Women's increased labor force participation represents a significant change in the U.S. economy since 1950. As of 2014, nearly six in ten women aged 16 and older (57.0 percent) worked outside the home (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2015a), compared with 33.9 percent in 1950 and 43.3 percent in 1970 (Fullerton 1999).
In almost every country in the world, men are more likely to participate in labor markets than women. However, these gender differences in participation rates have been narrowing substantially in recent decades. In most countries men tend to participate in labor markets more frequently than women. All over the world, labor force participation among women of working age increased substantially in the last century. In some parts of the world, the historical increase in female labor force participation has slowed down or even regressed slightly in recent years. Women all over the world allocate a substantial amount of time to activities that are not typically recorded as ‘economic activities’. Hence, female participation in labor markets tends to increase when the time-cost of unpaid care work is reduced, shared equally with men, and/or made more compatible with market work.
