{"id": 1195714, "name": "Female labor force participation rate", "unit": "%", "createdAt": "2026-02-18T11:20:53.000Z", "updatedAt": "2026-03-02T10:21:40.000Z", "coverage": "", "timespan": "1890-2024", "datasetId": 7379, "shortUnit": "%", "columnOrder": 0, "shortName": "female_labor_force_participation", "catalogPath": "grapher/labor/2026-02-17/female_labor_force_participation_omm/female_labor_force_participation_omm#female_labor_force_participation", "descriptionShort": "Share of the female working-age population who are economically active (employed or unemployed).", "descriptionFromProducer": "", "descriptionProcessing": "We combined long-run data from Killingsworth and Heckman (1986) with ILOSTAT data from the World Bank\u2019s World Development Indicators (national estimates). If there is data for both years, we keep the ILOSTAT data to be consistent with most recent years.\n\nThe latest year in the series coming from Killingsworth and Heckman (1986) depends on the country:\n- For Canada, it is 1951.\n- For Germany, it is 1981.\n- For the United Kingdom, it is 1951.\n- For the United States, it is 1950.\n\nIn the Killingsworth and Heckman (1986), the data for Germany had two values for 1939, one with post WWI borders and one with West Germany borders (without Berlin). We kept the latter, which follows the convention of the rest of the dataset.", "type": "float", "grapherConfigIdETL": "019c707b-46e5-74b6-a1e4-e218b964eae3", "dataChecksum": "12510757514678512241", "metadataChecksum": "-8202628641228696869", "datasetName": "Female labor force participation rate (OMM)", "updatePeriodDays": 365, "datasetVersion": "2026-02-17", "nonRedistributable": false, "display": {"name": "Female labor force participation rate", "unit": "%", "shortUnit": "%", "numDecimalPlaces": 1}, "schemaVersion": 2, "processingLevel": "major", "presentation": {"attributionShort": "ILO", "topicTagsLinks": ["Women's Employment"]}, "descriptionKey": ["The labor force participation rate shows the share of working-age people who are either employed (working for pay or profit) or unemployed (not working, but actively looking for work and available to start). This indicator shows the share of the population that is economically active.", "People who are not seeking work or are not available, such as students, retired people, or unpaid caregivers, are excluded as they are considered to be outside the labor force.", "We construct this indicator by combining two sources covering different periods. We combined long-run data from [Killingsworth and Heckman (1986)](https://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/course/Heckman%20and%20Killingsworth_Handbook.pdf) (covering the period up to 1950 for most countries and 1981 for Germany) with more recent estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO) accessed via the World Bank\u2019s World Development Indicators.", "We used the [ILO's national estimates](#dod:ilo-national-estimates) instead of the [modeled data](#dod:ilo-modelled-estimates) to have the longest series possible, and to be consistent with the earlier estimates.", "The data by Killingsworth and Heckman (1986) combines earlier data from [Long (1958)](https://econpapers.repec.org/bookchap/nbrnberbk/long58-1.htm) with official statistics from each country, and the International Labour Organization's Yearbook of Labour Statistics.", "For several observations before 1960, the working-age population is age 14 or older, instead of 15 or older. In Great Britain, it is age 12 or older in the year 1921.", "Up until 1951, data for the United Kingdom represents Great Britain (excludes Northern Ireland). Germany is represented by their post-WWI borders until 1925, and by West Germany (without Berlin) from 1939 until reunification."], "dimensions": {"years": {"values": [{"id": 1911}, {"id": 1921}, {"id": 1931}, {"id": 1941}, {"id": 1951}, {"id": 1961}, {"id": 1971}, {"id": 1976}, {"id": 1977}, {"id": 1978}, {"id": 1979}, {"id": 1980}, {"id": 1981}, {"id": 1982}, {"id": 1983}, {"id": 1984}, {"id": 1985}, {"id": 1986}, {"id": 1987}, {"id": 1988}, {"id": 1989}, {"id": 1990}, {"id": 1991}, {"id": 1992}, {"id": 1993}, {"id": 1994}, {"id": 1995}, {"id": 1996}, {"id": 1997}, {"id": 1998}, {"id": 1999}, {"id": 2000}, {"id": 2001}, {"id": 2002}, {"id": 2003}, {"id": 2004}, {"id": 2005}, {"id": 2006}, {"id": 2007}, {"id": 2008}, {"id": 2009}, {"id": 2010}, {"id": 2011}, {"id": 2012}, {"id": 2013}, {"id": 2014}, {"id": 2015}, {"id": 2016}, {"id": 2017}, {"id": 2018}, {"id": 2019}, {"id": 2020}, {"id": 2021}, {"id": 2022}, {"id": 2023}, {"id": 2024}, {"id": 1895}, {"id": 1907}, {"id": 1925}, {"id": 1939}, {"id": 1946}, {"id": 1950}, {"id": 1960}, {"id": 1970}, {"id": 1966}, {"id": 1890}, {"id": 1900}, {"id": 1910}, {"id": 1920}, {"id": 1930}, {"id": 1940}, {"id": 1962}, {"id": 1963}, {"id": 1964}, {"id": 1965}, {"id": 1967}, {"id": 1968}, {"id": 1969}, {"id": 1972}, {"id": 1973}, {"id": 1974}, {"id": 1975}]}, "entities": {"values": [{"id": 44, "name": "Canada", "code": "CAN"}, {"id": 6, "name": "Germany", "code": "DEU"}, {"id": 1, "name": "United Kingdom", "code": "GBR"}, {"id": 13, "name": "United States", "code": "USA"}]}}, "origins": [{"id": 13819, "title": "World Development Indicators", "description": "The World Development Indicators (WDI) database, published by the World Bank, is a comprehensive collection of global development data, providing key economic, social, and environmental statistics. It includes over 1,500 indicators covering more than 200 countries and territories, with data spanning several decades.WDI serves as a vital resource for policymakers, researchers, businesses, and analysts seeking to understand global trends and make data-driven decisions. The database covers a wide range of topics, including economic growth, education, health, poverty, trade, energy, infrastructure, governance, and environmental sustainability.The indicators are sourced from reputable national and international agencies, ensuring high-quality, consistent, and comparable data. Users can access the database through interactive online tools, API services, and downloadable datasets, facilitating detailed analysis and visualization.WDI is also used for tracking progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other global development initiatives. By providing accessible and reliable statistics, it helps to inform policy discussions and strategies globally.Whether for academic research, policy planning, or economic analysis, the World Development Indicators database is an essential tool for understanding and addressing global development challenges.", "producer": "Labour Force Statistics, via World Bank", "citationFull": "Labour Force Statistics database (LFS), International Labour Organization (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: January 17, 2026. Indicator SL.TLF.CACT.FE.NE.ZS (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.NE.ZS). World Development Indicators - World Bank (2026). Accessed on 2026-02-27.", "versionProducer": "125", "urlMain": "https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.NE.ZS", "urlDownload": "https://databankfiles.worldbank.org/public/ddpext_download/WDI_CSV.zip", "dateAccessed": "2026-02-27", "datePublished": "2026-01-28", "license": {"url": "https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0037712/World-Development-Indicators", "name": "CC BY 4.0"}}, {"id": 12538, "title": "Female labor supply: a survey", "description": "This chapter presents a survey on female labor supply. The chapter surveys theoretical and empirical work on the labor supply of women, with special reference to women in Western economies, primarily the United States, in modern times. The behavior of female labor supply has important implications for many other phenomena, including marriage, fertility, divorce, the distribution of family earnings and male-female wage differentials. The labor supply of women is also of interest, because of the technical questions it poses. For example, because many women do not work, corner solutions are at least potentially a very important issue in both the theoretical and empirical analysis of female labor supply, even though in other contexts (for example, studies of consumer demand) corner solutions are often ignored. The chapter presents some \u201cstylized facts\u201d about female labor supply, and then discusses a number of theoretical models of special interest for understanding female labor supply. After considering empirical studies of the labor supply of women, the chapter concludes with some suggestions for future research. The chapter discusses major trends and cyclical patterns in time-series data, and then examines cross-sectional phenomena.", "producer": "Killingsworth and Heckman", "citationFull": "Killingsworth, M.R. and Heckman, J.J. Female labor supply: A survey. Chapter 2 in Ashenfelter, O.C. and Layard, R. (eds.) (1986) Handbook of Labor Economics, Volume 1.", "urlMain": "https://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/course/Heckman%20and%20Killingsworth_Handbook.pdf", "dateAccessed": "2026-02-17", "datePublished": "1986-01-01", "license": {"url": "https://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/course/Heckman%20and%20Killingsworth_Handbook.pdf", "name": "CC BY 4.0"}}]}