Women’s U.S. Labor Force Participation Drops for the First Time in 5 Months

(Bloomberg) -- In an otherwise strong month for the U.S. job market, the labor force participation rate for female workers dropped for the first time in five months, especially for a key age group.

The rate for so-called prime age women, who are 25-54, declined to 75.8% in February, a Labor Department report showed Friday. Men of the same age saw their participation rate soar to 88.8%, getting closer to its pre-pandemic level.

This month's drop was led by prime age Black women, whose participation rate dropped the most since October, while for Asian women it plummeted for a second month to the lowest level since April. It ticked up for White women while the rate for Hispanic women was unchanged.

Women have made progress in the previous months -- including in December and January, when the omicron variant of Covid-19 rapidly spread across the U.S. and disrupted children's in-person learning.

As schools reopened, more mothers came back to the job market at the end of 2021, so it remains to be seen if the February data were a one-off or possible signs of worsening challenges with childcare. 

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