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Overview of women’s participation in the labor force
The rapid rise in women’s labor force participation was a major development in the labor market during the second half of the 20th century. Overall, women’s labor force participation increased dramatically from the 1960s through the 1980s and slowed in the 1990s before peaking at 60.0 percent in 1999. Labor force participation among women then began to decline, which accelerated in the wake of the December 2007–June 2009 recession before leveling off around 2014. Participation for both women and men declined dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and began to rebound from pandemic-era lows in 2022. Labor force participation among men has generally trended down since its 1948 peak of 86.6 percent. (Both series began in 1948.)
You can access labor force data for women using the one-screen data search or the tables below.
Data tables
Selecting the arrow next to a topic will reveal the data tables. You may expand or collapse all categories using the buttons below. To expand categories without moving the cursor, you may press tab until "Expand All" is selected, then press enter.
United States Department of Labor
