Decades of data show the rise of women in the workforce, particularly in the government and service-based industries, which provide more jobs than male-dominated industries like manufacturing and construction. The data since the mid-2010s also shows there is a growing share of women participating in the labor force, while the share of men in the labor force has stagnated.
An estimated 76,246,000 women were on payrolls in December—that’s 109,000 more women than men. Another way to look at it: Women are 50.04% of all those on payrolls.
The last time women were the majority of such employees occurred during the Great Recession. Between June 2009 and April 2010, women were also the majority of payroll workers. That majority decreased in the years after the recession. Women made up 49.3% of payroll employees in August 2014, the low for the last decade.
