According to the latest study, if women have the same level of education as men and have the same number of jobs, the global economic growth is expected increase by $20 trillion.
According to an analysis published this week by Bloomberg economists Adriana Dupita, Abhishek Gupta, and Tom Orlik, policy reforms that result in more women joining the workforce, such as those that improve female access to secondary education, child care, and flexible job schedules, have the potential to “light a fire” under global growth over the next three decades. The study looks at 36 economies both, developed and emerging.
The analysis is the latest evidence that closing gender disparities in the labor market is critical for the economy’s recovery from the pandemic — and beyond. According to the study, 58.4 % women aged 25 to 64 work globally, compared to 92.1 percent of men. In the US, women were successful in bringing the world’s largest economy out of the past recession, but they are now falling behind, something that economists have called the country’s first female recession.
In the US, a large number of women have left the workforce in past years due to service-industry losses and to care for children whose schools or daycares were closed due to the pandemic. According to the Census Bureau, 1.4 million mothers were already out of the workforce in January. At the same time, the February job report revealed that participation among prime-aged women had increased significantly, but was still lower than pre-pandemic levels.
With 16.6%, India had the lowest female participation rate among the countries studied found in the report. By 2050, closing the gender gap could contribute more than 30 percent to the country’s gross domestic product.
“At the same time, countries must think about and redesign their economies to ensure that the economy can welcome the increased labor force of productive jobs,” according to Bloomberg economist Dupita. “In many nations, barriers to women’s education and work remain deeply entrenched”, she added.
