70 Years of Work

Everyone is always fussing about the ups and downs of women's labor force participation rate. But in fact, men's labor force participation has changed just as dramatically over the years. Let's take a look at the 70-year trend detailed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its latest edition of Women in the Labor Force: A Databook.

Labor force participation rate of men and women aged 16 or older, 1950-2020

	Men	Women	PP difference
2020	67.7%	56.2%	11.5
2019	69.2%	57.4%	11.8
2010	71.2%	58.6%	12.6
2000	74.8%	59.9%	14.9
1990	76.4%	57.5%	18.9
1980	77.4%	51.5%	25.9
1970	79.7%	43.3%	36.4
1960	83.3%	37.7%	45.6
1950	86.4%	33.9%	52.5

Men's labor force participation rate has been falling steadily for the past 70 years. Women's labor force participation rate increased during most of the time period, reaching a peak of 60.0 percent in 1999 (not shown in table). Since the 1999 peak, women's labor force participation rate has fallen by 3.8 percentage points. Men's labor force participation rate fell by a larger 7.0 percentage points.  

The gap in the labor force participation rate between men and women has been shrinking for the entire 70-year period. It was just 11.5 percentage points in 2020, down from a whopping 52.5 percentage points in 1950. 

In the first year of the pandemic (2020), men's labor force participation rate fell by 1.5 percentage points. Women's labor force participation rate fell by a slightly smaller 1.2 percentage points. 

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Women in the Labor Force: A Databook