Women in the Workforce
Why women are withdrawing from the workforce
by Liz Olson
Between the start of the women’s movement in the 1960s
and the beginning of the 21st century, women were entering the
workforce in droves. Why then, has there then been a noticeable withdrawal
of women from the U.S. labor force as the 21st century
progresses?
The major catalyst in the exodus of women from the U.S.
workforce is proving to be a poor economy. New data from a Congressional
study, “Equality in Job Loss,” conducted by the Joint Economic
Committee of Congress, shows that women in all occupations have been
afflicted by layoffs, pay cuts, and stagnant positions and salaries.
According to the JEC study, 74.9% of women between the ages of 24 to 54
were employed in 2000. In 2008, there were only 72.7%—an equivalent of
four million fewer female workers in the workforce. In addition, 298,000
have women have lost jobs since December 2007. Between 2001 and 2008, in the
manufacturing industry alone, there was a decline of one million women
employed.
At first, many assumed the decline was due to more women
choosing to stay home for personal reasons, mainly to raise their children
or to run their home.
But data shows that because many women have had
stagnant salaries or their earnings cut in half since 2000, they have chosen
to not work rather than be paid significantly less. During the 1990s, when
wages steadily increased, women consistently applied for jobs. With wage
stagnation in the 21st century, women have been discouraged from seeking
employment.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the median pay
per hour for women fell from $15.04 in 2004 to $14.84 in 2007. In addition,
EPI reports that 31.4% of women earned poverty-level wages or less in
2007.
Despite a highly productive workforce in the United States from
2001 to 2008, both men and women are not receiving the fruits of their
labor. With what many observers call a recession taking place in 2008,
unless a change occurs, men and women will end the cycle with less income
than they had at the beginning, according to “The State of Working
America 2008/2009.”
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