United States
US desk: United States first; United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, euro-area members, Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand alongside.
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As of 2025 | % of female labour force
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.18% |
| 2024 | 3.91% |
| 2023 | 3.45% |
| 2022 | 3.61% |
| 2021 | 5.21% |
| 2020 | 8.36% |
| 2019 | 3.61% |
| 2018 | 3.84% |
| 2017 | 4.31% |
| 2016 | 4.79% |
| 2015 | 5.17% |
| 2014 | 6.06% |
| 2013 | 7.07% |
| 2012 | 7.89% |
| 2011 | 8.45% |
| 2010 | 8.60% |
| 2009 | 8.05% |
| 2008 | 5.41% |
| 2007 | 4.50% |
| 2006 | 4.63% |
| 2005 | 5.10% |
| 2004 | 5.40% |
| 2003 | 5.66% |
| 2002 | 5.61% |
Female unemployment is ILO modelled unemployment among women in the female labour force (SL.UEM.TOTL.FE.ZS). Latest: 4.18% in 2025.
Compare it with the male series on this site; a gap can reflect both joblessness and who is counted in the labour force. From 1991 to 2025 (35 years): mean 5.51%, median 5.21%; low 3.45% (2023), high 8.60% (2010).
Source: World Bank Open Data. Licence: CC BY 4.0 (terms).
This series is the unemployment rate for women: women without work who are available for and actively seeking it, as a share of the female labour force. The source is World Bank Open Data indicator SL.UEM.TOTL.FE.ZS, an ILO modelled estimate that uses the same definition as the all-ages rate. It says nothing about how many women work; it describes joblessness among women who are in the labour market. The gap with the male series can reflect joblessness, but it can also reflect differences in participation, because people outside the labour force are not counted as unemployed.
The chart plots annual observations for the economies you select; the range buttons shorten the period and the legend or table adds and removes lines. The ranked ledger shows each economy’s latest published year, and those years differ. Read the female and male series together, and check participation, before drawing a conclusion about labour-market conditions. The values are modelled estimates built from national surveys and censuses and revised as inputs change.
The US desk places the United States first and shows a related set alongside it: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the euro area, Germany, Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand, as far as each series covers them. The figures are the same World Bank ILO modelled estimates used on the all-countries pages, filtered to this set; the build does not recompute anything for the desk. Taiwan appears only on the headline unemployment page, where the rate is filled from the IMF World Economic Outlook because the World Bank does not publish it.
Use the Country selector to move between desks, the Chart and Table tabs for the same values in two forms, and the range buttons to change the period. Every page names its indicator code, source and licence. A blank or absent economy means the source does not publish that series, not that the rate is zero.