2015 Saw More Women in the American Workforce Than Ever Before at 73.5 Million

Good news out of the Department of Labor as the 2015 labor force numbers show that more than 73.5 million women are part of the workforce. This is up from 73.03 million last year, a jump of about 1.5%.

As the numbers DoL numbers show, a woman is more likely to be a part of the workforce if their youngest child is older than 3. Since the United States does not have mandatory maternity leave, the number of infant/toddler mothers who are working will likely stay comparatively low for the time being.

The overall number of just more than 73.5 million signifies the fact that women have come a long way in getting equal access to jobs, even from as recently as 2000, when there were just a shade over 66 million working women in the U.S.

What is still changing far too slowly however is the pay gap between men and women who have spent approximately the same amount of time at their jobs. On average, women are making about 81 cents on the dollar compared to men overall and about 85 cents on the dollar when professional athletes are excluded.

If the current trend continues, it’s possible to see more than 75 million women in the workforce by 2019, making up approximately 47% of all employees in the United States.