MEDIATORS BY THE NUMBERS

The website Zippia, the online recruitment company, publishes job title demographics. While “mediator” can include a number of activities in various settings, the site identified 2700 mediators in the U.S., which is far less than the number of individuals who identify as mediators. Nonetheless, this resource provides some interesting data.

To better understand who is included in the report, it is useful to begin with areas of employment. Some 24% were positions in government, 16% non-profits, and 15% education. The unemployment rate has been less than 2% for at least ten years.

Of this group, 60% are female; 40% male. In the past ten years, the percentage of women has increased to 55%. This is consistent with my own experience meeting volunteer mediators where there is typically a higher percentage of women particpants.

By Age: 30% are 30 to 40 years-old and 65% are 40 and older.

By Education: 58% have Bachelor’s degrees, 14% Master’s, and 18% Doctorates.

By Ethnicity: 80% are White, 7% Hispanic, 6% Asian American, and 5.5% African-American. Current U.S. demographics, while not using the exact same categories, are 62% White, 6% Asian-American, 12% African-American, and 18% Hispanic.

This data reflects mediators employed in large organizations. If the larger pool had been identified, including self-employed and volunteer mediators, the demographic profile would most certainly be different. My assumption is a larger group will likely reflect an even high percentage of women and ethnic diversity.