The percentage of women participating in the U.S. labor force has been in decline for much of the past two decades. Even as participation soared in other developed economies, a lack of “good-paying, middle-skilled jobs,” together with limited or expensive child care, appeared to hold back American women. But a resurgent economy is helping to reverse the trend:





• The percentage of U.S. women aged 25 to 54 in the labor force has inched up from 73.3% three years ago to 75.2% today.

• At the same time, the demographic’s rate of unemployment has plummeted to its lowest level since the 1950s.