Women with young children have much lower labour force participation rates

On the occasion of the International Day of Families on May 15th, the ILO explores how family structure impacts women’s and men’s participation in the labour force.?

Throughout their lives, individuals may enter or exit the labour force, but overall, prime-age adults, those aged 25 to 54, are those most likely to participate in the workforce. Many of them have dependents, such as children, older relatives or persons with disabilities, who rely on them for care and support, including financial support. The remainder of the blog focuses on adults in this age group.

Globally, 34% of prime-age adults have at least one child under the age of six. Among them, 53.4% reside in couple households, 43.2% in extended family households,?and 3.4% in lone parent households, predominantly as single mothers. For those with young children, couple households are the most common across country income groups, except in upper-middle-income countries, where extended families are slightly more prevalent than couples.

Over the past two decades, there has been no change in the global labour force participation rate of 25- to 54-year-olds. Yet, a breakdown by gender shows a diverging trend pointing to persistent and significant gaps between women and men. Since 2004, women have made some marginal gains, increasing their labour force participation rates by 1.1 percentage points to reach 64.5% in 2023, while men have experienced a drop of 1.1 percentage points, reaching 92%. This places the global gender gap in labour force participation at a substantial and unrelenting 27.5 percentage points in 2023.

But how does this gap in labour force participation vary across family types?

Read the full ILOSTAT Blog here . #DayOfFamilies