Female Social Security beneficiaries aged 62 or older, 1960-82.

During the past half century, the participation of women in the labor force has increased substantially. In 1930, the 10 million working women represented 24 percent of all women and 22 percent of the total work force (table 1). By 1957, the number of female workers had doubled and their labor-force participation rate had increased to 37 percent. In 1982, 48 million women were in the labor force. They represented 53 percent of all women and 43 percent of the total work force. Major changes in the size and composition of the So-