Jobs data for the month of March show a flat economy. March job gains came on the heels of steep declines in February, meaning we’ve only added 45,000 jobs since January. The economy continues to be hampered by losses in the federal government, which is down nearly 12 percent since its peak in the fall of 2024. Unemployment also remained virtually unchanged.
Today’s data also show that the share of prime age women (those ages 25-54) who are working or looking for work – known by economists as the labor force participation rate – has hit an all-time high of 78.5 percent, surpassing the previous high of 78.4 percent first reached in the summer of 2024. But is this really good news for women? Not so fast – and here’s why.
In the summer of 2024, U.S. women’s employment had a watershed moment: the share of prime age women in the labor force – which has long lagged behind peer nations – crested to a new peak. Women’s participation was accompanied by a strong job market: the unemployment rate for prime-age women was relatively low, at just 3.6 percent.
But it didn’t last for long, as soon as late 2024, their labor force participation rate began to decline and in 2025 familiar news stories emerged, asking if women – especially mothers – really could have it all.
But now, amidst a deluge of negative economic news, prime age women’s participation rate is surprisingly back. But their unemployment rate is not. Unemployment for prime age women is 3.9 percent – more than a quarter percentage point higher than it was in August of 2024. That means a larger share of the women in the labor force aren’t working, they are looking for work, but can’t find it. In fact, our analysis shows that if today’s unemployment rate matched that of August 2024, more than 150,000 additional women would be working, instead of job hunting.
This surge also seems to be leaving behind mothers with young children.University of Kansas researchers Lucie Prewitt and Misty Heggeness have been tracking the labor force participation of parents with young children under the age of 5 and while fathers are staying fairly steady, the latest data from February show that participation for mothers is lower now than a few years ago.
So what’s driving women back into the labor force, even when it’s harder and harder to find work? The affordability crisis no doubt plays a role. Since August 2024 prices have continued to rise on basic necessities like groceries and housing – not to mention increasingly unaffordable health care premiums. This is stressing families’ budgets to the brink.
And more bad news: even when women can find jobs, the quality is likely worse. Recent research shows that workers who are changing jobs are taking pay cuts. And since August 2024, women have gained 600,000 jobs – but close to a quarter of these jobs are in leisure and hospitality – the lowest-wage sector of the economy. While low-paid jobs offer inadequate wages for everyone, they especially impact women of color who are already more economically insecure due to large wage gaps.
It’s no wonder that women’s opinion on the way the federal government is handling the economy hit an all time low in December 2025 – and continues to hover near rock bottom.
Women’s work – so often undervalued and underpaid – is the backbone of the economy. Digging under today’s headlines shows that we have farther to go. Just last week Sen. Hirono (D-HI) and Rep. McIver (D-NJ) introduced a resolution affirming Congress’s duty to support working women. This Working Women’s Bill of Rights led by the 75 Million campaign recognizes the need for a sustainable framework of policies to advance workplace equity and good jobs for women, increase workplace protections and strengthen and enforce anti-harassment laws. This roadmap for the future stands in stark contrast to the budget released by the Trump administration this morning. Following on the heels of his declaration that the federal government cannot pay for child care or health care because of the costs of his Iran war, today’s budget makes steep cuts to nondefense spending, a category which includes programs to support health care, nutrition, employment training and more. These two visions could not provide a more disparate future for the U.S. – and especially for women.
