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Statewide Overview Women in the Workforce
Statewide Snapshot | Printable Statewide Snapshot (PDF)
Women play a critical role in the Texas economy. Their earnings represent an increasingly significant portion of household income, directly affecting the economic security of families, communities and the state as a whole. Women hold nearly half of the state’s 12.4 million jobs and create more jobs through their entrepreneurial efforts (Exhibit 1).
Quick Facts on Texas Women
- In 2017, Texas had an estimated 14.2 million female residents, accounting for 50.4 percent of the state population.
- About 5.7 million of these women were in the prime working ages of 25 to 54; these working-aged women made up 40.1 percent of Texas’ female population and 20.2 percent of the entire state population.
- According to a U.S. Census Bureau estimate, 57.7 percent of Texas women 16 years old or older were either employed or looking for work in the period of 2012 through 2016.
- In 2017, 51.3 percent of Texans with a bachelor’s degree or higher were women.
| Description | NAICS Code* | 2017 Direct Jobs | Number of Employed Women | Women’s Share of Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natural Resources and Mining | 11-21 | 292,301 | 65,452 | 22% |
| Construction | 23 | 725,910 | 135,808 | 19% |
| Manufacturing | 31-33 | 842,513 | 228,750 | 27% |
| Trade, Transportation and Utilities | 22, 42, 44-45, 48-49 | 2,433,195 | 984,953 | 40% |
| Information | 51 | 202,134 | 75,033 | 37% |
| Financial Activities | 52-53 | 740,250 | 415,720 | 56% |
| Professional and Business Services | 54, 55, 56 | 1,647,002 | 733,326 | 45% |
| Education and Health Services | 61-62 | 1,642,459 | 1,262,283 | 77% |
| Leisure and Hospitality | 71-72 | 1,302,618 | 670,167 | 51% |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) | 81 | 482,386 | 243,937 | 51% |
| Government | 90 | 2,126,331 | 1,180,615 | 56% |
| Unclassified Industry | 99 | 10,434 | 5,315 | 51% |
| Texas | 12,447,535 | 6,001,359 | 48% |
*The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the federal system used to classify business establishments for statistical purposes.
Source: Emsi.
Occupations Dominated by Women
Exhibit 2 lists the major occupational categories with the highest shares of female employment in Texas.1 The top three of these categories are among the lowest-paid of all 23 major categories defined by the federal government’s Standard Occupational Classification system.
| Occupation | 2017 Jobs | Avg. Hourly Earnings* | Number of Employed Women | Women's Share of Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare Support | 327,070 | $13.85 | 279,947 | 85.6% |
| Personal Care and Service | 462,497 | $10.64 | 354,505 | 76.7% |
| Office and Administrative Support | 2,104,088 | $17.50 | 1,550,032 | 73.7% |
| Education, Training and Library | 749,588 | $23.66 | 550,690 | 73.5% |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations | 656,877 | $36.25 | 480,916 | 73.2% |
*Based on total jobs for each occupation, including both genders.
Source: Emsi
By contrast, Texas women fill much smaller shares of jobs within higher-paying fields, such as computer and mathematical occupations (26.0 percent) and architecture and engineering (14.9 percent), groups paying average hourly earnings of $41.59 and $44.52, respectively.
Even within higher-paying occupations, such as healthcare practitioners and technical positions, the share of women employed in the highest-paying jobs is significantly smaller than that of men. For instance, although women account for nearly three-quarters of all Texas employees in the healthcare practitioners and technical occupations group (73.2 percent), they represent much smaller shares of the category’s highest-paying occupations, including physicians and surgeons (27.8 percent), dentists (25.1 percent) and podiatrists (23.0 percent), which pay average hourly wages of $98.96, $86.05 and $79.82, respectively.
Leadership in the Workforce
In 2017, U.S. women held 36.5 percent of jobs in managerial occupations. Within those occupations, women held 27.8 percent of top-level executive positions; just 23 percent of women were chief executives (Exhibit 3).
| Description | SOC Code | 2017 Direct Jobs | Avg. Hourly Earnings* | Number of Employed Women | Women's Share of Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Management Occupations | 11-0000 | 478,149 | $59.47 | 174,546 | 36.5% |
| Top Executives | 11-1000 | 182,229 | $65.20 | 50,742 | 27.8% |
| Chief Executives | 11-1010 | 6,946 | $105.23 | 1,569 | 22.6% |
| General and Operations Managers | 11-1020 | 173,541 | $64.04 | 48,639 | 28.0% |
| Legislators | 11-1030 | 1,742 | $21.25 | 535 | 30.7% |
Note: ‘Legislators’ includes only elected positions.
*Based on total jobs for each occupation, including both genders.
Source: Emsi
Female chief executives are even less represented at large, profitable, publicly traded companies.
Women-Owned Businesses
According to estimates from American Express, Texas was home to 938,800 women-owned businesses in 2017, the third-highest number among states, behind California (1,551,000) and Florida (1,041,600) — perhaps unsurprising, given that these are the three most-populous states. When we examine women-owned businesses per population, however, Texas ranks seventh among the 10 most populous states (Exhibit 4).
| State | 2017 Population (U.S. Census Estimates) | Number of Women-Owned Businesses | Number of Women-Owned Businesses per 1,000 Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 20,984,400 | 1,041,600 | 49.6 |
| Georgia | 10,429,379 | 502,300 | 48.2 |
| Michigan | 9,962,311 | 430,100 | 43.2 |
| New York | 19,849,399 | 788,200 | 39.7 |
| California | 39,536,653 | 1,551,000 | 39.2 |
| Illinois | 12,802,023 | 458,500 | 35.8 |
| Texas | 28,304,596 | 938,800 | 33.2 |
| North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 333,100 | 32.4 |
| Ohio | 11,658,609 | 341,000 | 29.2 |
| Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 337,600 | 26.4 |
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau and American Express OPEN
In 2017, Texas’ women-owned businesses employed 808,200 and generated about $134.2 million in sales. The American Express study indicates that Dallas (#7, 276,200 businesses) and Houston (#8, 248,700 businesses) ranked among the top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas in their number of women-owned firms.
The number of women-owned businesses in Texas rose by 146.1 percent from 1997 to 2017, compared to 114.1 percent growth at the national level. Yet women continue to face barriers to ownership, including a lack of access to capital.2 The National Women’s Business Council found that women start their businesses with an average of $75,000 in capital — about half as much as that available to male business owners ($135,000).3
Conclusion
In 2017, more than 6 million women worked in industries supporting the state economy. In addition, the number of businesses owned by women in Texas has risen by 146 percent over the last 20 years, outpacing growth at the national level. A financially secure Texas depends on financially successful women.
End Notes
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- Federal agencies use the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system to classify occupations into 459 broad occupations (detailed), 98 minor groups and 23 major groups (aggregated).
- American Express OPEN, The 2017 State of Women-Owned Businesses: Summary Tables (PDF).
- National Women’s Business Council, “The Latest Report from the National Women’s Business Council on Women Business Owners’ Access to Capital,”.