THURSDAY, March 26, 2026 (NewsDay News) — From 2016 to 2024, labor force participation rates increased across all maternal age groups and across all six racial and Hispanic groups, according to a March data summary released by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Joyce A. Martin, MPH, and Michelle JK Osterman, of the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, used data from the National Vital Statistics System to examine trends in labor force participation rates from 2016 to 2024.
The researchers found that from 2016 to 2024, labor induction increased from 24.9 to 34.5 percent, with increases across all maternal age groups. Across all six racial and Hispanic groups, the labor force participation rate increased from 32 percent to 67 percent from 2016 to 2024. An increase in the rate of induction of labor was observed in all categories of gestational age, with a greater increase in early birth (37 to 38 weeks of gestation). In 49 states and the District of Columbia, employment rates increased from 2016 to 2024.
“In 2024, more than one-third of one-year births (34.5 percent) will increase by 39 percent compared to 2016,” the authors write. “The greatest increases were observed in the first part of the study period, from 2017 to 2020.”
