More Women in the Workforce Means an Economic Boost
The U.S. economy would have lost $1.7 trillion in 2012 alone if women's workforce numbers remained unchanged in the past 30 years.
The United States could see 5 percent more economic growth if the same number of women as men were in the workforce. Moreover, a newly released joint study from the Center for American Progress and the Center for Economic and Policy Research reveals that the increase of female workers in the United States has had a significant impact on the country's growth. As CNN reports in its coverage of the report: "If women hadn't entered the workforce–by the millions–over the last three decades...the U.S. economy would be about 11 percent smaller." A September 2013 study from the International Monetary Fund notes strides made in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the rate of women in the workforce has increased by 13 percent in the past two decades.
Watch "Why the world needs more women in the workplace" from CNN's Global Public Square: