69 million of the 117 million women age 16 years and over in the U.S. were labor force participants.

Women comprised 46% of the total U.S. labor force and are projected to account for 47% of the labor force in 2014.

Women are projected to account for 51% of the increase in total labor force growth between 2004 and 2014.

66 million employed women were in the U.S.

38% of employed women worked in management, professional, and related occupations; 35% worked in sales and office occupations; 20% in service occupations; 6% in production, transportation, and material moving occupations; and 1% in natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations.

44% of employed Asian and 39% of white women worked in management, professional, and related occupations. Both 33% of black and Hispanic women worked in sales and office occupations.

The unemployment rate for both women and men was 5.1%.

The unemployment rate, however, varied substantially among female racial groups: Asian women, 3.9%; white women, 4.4%; Hispanic women, 6.9%; and black women, 9.5%.

The median weekly earnings of women who were full-time wage and salary workers were $585, or 81 percent of men’s $722. When comparing the median weekly earnings of persons aged 16 to 24, young women earned 93% of what young men earned ($381 and $409, respectively).

The ten occupations with the highest median weekly earnings among women who were full-time wage and salary workers were

1. Pharmacists, $1,483
2. Chief executives, $1,413
3. Lawyers, $1,354
4. Computer software engineers, $1,174
5. Physicians and surgeons, $1,134
6. Computer and information systems managers, $1,094
7. Medical and health services managers, $1,026
8. Computer programmers, $1,014
9. Physical therapists, $1,014
10. Human resource managers, $998

Women accounted for 50% of all workers in the high-paying management, professional, and related occupations. They outnumbered men in such occupations as financial managers; human resource managers; education administrators; medical and health services managers; accountants and auditors; budget analysts; loan counselors and officers; property, real estate, and community association managers; social and community service managers; preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers; and registered nurses. 

75% of employed women worked on full-time jobs, while 25% worked on a part-time basis.

Of persons aged 25 years and older, 27% of women had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 29% of men. 32% of both, women and men, had completed high school, no college.

The higher a person’s educational attainment, the more likely they will be a labor force participant (working or looking for work) and the less likely they will be unemployed. 

For women age 25 and over with less than a high school diploma, 32.9% were labor force participants; high school diploma, no college, 53.8%; some college, but no degree, 63.9%; associate degree, 71.9%; and bachelor’s degree or higher, 72.9%.

For women age 25 and over with less than a high school diploma, their unemployment rate was 9.7%; high school diploma, no college, 4.8%; some college, but no degree, 4.5%; associate degree, 3.3%; and bachelor’s degree or higher, 2.4%. 

There were 34.9 million women aged 55 and over in the U.S. in 2004. This represented 55 percent of persons in this age group.

Of those 34.9 million women, 10.7 million were in the labor force (working or looking for work).

Labor force participation rates for women over 55 years of age continue to increase. Their labor force participation rate was 24.0 percent in 1994, 25.6 percent in 1999, as compared with 30.5 percent in 2004. 

Women aged 55 and over accounted for 15.6 percent of the total female labor force and in 2004. They also made up 46 percent of the total 55 and over labor force (men and women).