The National Partnership for Women and Families recently released a “State of the Working Woman” info sheet highlighting important facts about economic life for America’s working women. Keep an eye out — EOI will be releasing the 2010 edition of “Washington’s Working Women” this March.

• Percent of U.S. workers who are women:  49.9 [1]

• Proportion of mothers who are primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners for their families:  Two-thirds [2]

• Unemployment rate among unmarried women who head families:  13 percent [3]

• Percent of minimum wage workers who are women:  68.5 [4]

• Cents that women are paid for every dollar earned by a man:  77 [5]

• Cents that African American women are paid for every dollar earned by a man:  68 [6]

• Cents that Hispanic women are paid for every dollar earned by a man:  58 [7]

• Percent of U.S. women workers who are union members:  11.3 [8]

• Hourly wage gain for women represented by a union, compared to non-union women:  11.2 percent (about $2.00 an hour) [9]

[1] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, January 8, 2010.

[2] http://www.americanprogress.org/pressroom/releases/2009/10/awn_final_final.html

[3] http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/Pressreleaseunempjan2010.pdf (as of December 2009)

[4] http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2008tbls.htm#1

[5] http://www.pay-equity.org/

[6] http://www.pay-equity.org/

[7] http://www.pay-equity.org/

[8] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf

[9] www.cepr.net/documents/publications/unions_and_upward_mobility_for_women_workers_2008_12.pdf