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Increase employment in working-age people — SDOH‑02 Data Methodology and Measurement

This objective is a Leading Health Indicator (LHI). Learn about LHIs.

About the National Data

Data

Baseline: 70.6 percent of the working-age population aged 16 to 64 years were employed in 2018

Target: 75.0 percent

Numerator
Number of persons aged 16 to 64 in the civilian noninstitutionalized population who are employed.
Denominator
Number of persons aged 16 to 64 years in the civilian noninstitutionalized population.
Target-setting method
Percentage point improvement
Target-setting method details
Percentage point improvement from the baseline using Cohen's h effect size of 0.10.
1
Target-setting method justification
Trend data were not available for this objective. A percentage point improvement was calculated using Cohen's h effect size of 0.1. This method was used because it was a meaningful improvement from the baseline. Increasing employment facilitates better health outcomes and a smaller effect size may reflect substantial improvements.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the Current Population Survey (CPS):

Numerator:

People are classified as employed if, during the survey reference week, they meet any of the following criteria:

  1. worked at least 1 hour as a paid employee (see wage and salary workers)
  2. worked at least 1 hour in their own business, profession, trade, or farm (see self-employed)
  3. were temporarily absent from their job, business, or farm, whether or not they were paid for the time off (see with a job, not at work)
  4. worked without pay for a minimum of 15 hours in a business or farm owned by a member of their family (see unpaid family workers)

For criteria 1 and 2, the work must be for pay or profit; that is, the individual receives a wage or salary, profits or fees, or payment in kind (such as housing, meals, or supplies received in place of cash wages). For the self-employed, this includes those who intended to earn a profit but whose business or farm produced a loss. See the definition of self-employed for further details.

Denominator:

The civilian noninstitutional population excludes the following:

  • active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces
  • people confined to, or living in, institutions or facilities such as
    • prisons, jails, and other correctional institutions and detention centers
    • esidential care facilities such as skilled nursing homes

Included in the civilian noninstitutional population are citizens of foreign countries who reside in the United States but do not live on the premises of an embassy.

Methodology notes

Employment-population ratio: The employment-population ratio represents the number of employed people as a percentage of the civilian noninstitutional population. In other words, it is the percentage of the population that is currently working.

The employment-population ratio is calculated as: (Employed ÷ Civilian Noninstitutional Population) x 100.

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Modified, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 but underwent a change in measurement.
Changes between HP2020 and HP2030
This objective differs from Healthy People 2020 objective DH-16 in that the objective DH-16 tracked employment among persons with disabilities while this objective tracks employment among working-age persons.

1. Effect size h=0.1 was chosen to correspond with 10% improvement from a baseline of 50%.