Working Women: A Snapshot

"At the Labor Department, we like to brag about Frances Perkins, who was both the first woman to serve in the Cabinet (starting in 1933) and the longest serving, since she held the position for 12 years. Moreover, we’ve had more women leaders (seven) than any other department. The women who have led the department all made meaningful improvements to the lives of America’s workers – as have countless working women who have advocated for themselves and their coworkers, and had a lasting impact on work in America.  

Despite decades of progress, we know that too many women still aren’t enjoying equity at work. Women – and women of color in particular – are overrepresented in jobs with lower wages and fewer benefits. And even within specific industries and jobs, gender and racial wage gaps persist.  

As we celebrate Women’s History Month, we recognize the progress women have made and reflect on the current status of working women in America – and the work that remains to be done. Here are some interesting facts about working women. 

Women are critical to America’s economy. 

• Women account for 46.8% of the labor force – 76.6 million in all.  

• 40.5% of women are the primary or co-breadwinner for their families. 

• Nearly 1 in 10 women workers are in a union – about 6.5 million, accounting for 46.3% of all union workers.  

Women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. 

• The unemployment rate for women 20 and older is currently 3.6% - down from a peak of 15.5% in April 2020, but still higher than it was in the months leading up to the pandemic. 

• For women of color in particular, the recovery has been even slower. In January 2022, the unemployment rate for Black women was 5.8% and for Hispanic women it was 4.9%.."
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Even Prior to Pandemic, Working Women Couldn’t Take Time Off When They Needed

"The COVID pandemic has thrown into sharp relief the struggles of working women in the U.S., amplifying the challenges they face as they try to succeed in the labor market while juggling family and personal responsibilities.

Even before COVID, though, many were in the position of needing time off but not being able to take it. Indeed, among all working women in the U.S., 1 in 10 had that exact experience in the prior month, according to the 2017-2018 American Time Use Survey Leave Module, a nationally-representative survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics sponsored by the Women’s Bureau.

^{Notes: Based on the main job of employed civilian, non-institutionalized women ages 16 and older. Results not shown for women in Natural resources, construction & maintenance due to insufficient sample size. Hispanics may be of any race. Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey Leave Module 2017-2018. Graphic: U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau. (plain text chart)}

Women working in service occupations – who were also the least likely to have access to paid leave – were among the most likely to report having needed but not taken leave (13.5%). The shares foregoing leave were also high among African American women (15.4%) and those lacking a high school diploma (14.1%).

On the flip side, women working in production, transportation and material moving, and Asian women were among the least likely to report having needed but not taken leave (7.6% and 7.9% did so, respectively)

^{Notes: Based on the main job of employed civilian, non-institutionalized women ages 16 and older. Respondents could provide more than one reason. Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Use Survey Leave Module 2017-2018. Graphic: U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau. (plain text chart)}

By far the largest share of all women who needed but didn’t take leave (42%) reported needing to take off for their own illness or medical care. Sizeable shares also reported needing time off for errands or personal needs (26%), or to care for a family member who was ill or had medical needs (20%). Some 8% needed but did not take time off for child care (respondents could report more than one reason for needing time off)..."
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Women in the Labor Force

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7 Stats About Working Women to Celebrate the Women’s Bureau Centennial

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On June 5, 1920, the Women’s Bureau was established in the U.S. Department of Labor with the duty to “formulate standards and policies which shall promote the welfare of wage-earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment.”

Today, the Women’s Bureau honors its centennial. For 100 years, the Women’s Bureau has been championing working women and the issues they care about most.

As we look ahead, it is important to highlight the accomplishments women have made in the workforce over the last 100 years. Using data from the Census and the American Community Survey, the Women’s Bureau published an interactive visualization to display how the landscape for working women has changed over time. The interactive features data on the top 10 occupations employing the largest number of women, the number of women in the workforce, and the share of women employed in the top 10 occupations for each decade from 1920 to 2018. View the interactive on the Women’s Bureau’s interactive visualization on women in the labor force since 1920..."

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Celebrating 100 Years of Working Women

"In 1920, Old Glory boasted only 48 stars, the country was two years removed from the First World War and it was the year of the 19th Amendment — which allowed women to make their voices heard at the voting booth. In that same year, Congress passed a law establishing the first government institution in the United States dedicated solely to the economic prosperity and well-being of women in the workplace, the Women’s Bureau.

At the time, the public may have considered a Women’s Bureau or even women’s suffrage a radical idea, but decades of brave women entering public life had already permanently altered American culture. In just a decade, from 1910 to 1920, the number of women in the workforce increased from 5 million to 8 million. In an era when the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire — where 123 women and girls lost their lives — was still fresh in the American psyche, it was evident that women deserved and were entitled to representation.

With Mary Anderson as its first leader, the Women’s Bureau charged forward representing women in industry and labor. In its first decade, the Women’s Bureau performed 87 studies on women in the workforce, including 16 state studies on women working in textile mills. According to Women’s Bureau Bulletin No. 63, published in 1929, women were nearly three times as likely to miss work because of home duties as men were.

A century later, the Women’s Bureau continues to study and address the challenges facing women. Today, those challenges include:

• What is the long-term impact of a pandemic on women workers?
• How does access to child care affect women’s careers?.."
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5 Facts About Working Women and Retirement

"1) Women live longer but often have less saved for retirement.

You probably knew women tend to live a little longer than men, but did you know they also tend to have less saved for retirement? On average, a woman retiring at age 65 can expect to live another 21 years, nearly three years longer than a man retiring at the same age. The median balance of women’s retirement accounts in 2016 was only $20,680 compared to $31,371 for men, as reported by Vanguard.

2) Many women aren’t saving for retirement at work.

Approximately 54 percent of working women are not participating in an employer-sponsored retirement plan either by choice (7 percent), ineligibility (9 percent), or because none was offered (37 percent), according to the National Institute for Retirement Security.

3) Mothers’ wages are increasingly important to the economic security of their families.

Almost 60 percent of all women over age 16 were in the workforce in 2015. For mothers with children under 18, the participation rate jumps to nearly 70 percent. Additionally, the number of mothers who are the sole or primary earner has increased significantly in the past few decades. Mothers provide at least half of the family’s income in 40.9 percent of households with children under age 18, up from 11.3 percent in 1960.

4) Mothers are nearly five times more likely to work part-time than fathers.

Despite strides in women’s earnings over the past decades, employed mothers are nearly five times more likely to work part-timethan fathers, due in part to caregiving duties. Part-time workers are less likely to be covered by an employer-provided retirement savings plan, and may have less money to save on their own.

5) Women are at greater risk of experiencing poverty in retirement.

Women face a higher risk of poverty in retirement and are much more likely than men to depend on Social Security payments. For 27.4 percent of women age 65 and over, Social Security benefits comprise 90 percent of their total income. Forty-six percent of all elderly unmarried women (including widows) who received Social Security benefits in 2014 relied on it for 90 percent or more of their income..."

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Celebrating 97 Years of Advocacy for Working Women

"First created during World War I to study women’s employment during and after the war, the Women’s Bureau became a permanent federal government fixture in 1920. Ninety-seven years later, the Bureau remains the sole federal agency designed to advocate on behalf of working women.

Since its inception, the bureau has supported innovative policies and programs designed to address emerging issues affecting working women and create a positive environment for working women and their families.

Women have made great progress over the course of the bureau’s 97-year history, as seen in higher education levels and higher earnings. As it has for nearly a century, the Women’s Bureau will continue working to address the challenges working women experience and raise awareness on key issues and developments affecting women in the workforce

Tracie Sanchez is a policy analyst for the Women’s Bureau.

Editor's note: Photo credits clockwise from top left - Library of Congress, U.S. Labor Department, Library of Congress, Library of Congress and the National Archives. 

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Working Women