25 U.S. Women Job Statistics – Empowering Women

We gathered together these 25 Women job statistics to prove right was once a well-known activist B. R. Ambedkar said, “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.”

When women are given the opportunity to contribute to their communities, they do incredible things. Unfortunately, for many years women were forced into the background, repeatedly told that their place was only in the home. It wasn’t until recently in the U.S. that women were allowed to enter the same spheres as men.

Now, women are becoming an integral part of the workforce as the U.S. begins to recognize the fallacy of limiting roles by gender. While women are central to every organization, there is still much work to be done. Take a look at 25 U.S. women job statistics that tell a powerful story about where we came from and where we still need to head.

Women in the Workforce By Numbers

1. In the early 20th century, the majority of women in the U.S. didn’t work outside of the house. Only 20% of all women were employed at the time, and only 5% of women who were married worked outside of the house. (Source: Brookings.edu)
2. During the early 20th century, less than 2% of all 18- to 24-year-olds were enrolled in an institution of higher education, and only one-third of those were women. (Source: Brookings.edu)
3.  Women Job Statistics show that by the 1970s, 50% of single women and 40% of married women were actively participating in the labor force. (Source: Brookings.edu)
4. Today, the labor force participation rate of women has reached 57% in the U.S. (Source: U.S. Department of Labor)
5. During 2019-2020, women earned 57.7% of bachelor’s degrees, 61.4% of master’s degrees, and 55.2% of doctorate degrees. (Source: National Center for Education Statistics)
6. And yet, even with these advances, in 2020, women who held full-time jobs had median weekly earnings that were 82% of those of male full-time workers. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
7. COVID-19 affected women in the workplace. According to July 2022 data, there were still an estimated 579,000 fewer women in the labor force compared to pre-pandemic. (Source: National Women’s Law Center)
8. Earnings are also affected by race. Median usual weekly earnings in 2022 were $835 for Black women working full time and $761 for Hispanic women, compared with $1,172 for white men. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
9. Women are also lacking in leadership roles. Women account for only 8.8% of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies. (Source: Catalyst)
10. The majority of boards are also still male-run. As of 2021, women only held 30% of S&P 500 board seats. (Source: Spencer Stuart)
11. Digging further, women of color only hold 10% of S&P 500 board director seats. (Source: Spencer Stuart)
12. At home, women in the U.S. spend approximately 4.5 hours per day in unpaid work. Conversely, men spend only around 2.78 hours a day doing unpaid work. (Source: The Economics Review)
13. To further demonstrate the issue, in the U.S., if women had been compensated for their unpaid work with just the minimum wage, they would have made $1.5 trillion in 2019. (Source: The Economics Review)
14. Women tend to hold certain roles over others. In 2019, only 18.7% of software developers were women, and 36.4% of lawyers were women. However, 88.9% of registered nurses, 80.5% of elementary and middle school teachers, and 61.7% of accountants were women. (Source: U.S. Bureua of Labor Statistics)
15. In 2019, Asian and white women were more likely to work in higher-paying occupations than Black and Hispanic women. (Source: U.S. Bureua of Labor Statistics)
16. Among people who worked at least 27 weeks in 2018, around 3.9 million women lived below the official poverty line, which is around 8 million more than men. (Source: U.S. Bureua of Labor Statistics)
17. A recent study estimates that if we were to increase the female participation rate in the workforce to that of men, we would raise our gross domestic product by 5%. (Source: Brookings.edu)
18. Women leaders are currently leaving jobs at high rates. Around 43% of women leaders are burned out, compared to only 31% of men at their level. (Source: McKinsey)
19. Reasons provided by these women for leaving leadership roles include experiencing belittling microaggressions and being unrewarded for efforts to create an inclusive environment. (Source: McKinsey)
20. In relation to senior leadership, only one in four C-suite leaders is a woman, and only one in 20 is a woman of color. (Source: McKinsey)
21. The biggest hurdle for women wishing to enter into leadership roles begins at the earliest points of promotion. For every 100 men promoted from an entry-level position to management, only 87 women are promoted, and only 82 women of color are promoted. (Source: McKinsey)
22. In tech roles, women often feel isolated. In fact, 32% of women in technical and engineering roles are the only woman in the room at work. (Source: McKinsey)
23. Women leaders are twice as likely as men leaders to spend a significant amount of time fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion. (Source: McKinsey)
24. At the same time, 40% of women leaders say their diversity, equity, and inclusion work isn’t acknowledged or rewarded during reviews. (Source: McKinsey)
25. While women of color face large obstacles, they are often more ambitious than white women. Forty-one percent of women of color want to become top executives compared to 27% of white women.
    

    The Future of Women in the Workforce

    As we look at the incredible changes of the women job statistics that have taken place since the early 1900s, we can see a pattern emerging: When given the chance, women succeed greatly in roles that were once considered only for men. However, we also see a troubling pattern in which women — particularly those of minority groups — are underpaid, overworked, and unrecognized for their contributions.

    We are left with incredible room for growth as we endeavor to create a more equitable future for all. For men, this means putting an end to gender biases and helping build diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. For women, this means lifting one another up, using every step forward as a chance to lend a hand to the next generation of females.

    As B. R. Ambedkar put it so well, the progress of a community should be measured by the advancement of women.

    History Of Women In The Workforce