The U.S. has a lower share of prime-age women with a job than do peer countries: Employment-to-population ratio of women workers age 25–54, select countries, 1995–2014

Canada Germany Japan United States
1995 69.434551% 66.360158% 63.233624% 72.189196%
1996 69.577146% 67.220440% 63.701741% 72.770073%
1997 70.971110% 67.399584% 64.566038% 73.541046%
1998 72.183646% 68.944387% 64.036077% 73.642970%
1999 73.245982% 70.253128% 63.551051% 74.147991%
2000 73.944309% 71.210539% 63.582090% 74.213847%
2001 74.297867% 71.607431% 64.124398% 73.421299%
2002 75.348504% 71.845950% 63.863976% 72.259684%
2003 76.000458% 71.981067% 64.407421% 72.006189%
2004 76.720415% 72.129055% 65.028791% 71.848458%
2005 76.488663% 70.969949% 65.733178% 71.963537%
2006 76.984912% 72.647765% 66.614235% 72.504467%
2007 78.190906% 74.045933% 67.370518% 72.501768%
2008 78.008148% 74.744854% 67.495987% 72.301570%
2009 77.114622% 75.420875% 67.595960% 70.208609%
2010 77.075022% 76.320711% 68.157788% 69.343654%
2011 77.207691% 77.892216% 68.459240% 68.967922%
2012 77.710148% 78.235789% 69.161920% 69.196894%
2013 78.090883% 78.625264% 70.773639% 69.253713%
2014 77.444969% 78.839200% 71.835052% 69.997790%

Source: Adapted from Figure F in Josh Bivens et al., It’s time for an ambitious national investment in America’s children, Economic Policy Institute Report, April 6, 2016

View the underlying data on epi.org.