By The Star Staff
Puerto Rico’s Department of Labor and Human Resources (DTRH by its Spanish initials) released over the weekend a new report titled Women’s Participation in the Labor Force, based on 2022 data.
The analysis reveals that women make up approximately 53% of the workforce, but still face challenges in achieving gender equality at work. The secretary of the DTRH, Gabriel Maldonado González, emphasized the importance of initiatives that promote diversity, equity and inclusion of women in the labor market.
“These data allow us to continue developing and implementing public policy that tends to eliminate barriers to formal employment and ensure a better quality of life through work, increase the labor participation rate and continue to experience a historically low unemployment rate,” Maldonado González said in a written statement.
In 2022, 537,000 women were part of the working group in Puerto Rico, an increase of 56,000 compared to seven years ago. Although female labor force participation has improved over time, it is still lower than male labor participation, with a difference of 14.8 percentage points in 2022. The services and trade sector was the main source of employment for women, followed by public administration and manufacturing.
The report also shows an increase in women’s schooling in the labor market and changes in composition by age group and marital status. Unemployed women in 2022 were estimated at 31,000, the lowest number since 1980, with young women aged 20 to 24 facing the greatest difficulty in getting a job.
Despite these advances, a considerable number of women remain out of the labor market, mainly due to domestic responsibilities.