1. How did women suddenly entering the workforce affect the official measure of

Question

1. How did women suddenly entering the workforce affect the official measure of GDP?

2. Does the fact that we never have included home production (housekeeping, raising the kids, etc) in the calculation of GDP mean that we have historically under calculated or over calculated U.S. GDP?

3. Since nothing in economics happens in a vacuum, what other (intentional or unintentional) effects have the change in workforce status for women had on the country? What other measurements have changed significantly in the same time period? Are they related?

Explanation / Answer

1)

Women have been a growing factor in the success of the US economy since the 1970s. Indeed, the additional productive power of women entering the workforce from 1970 until today accounts for about a quarter of current GDP. Still, the full potential of women in the workforce has yet to be tapped. As the US struggles to sustain historic GDP growth rates, it is critically important to bring more women into the workforce and fully deploy high-skill women to drive productivity improvement.

Between 1970 and 2009, women went from holding 37% of all jobs to nearly 48%. That

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