A recent study has shown that women now make up more than half of the college educated labor force in America.
A study released by Pew Research has found that 50.7% of the people in the U.S. labor force with a college education are actually women. This changed at the end of 2019 and has remained consistent ever since.
When the COVID-19 pandemic happened, the labor force shrunk, but women still remained as the most educated in the labor force.
Before the pandemic, there were less women age 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher. During the second quarter of 2022 there were 31.3 million women with that level of education. During the same quarter in 2019 there were only 29.1 million women with college degrees.
As for men, the number of men with a college education is higher as well compared to before the pandemic. In 2019 there were 29.1 million men with college degrees, and in 2022 there were 30.5 million.
What happened to women without college degrees during that pandemic?
Adults felt the negative impact of those who were working when the pandemic hit in 2020. Those who did not have a bachelor’s degree lost work at a higher rate, especially young women.
Women who had less than a bachelor’s degree saw a 4.6% decrease in the labor force. Men saw a decrease as well at 1.3%, but nowhere near as high as women.
These changes have allowed women to increase their presence in the labor force as the most educated gender. This has not changed the gender composition of the work force though, there are still more men overall.
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Samantha is a reporter covering women’s issues across the U.S. and world. Have a tip? Send it to sam@fingerlakes1.com.