In 1975 over half of Minnesota women worked in clerical or service occupations as, for example, secretaries, bank tellers, medical assistants, and hairstylists. Only 5 percent of women held managerial jobs. Women represented 23.2 percent of Minnesota's directors and 15.5 percent of Minnesota's executives in 1995. Even so, the U.S. Department of Labor has estimated that over half of workers would have to change jobs to achieve an equal distribution of occupations by gender. Among workers age 20 to 24, women earn about 93 percent of what men earn, and the gap virtually disappears once occupation, industry, education, and experience are factored in.
Women also represent just over half of all government production workers.
Women represent only 5.2 percent of mining production workers and 8.1 percent of construction production workers. Minnesota has 53 licensed child care centers per 1,000 children under age 5. Nearly 40 percent of Minnesota employers with more than 5 employees offer some sort of child care assistance to their full-time employees. This includes everything from referral services to on-site care.