Women’s Labor Force Participation Falls 1.2 Points to 56.4% as U.S. Loses 23,000 Jobs
Updated
Updated · lookouteugene-springfield.com · Aug 18
Women’s Labor Force Participation Falls 1.2 Points to 56.4% as U.S. Loses 23,000 Jobs
3 articles · Updated · lookouteugene-springfield.com · Aug 18
Summary
56.4% of women age 20 and older were in the labor force in July, down from 57.6% a year earlier, extending a mostly month-by-month slide over the past nine months.
23,000 jobs disappeared from the U.S. economy in July, and federal data showed women bore the losses: the number of women in the workforce fell from nearly 77.5 million in June to about 77.3 million in July while men’s level held above 85.6 million.
Oregon reflected the pattern, with women’s unemployment at 5.6% versus 4.9% for men after the reverse gap a year earlier, though state economists cautioned that Oregon’s federal survey sample is small.
High childcare costs, inflation and return-to-office mandates are among the main explanations economists cite, with reduced work-from-home flexibility and cuts to childcare and social-support programs seen as especially hard on mothers.
Black women saw a slightly steeper participation decline, a signal some economists view as an early warning that broader labor-market weakness could spread.