Women are driving the labor market’s post-pandemic recovery
Labor-force participation among women in their prime working years returned to pre-pandemic levels in January, but the job gains haven’t been spread evenly.
After suffering steeper job losses than men in the Covid-19 recession, many women have quickly regained their footing in an economy benefiting from historically low unemployment.
Labor force participation among women between the prime working ages of 25 and 54 has virtually made a full recovery, according to government data released last week. At 76.9%, the share of women in that age group who were working or actively looking for work in January was essentially back to its pre-pandemic level of 77%.
The rebound comes after 13.6 million women, or 18% of the entire U.S. female population, lost their jobs during the depths of the pandemic. Those losses were steeper than for the 11.9 million men who lost their jobs, or 14% of the U.S. male population, over the same time period.
Men of prime working age, by contrast, have yet to experience a full recovery. While labor force participation among 25- to 54-year-old men outstripped the rate among women in the same age group, at 88.5% in January, it was still shy of February 2020’s level of 89.2%, according to federal data.
Who’s hiring? Breaking down the job marketFeb. 3, 202304:52The American labor force looks different today than it did before Covid-19 slammed into the global economy.
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