U.S. full-time employees 1990-2024

In 2024, about 133 million people were employed in the United States on a full-time basis, returning to pre-pandemic levels. 

Employment in the U.S.

The number of full-time employees in the United States has increased by more than 30 million people since 1991. In 1990, there were 98.67 million full-time employees which had increased to 134.06 million employees in 2023. After the recession, the number of full-time employees dropped and part-time employment increased significantly. There were about 28.1 million part-time employees in the country as of January 2024. Full-time employment usually is associated with certain benefits that are otherwise not offered to part-time employees, such as health insurance and annual leave. In the United States, a full time worker us usually regard as an individual who works more than 30 hours a week.

Salaries nationwide

Salary in the United States can vary greatly between ethnicities and gender. The median weekly earnings of a full-time salary worker, was 1,310 U.S. dollars for the Asian population, but only 794 U.S. dollars for the Black or African American population in 2020. In the same year, the median hourly wage for female salary workers 15.22 U.S. dollars, while males earned an hourly wage of 17.75 U.S. dollars. Based on a constant value, the wage among salary workers has fluctuated since 1979, where employees earned a median of 14.80 U.S. dollars, compared to 16.36 U.S. dollars in 2020. The minimum wage in the United States was established at 7.25 U.S. dollars per hour as of 2009.