Women in the Labor Force: 

A Databook

Introduction

Highlights

The past several decades have been marked by notable 

changes in women’s labor force activities. Women’s 

labor force participation is significantly higher today 

than it was in the 1970s, particularly among women with

children, and a larger share of women work full time and 

year round than in past decades. In addition, women have 

increasingly attained higher levels of education: among 

women aged 25 to 64 who are in the labor force, the proportion with a college degree roughly tripled from 1970 to

2008. Women’s earnings as a proportion of men’s earnings 

also have grown over time. In 1979, women working full

time earned 62 percent of what men did; in 2008, women’s 

earnings were 80 percent of men’s.

This report presents historical and current labor force 

and earnings data for women and men from the Current 

Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is a national monthly 

survey of approximately 60,000 households conducted by the 

U.S. Census Bureau for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Unless otherwise noted, data are annual averages from the 

CPS. Users should note that the comparisons of earnings in 

this report are on a broad level and do not control for many 

factors that can be significant in explaining earnings differences. For a detailed description of the source of the data 

and an explanation of concepts and definitions used, see the 

Technical Note at the end of this report. 

• In 2008, 59.5 percent of women were in the labor 

force, and this share has been relatively stable over the 

past several years. Women’s labor force participation 

rate peaked at 60 percent in 1999, following several

decades in which women increasingly entered the labor 

market. (See tables  and 2.)

• In 2008, the overall unemployment rate for women was 

5.4 percent, but rates varied by race and Hispanic ethnicity. Asian women had the lowest rate (3.7 percent), followed by white (4.9 percent), Hispanic (7.7 percent), and 

black (8.9 percent) women. (See tables 1, 2, and 3.)

• From March 1975 to March 2000, the labor force participation rate of mothers with children under age 1

rose from 47 percent to a peak of 73 percent. (These 

data were collected in the March CPS.) By 2004, 

the participation rate for mothers had receded to 7

percent, where it remained through 2008. (See tables 

6 and 7.)

• In general, mothers with older children (6 to 17 years of

age, none younger) are more likely to participate in the 

labor force than mothers with younger children (under 

6 years of age), and unmarried mothers have higher 

participation rates than married mothers. In 2008, 76 

percent of unmarried mothers were in the labor force, 

compared with 69 percent of married mothers. (See 

tables 6 and 7.)

• The educational attainment of women aged 25 to 64 in 

the labor force rose substantially from 1970 to 2008.

Thirty-six percent of these women held college degrees 

in 2008, compared with 1 percent in 197.  Only

percent of women were high school dropouts in 2008, 

down from 34 percent in 1970. (See table 9.)

• In 2008, women accounted for 51 percent of all persons

employed in management, professional, and related 

occupations, somewhat more than their share of total 

employment (47 percent). The share of women in 

specific occupations within this broad category varied. 

For example, 8 percent of construction managers and 

34 percent of lawyers were women, while 61 percent

of accountants and 79 percent of social workers were 

women. (See table 11

• Employed Asian women were more likely (46 percent) 

to work in the higher paying management, professional, and related occupations in 2008 than were 

employed white (41 percent), black (31 percent), o

Hispanic (24 percent) women. Meanwhile, Hispanic 

women (31 percent) and black women (28 percent)

were more likely than white and Asian women (each 

19 percent) to work in service occupations. (See table

12.)

• In 2008, women accounted for more than half of all 

workers within several industry sectors: financial 

activities, education and health services, leisure and 

hospitality, and other services. However, women were 
substantially underrepresented (relative to their share 

of total employment) in agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing, and transportation and utilities. 

(See table 14.)

• Women who worked full time in wage and salary jobs 

had median usual weekly earnings of $638 in 2008. 

This represented 80 percent of men’s median weekly 

earnings ($798). Earnings of Asian ($753) and white 

($654) women were substantially higher than the 

earnings of their black ($554) and Hispanic ($501)

counterparts. Women’s-to-men’s earnings ratios were 

higher among blacks (89 percent) and Hispanics (90 

percent) than among whites (79 percent) and Asians 

(78 percent). (See table 16.)

• In 2008, female full-time wage and salary workers 

aged 25 and older with only a high school diploma 

had median usual weekly earnings of $520. This represented 79 percent of the earnings for women with 

an associate degree ($661), and 54 percent of those

for women with a bachelor’s degree or higher ($955). 

(See table 17.)

• In 2008, 25 percent of employed women usually 

worked part time—fewer than 35 hours per week. 

In comparison, 1 percent of employed men usuall

worked part time. (See table 20.) 

• Women in nonagricultural industries worked an average of 36.1 hours per week in 2008. The average

workweek for men in nonagricultural industries was 

41.2 hours. (See table 21

• Of all women who worked at some point during calendar year 2007, 62 percent worked full time and year 

round, compared with 41 percent in 1970  Durin

the same period, the proportion of men who worked 

full time and year round grew from 66 to 75 percent. 

(See table 22.) (These data were collected in the 19

and 2008 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to 

the CPS and refer to work experience during the prior 

calendar year.) 

• Both the wife and husband had earnings from work 

in 58 percent of married-couple families in 2007, up 

from 44 percent in 1967. Couples in which only the

husband worked represented 18 percent of marriedcouple families in 2007, compared with 36 percent

in 1967. (See table 23.) (These data were collected

in the 1968 and 2008 Annual Social and Economic

Supplement to the CPS and reflect earnings and work 

experience of the prior calendar year.) 

• In 2007, working wives contributed 36 percent of 

their families’ incomes, up by 9 percentage points 

from 1970, when wives’ earnings accounted for 27

percent of their families’ total incomes. The proportion 

of wives earning more than their husbands also has 

grown. In 1987, 18 percent of working wives whos

husbands also worked earned more than their spouses; 

in 2007, the proportion was 26 percent. (See tables 24 

and 25.) (These data were collected in the 1971, 198

and 2008 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to 

the CPS and reflect earnings and work experience of 

the prior calendar year.) 

• In 2008, approximately 1.5 million women paid at an

hourly rate had earnings at or below the prevailing 

Federal minimum wage. This represented 4 percent of 

all women paid at an hourly rate. Among women 25 

years and older who were paid hourly rates, 3 percent 

had earnings at or below the minimum wage, compared 

with 10 percent of women aged 16 to 24  (On Jul

24, 2008, the Federal minimum wage level rose from 

$5.85 to $6.55 an hour. Data in this report reflect the 

average number of workers who earned $5.85 or less 

from January 2008 through July 2008 and those who 

earned $6.55 or less from August 2008 through the 

end of the year.) (See table 26.) 

• Among workers who were in the labor force for at least 

27 weeks in 2007, women were slightly more likely 

than men to live in poverty—6 percent, compared with 

5 percent. Black and Hispanic women who were in 

the labor force for 27 weeks or more were significantly 

more likely than their white or Asian counterparts to be 

among the working poor. The poverty rates for black 

and Hispanic working women were 12 percent and

percent, respectively, compared with 5 percent and 4 

percent, respectively, for white and Asian women. (See 

table 27.) (Data are from the 2008 Annual Social and 

Economic Supplement to the CPS and reflect earnings 

and work experience of the prior calendar year.) 

• Among 2008 high school graduates, young women 

(72 percent) were somewhat more likely than young 

men (66 percent) to be enrolled in college in October 

2008. (See table 33.) (Data are from the October 2008 

School Enrollment Supplement to the CPS.)

• In October 2008, 45 percent of women aged 16 to 24

who were enrolled in either high school or college 

were in the labor force. Young men of the same age 

group who were enrolled in school had a lower labor 

force participation rate (39 percent). Among those not 

enrolled in school, women were less likely to be in the 

labor force than men (74 percent, compared with 85 

percent). (See table 34.) (Data are from the October 

2008 School Enrollment Supplement to the CPS.)

• Among 16- to 24-year-old women who were not en
rolled in school, those who did not have a high school 

diploma were significantly less likely to participate in 

the labor force than those who had a high school diploma 

but no additional education (50 percent, compared with 

71 percent). Of those in the labor force, the high school

dropouts were more likely to be unemployed than the 

high school graduates (25 percent, compared with 13

percent). (See table 34.) (Data are from the October 

2008 School Enrollment Supplement to the CPS.)

• In May 2008, 5.6 percent of employed women held 

more than one job, nearly the same as the previous 

year. The May 2008 multiple jobholding rate for 

men was lower, at 4.9 percent. Multiple jobholding 

rates for both women and men have declined since the 

mid-1990s. (See table 35.) (Data were collected in

the May CPS.) 

• Since 1976, the percentage of working women who

were self-employed has trended up (from 4.4 percent 

in 1976 to 5.2 percent in 2008), while the percentage

of men who were self-employed has edged down (from 

8.4 percent to 7.6 percent). In 2008, 38 percent of all 

self-employed persons were women, compared with 

27 percent in 1976. (See table 36.)

• In 2008, foreign-born women were less likely than native-born women to be in the labor force (55 percent, 

compared with 60 percent). Of those in the labor force, 

native-born women were less likely to be unemployed 

(5.3 and 6.0 percent, respectively). Among men, the 

opposite was true. Foreign-born men were more likely 

than the native born to be in the labor force (81 percent,

compared with 71 percent) and somewhat less likely

to be unemployed (5.7 and 6.2 percent, respectively). 

(See table 37.) 

• Thirteen percent of female wage and salary workers 

were represented by unions in 2008, compared with 15

percent of men. Union attachment for both sexes had 

been on a downward trend since 1983, when unions

represented 18 percent of women and 28 percent of

men in wage and salary jobs. Over the past 2 years, 

however, union representation has increased slightly 

among both women and men, from lows in 2006 of 12

percent and 14 percent, respectively. (See table 38.)