• Labor force participation among U.S. women rose from 1975 to 2000
  • Slow, steady exodus calls into question the appeal of workplaces
  • Women seek synergy between career and life

From 1975 to 2000, the labor force participation rate — the percentage of the population that is either employed or unemployed and actively seeking work — among U.S. women rose dramatically. But at the turn of the millennium, it began to decline and has been falling ever since.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 59.9% of women aged 15-16 and older were in the labor force in 2000. By 2010, that figure fell to 58.6%, and at the end of 2015, it was even lower, at 56.7%.

Retiring female baby boomers account for a percentage of the shrinking labor force, as does the increasing number of young women enrolling in college. But these demographics don’t tell the whole story. A study conducted by Maximiliano Dvorkin and Hannah Shell for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis also discovered a decrease in labor force participation among women in their “prime age” — between 25 […]

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