| POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS |
20 |
U.S. Department of Labor statistics show that the proportion of U.S. women in the labor force grew significantly between 1970 and 2000, a trend which was seen across racial and ethnic groups. The greatest increase (40 percent) was observed among White women since 1970. Over the past three decades, Black women have consistently had the highest percentage of women in the labor force, and Hispanic women have been the least represented.
Many working women are mothers. In 2000, 65 percent of mothers of children under the age of six and 79 percent of mothers of children between the ages of six and 17 were in the labor force.
As the number of women in the labor force has grown, so has their representation in various occupational sectors. In 1983, 40.9 percent of workers in managerial and professional specialty fields were women; by 2000, half were women. Women have greatly increased their numbers in government positions as well; for every two jobs that have been added for men in the government, five have been added for women. In the past 35 years, women's jobs have doubled in every industry with the exception of manufacturing.(1)
Although women may be making strides in terms of equal employment with men, they are still not paid equally. In 2000, women aged 25 years and older earned 73.6 cents for every dollar that men earned, a figure only slightly less that the 74.4 cents that college-educated women earned as compared to men with the same education. High school graduates with no college had the biggest discrepancy, with females earning 70.9 percent of males' wages.
1 - Women's Jobs 1964-1999: More Than 30 Years of Progress. U.S. Department of Labor.
