The COVID-19 pandemic shifted trends across the U.S. workforce, but it also reinforced some gender disparities, according to a Pew Research Center report published Jan. 14.
Pew took data from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor statistics that use a sample study of 70,000 households to derive estimates for labor force statistics. From these statistics, researchers calculated gendered differences in employment.
Five statistics on gender disparity the workforce, according to the report:
- The number of women older than 25 in the workforce has fallen 1.3 percent since 2019, similar to that of men at 1.1 percent.
- Women who have not graduated from high school have seen a 12.8 percent decline from the workforce. Men of the same education level have seen a 4.9 percent drop.
- There are 6 percent fewer women with a high school diploma in the workforce compared to the start of the pandemic and only 1.8 percent fewer men.
- The disparity between hours worked between men and women narrowed slightly, with women working an average of 37.5 hours, unchanged from 2019, and men working 41.6, down 0.7 hours.
- The gender pay gap has not widened throughout the pandemic, remaining around 86 percent.