April 2014, Eileen Appelbaum, Heather Boushey, and John Schmitt

This paper was presented at the 75 Years of the Fair Labor Standards Act Conference at the Department of Labor on November 15, 2013. Endnotes and citations are available in the PDF of this report.

Over the past three decades, there has been a steady rise in the share of women, especially mothers, in the workforce. As indicated by the data, the majority of women and mothers work, and many work full time and full year. This dramatic increase in women’s working hours has had a substantial impact both on household earnings and the economy more generally.

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