Women labor force has been on a rise in the past two decades in most of the developed as well as developing countries, but so has not been the case when it comes to the US, where the women labor force has been on a decline.
Though the scenario is changing, and the participation of women in US who are prime aged has increased from 73.3% to 75.2% in the last three years.
The increase in the wages along with the abundance of jobs in the country is attracting women to join the labor force, especially of those who are unskilled or semi-skilled. Education is an expensive affair in US and thus the rate of college dropouts is increasing, The participation of female dropouts has increased from 32.1% to 33.8% in the last three years.
The year 2000 witnessed the largest women participation amongst all the large economies, but since then it has dipped to rates even below Canada, UK, Austrailia where other countries like Italy and Germany were witnessing a rise.
One big reason for this decline was created by technology because of which unskilled and semi skilled workers were not paid well. Also, US has an aging population which means more employed women are retiring and the younger ones are preferably choosing college over jobs.
Another considerable reason is that US has limited leave and child care policies and the private child care is also expensive, so for the women labor force employed in work which is low skilled, the choice is between low paying job and an expensive child care.
As the economy is improving, companies are improving the benefits they provide to their employees by giving paid maternity leaves, paid sick leaves, work from home opportunities, part time work options, etc, which are the reasons why women are now able to opt for jobs.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Flipboard.com
