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Overview: Outlook of Future Workforce

While women are graduating college more than ever before, they make up the lowest percentage of the labor force since 1988. Why? And what does this mean for women entering the workforce?

As COVID-19 forced office and school shutdowns and quarantines to become the norm, many women began exiting the workforce due to the pressures of juggling work alongside childcare and other caregiving responsibilities. Then the economy contracted, resulting in women losing more than 5.3 million jobs, which accounts for 53% of net job loss since the start of the pandemic.1 And, as women leave jobs in leadership and other lower-tiered jobs, fewer women are on or will be on track to become future leaders.