Employment rate for U.S. women is at all time high, report shows

SALT LAKE CITY — A new report from the University of Pennsylvania showed that there are more employed women in the U.S. than ever before, at a rate of just over 75%. The rise contradicts expectations that the pandemic would impair women’s economic success. 

According to the report, women have played a big role in the overall labor market recovery, compared to men. 

Several factors contribute to the rise in employed women. In the report, the first factor is women are more likely to start and finish college. Women with a college degree increased from below 30% to over 45% over the last two decades. 

Another key point from the report is that women who are college-educated with young children are more likely to be employed. Mothers with very young children have experienced the greatest shift from family care to employment over the last two decades. 

When taking a look at what employment was like for mothers of infants and toddlers two decades ago, the report found they were 20% less likely to be working than mothers of teenagers. However, today the likelihood that a mother of an infant is working rose 10 to 15%. 

Another report by the Pew Research Center found that employed women account for more than half of the college-educated labor force in the U.S. 

The U.S. Department of Labor reported that nonfarm payroll employment in America increased by 150,000 in October. The country’s unemployment rate sits at 3.9%.

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