Workforce Participation Rate Spikes as More Women Join the Labor Force

With the strong economy, the workforce participation rate has recently seen a spike, especially when it comes to women workers.

“Labor-force participation among prime-age U.S. women aged 25 to 54 has risen to 75.2% from 73.3% three years ago, as their unemployment rate dropped to the lowest level since the 1950s,” writes the Wall Street Journal.

The Labor-Force Participation Rate in September was at 62.70 percent, which is close to its all-time high from January 2000 of 67.30 percent

The demand for workers is particularly high, meaning wages have increased as more employers try to lure in new talent.

This also means those with less education are being considered for positions they would not have been considered for in the past.

“For female high-school dropouts aged 25 and over, participation has risen to 33.8% from 32.1% three years ago, even as participation for college grads stagnated,” writes the WSJ. 

This is a significant improvement from the last two declines where the number of women in the U.S. labor force was gradually declining. Since 2000, the female participation rate has continued to drop and is now below the rate in the U.K., Canada, and Australia.

Ivanka Trump was quick to celebrate this growth.

“Women’s unemployment rate is at a 65 year low & almost 1.9 M more women are working today than in January 2017,” tweeted the oldest daughter of President Donald Trump. “Almost every economic metric has improved since POTUS took office— and nearly 55% of employment gains have occurred among women!#WomensEconomicEmpowerment.”

However, depending on the next moves by the Federal Reserve, the board could halt this progress or choose to let this growth continue.

“The Fed can support the increasing empowerment of female workers, which is affecting working-class as well as professional women, by allowing the labor market to continue to tighten. It’s yet another issue the Federal Open Market Committee may want to take under consideration this week,” writes Bloomberg. 

Author’s note: Having this many workers in the labor force means the economy is only going to get even better. The Obama administration bragged about lower unemployment rates but purposely left out the fact that so many had dropped out of the workforce and were no longer being counted. Now that the unemployment rate is actually at an all-time low, some of those who had dropped out are starting to re-enter the workforce.