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

2009. 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 2009, women’s 

earnings were 80 percent of men’s. The women’s-to-men’s 

earnings ratio peaked at 81 percent in 2005–06, edging down 

to 80 percent in 2007, where it has remained through 2009. 

Three additional data tables are being introduced to the 2010 

edition of Women in the Labor Force: A Databook; the new 

tables provide information on women by employee tenure 

(table 29), employment status of veterans (table 36), and 

persons with a disability (table 37).

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 may 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 2009, 59.2 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 

of growth in women’s labor market participation. (See 

tables 1 and 2.)

• In 2009, the overall unemployment rate for women was 

8.1 percent, but rates varied by race and Hispanic ethnicity. Asian women had the lowest rate (6.6 percent), 

followed by White (7.3 percent), Hispanic (11.5 percent), 

and Black (12.4 percent) women. (See tables 1, 2, and 3.)

• From March 1975 to March 2000, the labor force participation rate of mothers with children under 18 years of age 

rose from 47.4 percent to a peak of 72.9 percent. (These 

data were collected each March by the CPS.) By 2005, 

the participation rate for mothers had receded to 70.5 

percent. From 2005 to 2009, the labor force participation 

rate edged back up, to 71.6 percent. (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 March 2009, 75.8 

percent of unmarried mothers were in the labor force, 

compared with 69.8 percent of married mothers. (See 

tables 6 and 7.)

• The educational attainment of women in the labor force 

age 25 to 64 rose substantially from 1970 to 2009. Thirtysix percent of these women held college degrees in 2009, 

compared with 11 percent in 1970. Only 7 percent of 

women were high school dropouts in 2009, down from 

34 percent in 1970. (See table 9.)

• In 2009, women accounted for 51 percent of all people 

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, 6 percent of construction managers and 32 percent 

of lawyers were women, while 62 percent of accountants 

and 82 percent of elementary and middle school teachers 

were women. (See table 11.)

• Employed Asian women were more likely to work in the 

higher paying management, professional, and related occupations in 2009 than were employed White, Black, or 

Hispanic women. Forty-seven percent of Asian women 

worked in managerial and professional jobs compared 

with 41 percent of White women, 34 percent of Black 

women, and 25 percent of Hispanic women. Meanwhile, 
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Hispanic (32 percent) and Black (29 percent) women 

were more likely than White and Asian women to work 

in service occupations (20 and 21 percent, respectively). 

(See table 12.)

• In 2009, 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 weekly earnings of $657 in 2009. This represented 

80 percent of men’s median weekly earnings ($819). 

Earnings of Asian ($779) and White ($669) women were 

substantially higher than the earnings of their Black 

($582) and Hispanic ($509) counterparts. Women’s-tomen’s earnings ratios were higher among Blacks (94 

percent) and Hispanics (90 percent) than among Whites 

(79 percent) and Asians (82 percent). (See table 16.)

• In 2009, female full-time wage and salary workers age 

25 and older who only had a high school diploma had 

median usual weekly earnings of $542. This represented 

80 percent of the earnings for women with an associate’s 

degree ($674), and 56 percent of the earnings for women 

with a bachelor’s degree or higher ($970). (See table 17.)

• In 2009, 27 percent of employed women usually worked 

part time—fewer than 35 hours per week. In comparison, 

11 percent of employed men usually worked part time. 

(See table 20.)

• Women in nonagricultural industries worked an average 

of 35.3 hours per week in 2009. The average workweek 

for men in nonagricultural industries was 40.1 hours. (See 

table 21.)

• Of all women who worked at some point during calendar 

year 2008, 59 percent worked full time and year round, 

compared with 41 percent who did the same in 1970. During the same period, the proportion of men who worked 

full time and year round grew from 66 to 71 percent. (See 

table 22.) (These data were collected in the 1971 and 2009 

Annual Social and Economic Supplements to the CPS and 

refer to work experience during the prior calendar year.)

• Both the wife and husband had earnings from work in 57 

percent of married-couple families in 2008, an increase of 

13 percentage points from 1967 (the first year data were 

available). Couples in which only the husband worked 

represented 18 percent of married-couple families in 

2008, compared with 36 percent in 1967. (See table 23.) 

(These data were collected in the 1968 and 2009 Annual 

Social and Economic Supplements to the CPS and reflect 

earnings and work experience of the prior calendar year.)

• In 2008, 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 income. The proportion of wives earning 

more than their husbands also has grown. In 1987, 18 

percent of working wives whose husbands also worked 

earned more than their spouses; in 2008, the proportion 

was 27 percent. (See tables 24 and 25.) (These data were 

collected in the 1971, 1988, and 2009 Annual Social and 

Economic Supplements to the CPS and reflect earnings 

and work experience of the prior calendar year.)

• In 2009, approximately 2.2 million women who were paid 

at an hourly rate had earnings at or below the prevailing 

Federal minimum wage. This represented 6 percent of all 

women paid at an hourly rate. Among women 25 years 

and older who were paid hourly rates, 4 percent had earnings at or below the minimum wage, compared with 15 

percent of women age 16 to 24. (On July 24, 2009, the 

Federal minimum wage level rose from $6.55 to $7.25 

an hour. Data in this report reflect the average number of 

workers who earned $6.55 or less per hour from January 

2009 through July 2009 and those who earned $7.25 or 

less from August 2009 through the end of the year.) (See 

table 26.)

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

27 weeks in 2008, nearly the same number of women and 

men lived in poverty (4.5 and 4.4 million, respectively). 

The working-poor rate, however, continued to be higher 

for women than for men—6.5 percent compared with 

5.6 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 12.7 percent and 12.1 

percent, respectively, compared with 5.5 percent and 4.9 

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

table 27.) (Data are from the 2009 Annual Social and 

Economic Supplement to the CPS and reflect earnings 

and work experience of the prior calendar year.)

• From January 2007 through December 2009, 6.9 million 

workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at 

least 3 years; men accounted for about 60 percent of those 

displaced. Women were as likely as men to have found 

a new job at the time of the survey in January 2010: the 

reemployment rate for both men and women was 49 percent. However, women were less likely to be unemployed 

than men, 31 and 39 percent, respectively. Women were 

almost twice as likely as men to have left the labor force, 

20 versus 12 percent. (See table 28.) (Data are from the 

January 2010 Displaced Worker Supplement to the CPS.)
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• In January 2010, the median number of years that female 

wage and salary workers had been with their employer 

was 4.2 years, compared with 4.6 years for their male 

counterparts. Among both women and men, tenure at a 

job was greater for workers age 45 and older. (See table 

29.) (Data are from the January 2010 Displaced Worker 

Supplement to the CPS.)

• Among 2009 high school graduates, young women (74 

percent) were more likely than young men (66 percent) 

to be enrolled in college in October 2009. (See table 30.) 

(Data are from the October 2009 School Enrollment 

Supplement to the CPS.)

• In October 2009, 41.6 percent of women age 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 (35.2 percent). Among those not enrolled in school, 

women were less likely to be in the labor force than men 

(72.3 percent compared with 83.8 percent). (See table 

31.) (Data are from the October 2009 School Enrollment 

Supplement to the CPS.)

• Among 16- to 24-year-old women who were not enrolled 

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 (49.6 percent compared with 68.7 

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

were more likely to be unemployed than high school 

graduates (31.0 percent compared with 22.2 percent). 

(See table 31.) (Data are from the October 2009 School 

Enrollment Supplement to the CPS.)

• In 2009, 5.6 percent of employed women held more than 

one job; this proportion has remained unchanged since 

2002. The 2009 multiple jobholding rate for men was 

lower, at 4.8 percent. Multiple jobholding rates for both 

women and men have been stable in recent years and 

remain below the rates recorded in the mid-1990s. (See 

table 32.)

• The percentage of working women who were selfemployed in nonagricultural industries was 5.3 percent 

in 2009, compared with 7.7 percent for men. In 2009, 

39 percent of all self-employed workers were women, 

compared with 27 percent in 1976. (See table 33.) 

• In 2009, foreign-born women were less likely than 

native-born women to be in the labor force (55.4 percent 

compared with 59.8 percent). Of those in the labor force, 

native-born women were less likely to be unemployed 

than their foreign-born counterparts (7.9 percent versus 

9.2 percent). Among men, the opposite was true. Foreignborn men were more likely than native-born men to be in 

the labor force (80.5 percent compared with 70.4 percent) 

and somewhat less likely to be unemployed (10 percent 

and 10.3 percent, respectively). (See table 34.)

• Thirteen percent of female wage and salary workers were 

represented by unions in 2009, about the same as the 

percentage for men (14 percent). Union representation 

for both sexes had been on a long term downward trend, 

reaching a low of 13.1 percent in 2006. In 2009, 13.6 

percent of all workers were represented by unions. (See 

table 35.)

• In 2009, there were 12.1 million veterans of the U.S. 

Armed Forces in the labor force. Nine percent of these 

veterans were women. Among female veterans in the 

labor force, a little more than half (54 percent) served in 

the Gulf War-era I and II service periods (August 1990 

to present). (See table 36.)

• Of the 14.8 million women with disabilities in 2009, 2.8 

million, or 19.1 percent, were in the labor force. Almost 

half of women with disabilities were age 65 and older; 4.9 

percent of them were in the labor force, compared with 

32.5 percent among those ages 16 to 64. (See table 37.)