non-Hispanic Asian.
• How many professional workers in the Huntsville, Ala., metro area are not U.S. citizens? 640
• What percent of mechanical engineers in the transportation equipment manufacturing industry in Michigan are non-Hispanic black? 5.0 percent

A complete list of tables is available on the Census Bureau's Equal Employment Opportunity Tabulation website.