In this context, it is useful to compare the workforce experiences of American women to those in other advanced economies. In 1990, the labor force participation rate in the United States of prime working-age women, 74 percent, was higher than in all but a few industrialized nations.
But in the intervening years, while the participation rate of U.S. women was roughly stable, elsewhere it increased steadily, and by 2010 the United States fell to 17th place out of 22 advanced economies with respect to female labor force participation. 43 A number of studies have examined the role of various public policies in explaining patterns in female labor force participation across countries.