We all know women love to work. Confirmation: Almost 60 percent of the 122 million of us in the U.S., age 16 or over, participated in the labor force in 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Some other interesting facts I wanted to share with my FOF friends:
Fewer women than men were unemployed in 2009: 8.1 percent v. 10.3 percent.
Women comprised 46.8 percent of the total U.S. labor force and are projected to account for 46.9 percent in 2018.
Women are projected to account for 51.2 percent of the increase in the total labor force growth between 2008 and 2018.
Among the most prevalent occupations for employed women in 2009 were:
Secretaries and administrative assistants: 3,074,000
Registered nurses: 2,612,000
Elementary and middle school teachers: 2,343,000
Cashiers: 2,273,000
Nursing, psychiatric and home health aides: 1,770,000
We also know women earn less than men. Confirmation: The median weekly earnings of women who were full-time wage and salary workers was $657, or 80 percent, of the $819 that men earn. When comparing the median weekly earnings of people aged 16 to 24, young women earned 93 percent of what young men earned ($424 and $458 respectively.)
At least the second set of figures is an improvement. Maybe that means women are getting a little more equal in the United States. Younger women have FOF women to thank for that, as far as I’m concerned.
But women still have a long way to go.
0 Responses to “Steps, not strides”
Leigh Chandler says:
I agree with you Geri! Women were not liberated overnight and it is hard to be patient. I think my daughters generation and that of her children will be when things equal out. Then we can live in a more peaceful and harmonious world;-))
Toby Wollin says:
I once spoke to a woman who was working as a machinist for a local manufacturer. I asked her what she had done before she’d gone to the local voc tech machinist program – she’d been a waitress, a single mom who had to take whatever she could get because she only had a high school diploma and a GED at that. I asked her if she was happy in her new job (there were a couple of ‘cheese-cake’ calendars in the tool room). Her response: “I can handle anything – I doubled my salary the first day I stepped into this job.” Women are good at whatever they do. Period.
Preppy 101 says:
Amen.