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This data analysis looks at changes in women's working patterns in the UK over the last four decades. Employment rates for working-age women have increased dramatically, with more than three quarters of women aged 25-54 in paid work, reaching a record high of 78 per cent in 2017. In contrast, fewer than 60 per cent were in paid work in the mid-1970s. The decline of the traditional single-earner couple driven most by mothers of young children and partners of high-earning men is a huge social and economic change. The vast majority of couples with children now have two adults in paid work. With the earnings of women increasingly important for these families, understanding the reasons behind persistent differences in the wages of men and women is all the more important. Other key findings include: women are now much less likely to drop out of the labour market around the time they have their first child; and the increase in women's employment has varied significantly across the country: London has gone from having the highest female employment rate to the joint-lowest.

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