Women in the workforce: United States

Labor force

Women Have Made Substantial Advancements in Education in Recent Decades, But Their Labor Force Participation Is Declining

Women have earned more bachelor’s degrees than men since 1982, more master’s degrees than men since 1987, and more doctorate degrees than men since 2006.1

  • In 2019-2020, women earned more than half of bachelor’s degrees (57.7%), master’s degrees (61.4%), and doctorate degrees (55.2%).1
    • Additionally, across racial/ethnic groups women earned a higher share of degrees, at all levels, than their male counterparts.2

However, women’s labor force participation declined steadily after its peak in 1999,3 rising slightly during 2016-2019,4 only to start falling again at the outset of the pandemic in 2020.5

  • In 2021, there were 75,699,000 women aged 16 and above in the labor force, representing 56.1% of all women in the US population and making up close to half (47.0%) of the total labor force.6
Women Are Still Recovering From the Pandemic’s Job Losses, Particularly in Frontline Jobs

As of July 2022, there are still an estimated 579,000 fewer women in the labor force compared to before the pandemic began (February 2020).7

  • Women without a college degree were especially impacted. Among workers with no education beyond a high school diploma, the labor force participation of women decreased by 6.0 percentage points from 2019-2021, compared to only 1.8 percentage points for men.8
    • The gap is wider still among workers without a high school diploma, with women’s labor force participation falling by 12.8 percentage points compared to only 4.9 percentage points for men.8

Women are overrepresented in industries that were disproportionately impacted by business closures at the onset of the pandemic, such as residential and home nursing care, childcare, food service, and leisure and hospitality.9

  • Few women are returning to these jobs, due to their low pay and poor working conditions. This is contributing to the slow recovery of women’s participation in the labor force.10
  • However, women are on the rise in higher-paying male-dominated industries, particularly transportation/warehousing and construction (15.0% and 7.0% increases, respectively, between February 2020 and March 2022).10

In 2021, women were a majority (59.1%) of part-time workers—and over two-thirds (67.7%) of part-time workers in low-wage jobs.11

  • Part-time jobs are more likely to require working in person, regardless of pandemic-related health risks, and lack the same opportunities for stability, pay, benefits, and promotions as full-time jobs.11
The United States Is Expected to Continue Losing Out on Women’s Contributions to the Economy

The US could boost its gross domestic product (GDP) about $650 billion per year by adding 4.85 million more women (aged 25-54) to its workforce, which would reach a level proportional to women’s labor force participation in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.12

Restrictions on abortion access due to the overturn of Roe vs. Wade are expected to cost $105 billion in state economic losses per year, the result of lost labor force participation and earnings, and increased turnover and time off from work among women aged 15-44.13

Leadership of women in the workforce

Even Though More Than Half of Management Occupations Are Held by Women, Few Make It to CEO Positions

In 2021, women held 52.0% of all management, professional, and related occupations.14

Women account for only 44 (8.8%) CEOs as of the 2022 Fortune 500 list, which reflects the nation’s highest-earning public companies.15

  • While a record high, this still means that men overwhelmingly dominate CEO positions (456, or 91.2%) in the Fortune 500.15
The Overwhelming Majority of Boards Are Still Dominated by Men

In 2021, women held 30% of S&P 500 board seats.16

  • Women of color were 10% of S&P 500 board directors.16

In 2020, women held 26.5% of Fortune 500 board seats.17

  • Only 5.7% of these seats were held by women of color.17

Learn more

How to cite this product: Women in the workforce: United States: Quick Take. (2022). Catalyst.

 

  1. National Center for Education Statistics. (2021).Table 318.10: Degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by level of degree and sex of student: Selected years, 1869-70 through 2030-31[Data set]. 2021 Digest of Education Statistics.
  2. National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Table 322.20: Bachelor’s degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by race/ethnicity and sex of student: Selected years, 1976-77 through 2019-20 [Data set]. 2021 Digest of Education Statistics; National Center for Education Statistics. (2021).Table 323.20: Master’s degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by race/ethnicity and sex of student: Selected years, 1976-77 through 2019-20 [Data set]. 2021 Digest of Education Statistics; National Center for Education Statistics. (2021).Table 324.20: Doctor’s degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by race/ethnicity and sex of student: Selected years, 1976-77 through 2019-20 [Data set]. 2021 Digest of Education Statistics.
  3. Economists attribute women’s decline in labor force participation to several factors, including an increase in the years spent in education. Black, S.E., Whitmore Schanzenbach, D., & Breitwieser, A. (2017, October 19).The recent decline in women’s labor force participation. The Hamilton Project; Dubina, K.S. (2020); Spotlight on statistics: How women and aging affect trends in labor force growth. U.S. Bureau of Labor Force Statistics.
  4. Economists attribute the improvement of women’s labor force participation in this time period to several factors, including a rebound from the Great Recession of 2008. Nunn, R., Shambaugh, J., & Breitwieser, A. (2018, August 2).The recent rebound in prime-age labor force participation. The Hamilton Project; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022).Table 2: Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over by sex, 1981 to date[Data set].Current Population Survey.
  5. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021). Women in the labor force: A databook. BLS Reports; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022). Table 2: Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population 16 years and over by sex, 1981 to date [Data set]. Current Population Survey.
  6. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021). Table 3: Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population by age, sex, and race [Data set]. Current Population Survey.
  7. Tucker, J. & LePage, B. (2022, August 5). Men have recovered net jobs lost to pandemic while women are still missing 100,000 jobs. National Women’s Law Center.
  8. Fry, R. (2022, January 14). Some gender disparities widened in the U.S. workforce during the pandemic. Pew Research Center.
  9. Fry, R. (2022, January 14). Some gender disparities widened in the U.S. workforce during the pandemic. Pew Research Center; Hegewisch, A. & Mefferd, E. (2022, April 13). Women make gains in men-dominated jobs, but still lag behind in COVID-19 recovery. Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
  10. Hegewisch, A. & Mefferd, E. (2022, April 13). Women make gains in men-dominated jobs, but still lag behind in COVID-19 recovery. Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
  11. LePage, B. (2022, February 2).  Part-time workers are facing heightened uncertainty during COVID—and most are women. National Women’s Law Center.
  12. Novello, A. (2021, July).The cost of inaction: How a lack of family care policies burdens the U.S. economy and families. National Partnership for Women & Families.
  13. IWPR research shows negative impact of abortion bans on state economies. (2021, December 1). Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
  14. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022). Table 11: Employed persons by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity[Data set]. Current Population Survey.