Nearly four times as many women than men left the workforce in September, according to an analysis by the National Women’s Law Center.

Using data from the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly jobs report, researchers at the organization found that more than 1.1 million workers age 20 and over dropped out of the labor force last month – meaning they are no longer working or looking for work.

Of the workers who left the labor force, 865,000 — or 80% — were women. Of those women, 324,000 were Latina and 58,000 were Black.

As of September, about half of the nearly 22.2 million jobs lost in March and April due to the COVID-19 pandemic have returned. Of those still missing, about 5.8 million belonged to women, accounting for 53.9% of overall net job loss since the start of the pandemic.

While the overall unemployment rate dropped to 7.9% in September, women — and especially women of color — are still dealing with unemployment, the report says. About 1 in 9 Black women and Latinas remained unemployed. The unemployment rate for Latinas actually increased in September by 0.5 percentage points.

Pandemic-related job losses continue to hit younger women especially hard. About 1 in 8 women between the ages of 20 and 24 were unemployed in September. The unemployment rates among young Black women and young Latinas in September were 18.1% and 16.5%, respectively.  

Read the full report