Monday is Labor Day in the United States. The US Department of Labor provides the following fascinating facts from 2006 about women in the workforce:

• Of the 118 million women age 16 years and over in the U.S., 70 million (almost 60%) were labor force participants—working or looking for work.
• Women comprised 46% of the total U.S. labor force and are projected to account for 47% of the labor force in 2014.

Women are projected to account for 51% of the increase in total labor force growth between 2004 and 2014.

In 2006, a record 67 million women were employed in the U.S.--75% of employed women worked on full-time jobs, while 25% worked on a part-time basis.

The largest percentage of employed women (38%) worked in management, professional, and related occupations; 34% worked in sales and office occupations; 20% in service occupations; 6% in production, transportation, and material moving occupations; and 1% in natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations.

The largest percentage of employed Asian and white women (46% and 39%, respectively) worked in management, professional, and related occupations. For black and Hispanic women, it was sales and office occupations--32% and 33%, respectively.

The unemployment rate for both women and men was 4.6%.

The unemployment rate, however, varied substantially among female racial groups-- from a low of 3.1% for Asian women, to a high of 8.4% black women. White women and Hispanic women were between these two at 4.0% and 5.9%, respectively.

The median weekly earnings of women who were full-time wage and salary workers were $600, or 81 percent of men’s $743. [emphasis mine] When comparing the median weekly earnings of persons aged 16 to 24, young women earned 94% of what young men earned ($395 and $418, respectively).

Women accounted for 51% of all workers in the high-paying management, professional, and related occupations. They outnumbered men in such occupations as financial managers; human resource managers; education administrators; medical and health services managers; accountants and auditors; budget analysts; property, real estate, and social and community association managers; preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers; physical therapists; and registered nurses.

Of persons aged 25 years and older, 27% of women and men had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher; 32% of women and 29% of men had completed only high school, no college.

The higher a person’s educational attainment, the more likely they will be a labor force participant (working or looking for work) and the less likely they will be unemployed.

For women age 25 and over with less than a high school diploma, 33.2% were labor force participants; high school diploma, no college, 53.8%; some college, but no degree, 64.0%; associate degree, 71.2%; and bachelor’s degree or higher, 73.1%.

For women age 25 and over with less than a high school diploma, their unemployment rate was 7.9%; high school diploma, no college, 4.3%; some college, but no degree, 4.3%; associate degree, 3.1%; and bachelor’s degree or higher, 2.1%.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, 2006 Annual Averages and the Monthly Labor Review, November 2005.

These stats give us quite a bit to chew over. The good news is that women are making strides in the workforce. We are increasingly working in higher paying jobs, and doing a better job of negotiating better salaries for ourselves. While it is depressing that we only earn 81 cents to a guy’s buck, it is nice to see that young women are closing that gap by earning 94 cents to their male peers’ dollar. We also know that women are entering college at higher rates than ever (and men), so we can see that this should lead to more financial security and hopefully professional satisfaction in the future. We’ve worked hard to secure a place for ourselves in the workforce, and while we still have a ways to go, it is nice to see that some progress is being made.

Of course, the flip side to this is to ask ourselves what else is going on. Are we working more than ever? For many women, yes. Are our gains due to decreases in quality of life for men? Sometimes, also yes. (For example, it is great that women are going to school, but troubling that men no longer are or that wages for everyone are being driven down as well work more.) The differences in educational and occupational opportunity for non-Asian women of color is also troubling. We need to make sure that all women have access to success.

And it is worth saying that while many middle-class white women did not traditionally work outside the home, women of color and low income women have always done so. Our continuing child care crisis (a lack of affordable, accessible, quality care) continues to hurt all working families, but disproportionately it affects low income and/or single mothers. Further, more support is needed for parents who chose to stay home with their children. As Leslie Bennetts documented in her book The Feminine Mistake, women who stay home with their children are disproportionately screwed by society in the long run.

All that said, Labor Day is for relaxation, family time, and/or fun. (Assuming that you are not one of the millions of women who have to work on Monday.) Labor Day or not, what are feminist women bloggers doing when they away from work, other than blogging? (By work, I mean paid or unpaid, recognized or unrecognized.)

Michelle at Oh Good God! recently spent some leisure time dancing. She found:

I haven't been on the club scene in years, and now I remember why. I hate it. I hate weird little straight guys who can't dance. I hate being grabbed at as I walk by the bar or across the dance floor. And then, if you dare to dance with your girls, some idiot sneaks up behind you and starts grinding (out of sync to the music none-the-less) on your ass. After about three hours, I pretty much had my fill and stopped using the polite, "Sorry, I'm married." The next guy who grabbed me got whipped in the face with my hair when my head swiveled around, a'la Exorcist as I hissed, "Don't fucking grab me!" He didn't stick around…

…In the space of a few hours, I saw a chick who was extremely high dance for a full song with one tit hanging out. I saw a 40+ woman dry hump a pole. There was the older couple who thought that swing dancing was appropriate during "Party Like a Rockstar." And the endless parade of girls displaying the latest trend in muffin tops.

Still, she managed to have fun, as did the bride-to-be who dragged her out clubbing in the first place. Female bonding also takes place in the face of sexism. Casey Kelly Barton at Redneck Mother reports:

I went out for coffee with my knitting posse a few nights ago. After we got settled and found the light switch for our nook – thanks to a chatty, helpful older fellow -- Ms. G and I got to talking about raising boys and not having to deal with “girl issues.” Ms. G said she was glad; I worried that our culture will turn my sweet sons into sexist dolts, which ultimately is a girl issue….

…Just raising your own kids is hard. It’s tiring to even think about it. Ms. G and I agreed that as a mother you do the best you can and hope things turn out all right. Then she made a face and some furtive hand gestures.

“Porn,” she whispered.

“Huh?”

“Porn,” she hissed.

Yep, I thought, porn is part of the problem.

Then I understood. Mr. Light-switch was at a table next to us in the crowded café, checking out porn on his laptop.

Oy. In a less sexualized setting, Karen at Vexed in the City went with a girlfriend to see the comedian Lewis Black. Inspiration hit:

Also, yesterday was Lewis' birthday, and I'm kind of a dork about these things (shocking, I know) and thought that if *I* were a fabulous stand up comic with a following and a tour bus and a little bit of a tendency to get twirly, *I* certainly wouldn't mind if some of *MY* fans got all dressed up and brought me some birthday cupcakes. If they were really good cupcakes from a great bakery in town, *I* might even grant my best fans a little meet-and-greet and let them have their picture taken with me, because *I'm* just that kind of girl. Besides, who doesn't love a cupcake?... So cupcakes were procured.

Here’s to precious leisure time.

Suzanne wastes enormous amounts of her free time blogging at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants