The total number of employed women increased by 327,000 last month, accounting for more than half of the 528,000 increase in total payrolls. The benefits were particularly strong for Latina women (the number of people working at over 12 million, the highest on record) and for white women.
By some measures, the US female workforce is recovering more quickly than the male counterpart after taking a hard hit at the start of the pandemic. About 55% are employed by women in early 2020, compared to 55.9% before the arrival of COVID-19.
The male employment rate is down 1.6 percentage points at 65.2% over the same period, although the overall number of men employed was higher than before the pandemic for the first time in July.
In April 2020, approximately 12 million American women lost their jobs. Many of the jobs hit by the pandemic, which require employees to report to work sites or deal with clients in person, were disproportionately filled by women. Other challenges, including childcare responsibilities, have also made it difficult for women to return to work.
The overall female labor force, which includes both job seekers and job seekers, also increased in July, while among men it shrank for the fourth consecutive month.
Latino men saw a sharp drop in employment in July, with 300,000 job losses. The black unemployment rate rose to 6%, almost twice that of white Americans.
