October 09, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Labor force participation of women and mothers, 2008

Labor force participation of women by presence and age of youngest child, March 1975–2008
Year	Percent of population
Year	With children under age 18	With children ages 6 to 17, none younger	With children under age 6	With children under age 3	With no children under age 18
1975	47.4	54.9	39.0	34.3	45.1
1976	48.8	56.2	40.1	34.1	45.7
1977	50.8	58.3	41.2	35.4	46.4
1978	53.0	60.0	44.0	39.4	47.0
1979	54.5	61.6	45.7	41.1	48.6
1980	56.6	64.3	46.8	41.9	48.1
1981	58.1	65.5	48.9	44.3	48.7
1982	58.5	65.8	49.9	45.6	48.6
1983	58.9	66.3	50.5	46.0	48.7
1984	60.5	68.1	52.1	47.6	49.3
1985	62.1	69.9	53.5	49.5	50.4
1986	62.8	70.4	54.4	50.8	50.5
1987	64.7	72.0	56.7	52.9	50.5
1988	65.1	73.3	56.1	52.4	51.2
1989	65.7	74.2	56.7	52.4	51.9
1990	66.7	74.7	58.2	53.6	52.3
1991	66.6	74.4	58.4	54.5	52.0
1992	67.2	75.9	58.0	54.5	52.3
1993	66.9	75.4	57.9	53.9	52.1
1994	68.4	76.0	60.3	57.1	53.1
1995	69.7	76.4	62.3	58.7	52.9
1996	70.2	77.2	62.3	59.0	53.0
1997	72.1	78.1	65.0	61.8	53.6
1998	72.3	78.4	65.2	62.2	54.1
1999	72.1	78.5	64.4	60.7	54.3
2000	72.9	79.0	65.3	61.0	54.8
2001	72.7	79.4	64.4	60.7	54.4
2002	72.2	78.6	64.1	60.5	54.0
2003	71.7	78.7	62.9	58.7	54.1
2004	70.7	77.5	62.2	57.3	53.8
2005	70.5	76.9	62.6	58.9	53.5
2006	70.6	76.9	63.0	59.9	53.6
2007	71.3	77.7	63.5	60.1	53.9
2008	71.2	77.5	63.6	59.6	54.3

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U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics