U.S. Women Are Half of College Grad Work Force

Women in the U.S. now make up half of the college-educated workforce, on par with the number of college-educated men in the workforce. As of the first quarter of 2019, there are 29.5 million women, who are college graduates and part of the workforce, while there are 29.3 million men with the same credentials, according to Pew. Among this demographic of college graduates in the U.S. labor force, women are expected to bypass men later this year.

Women have made up the majority of college graduates for over a decade, but those graduates were not turning to the labor force at the same rate as men. In 2000, there were nearly 4 million more men who were college-educated graduates in the workforce than women.

Advancing gender equality among college graduates in the labor force is important for boosting women’s earnings. Higher education is strongly correlated with income. College-educated women earn a median income of $51,600 compared to $36,000 for women overall, according to the Census Bureau.