Women social security beneficiaries aged 62 and older, 1960-79.

Women’s participation in the labor force has increased substantially over the past half century. In 1930, 10 million women were in the labor force. They represented 24 percent of all working age women and 22 percent of the total work force. By 1955 the number of women workers had doubled, and their labor-force paticipation rate had risen to 36 percent. By 1979 the number had more than quadrupled, the participation rate had risen to 51 percent, and women workers represented 41 percent of the total work force (table 1). Major changes in the number and composition of the social security beneficiary group have occurred as the labor-force participation rate of women has increased.