Women’s Labor Force Participation Steadily Grows, but Gaps Persist

According to the March 2025 Employment Situation Summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the women’s labor force participation rate remained steady at 57.5% with women now representing almost half (47%) of the total U.S. labor force.

Prime-aged women, or women aged 25 to 54, represent a significant and growing portion of the U.S. labor force, accounting for 30% of the civilian workforce, compared to 34% for prime-aged men. The Current Population Survey (CPS) notes that prime-age women had a labor force participation rate of 78%, fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to an analysis by the National Association of Home Builders’ Eye on Housing, factors influencing the higher women labor force participation rate include higher levels of educational attainment, parental status and race and ethnicity. In 2024, 70% of women with a bachelor’s degree or higher participated in the labor market, compared to only 34% of women who had not completed high school. Women with older children (ages 6 to 17) and no children under 6 years old had a higher participation rate than those with younger children. Among women ages 16 and over, Black women had the highest participation rate at 61%, followed by Hispanic women (59%), Asian women (59%) and White women (57%).

While women in the labor force are working in a wide range of industries, there are still many male-dominated fields where women remain underrepresented. Construction remains one of those industries, with women making up just 11% of total employment in the construction industry. Most of those women work in office administration, management, business and financial operations while only 2.8% of those women work in actual trade roles.

The gender pay gap continues to be an issue in the labor market, with women earning 83 cents for every dollar earned by a man in 2024, a 17% gap. Women earn less than men across all occupations, including ones dominated by women. In the construction and extraction industries, women earn 83% of what a man makes in the same role.

BLS projects that around 3.2 million prime-age women will join the workforce between 2023 and 2033.