NYCEDC Report Finds Women Have Driven Post-Pandemic Labor Force Participation Gains, Launches Women.NYC Initiative to Help Women Entrepreneurs Scale up Their Businesses

Report Launched at Women.NYC Annual Convening Event, Marking Milestones for Female Entrepreneurs Under the Adams Administration and Paving Path for Future with New Programming

Report Outlines Points of Acceleration and Opportunity, as well as Challenges that Remain for Women in New York City’s Labor Force

NEW YORK, NY—New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) today released “Leading the Recovery: Women in NYC’s Workforce” providing a data driven analysis of the female workforce in New York City, finding that working women drove nearly all of the gains in the city’s record-breaking labor force participation rate. The report also outlines the challenges that remain for women in the city’s workforce, including a persistent and growing gender wage gap, and it details key interventions the City has taken to support working women. The report was launched at Women.NYC’s annual convening of mentors, industry leaders, and program participants, in tandem with Women.NYC’s new Scale Ready Studio program. Building on the success of its inaugural program, the Network, Scale Ready Studio by Women.NYC equips women entrepreneurs with the traction, systems, and strategies to pursue growth on their own terms.

“Women are a driving force in New York City's economy, and the Adams' Administration has made meaningful progress post-pandemic to expand access to the skills, resources, and opportunities they need to succeed professionally,” said NYCEDC President & CEO Andrew Kimball. “There is more work ahead, and NYCEDC is proud to expand our workforce programming with Women.NYC, doubling down on empowering all women and women-owned businesses to thrive in every corner of the five boroughs.”

Over five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that drove many women out of the workforce, this report details the progress made since and the challenges that remain. Key findings include:

• 57 percent of women in New York City are working or actively looking for work, up four percentage points from 2019. This increase has occurred even as men’s participation has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.
• At 2.15 million, women now make up roughly half of the city’s total workforce, the largest number in its history.
• New York City stands out as a national leader in female entrepreneurship.
  • As of 2025, the city has the highest global share of venture-backed companies with at least one female founder, at 18 percent.
  • Between July 2024 and June 2025, female-founded companies raised $955 million across 143 deals, higher than $938 million and 135 deals from female-founded companies in the Bay Area.
• Despite real progress over the years, women in New York City still earn less than men—and the gap has widened since the pandemic.
  • For the past two decades, the city’s gender wage gap has hovered around 10 cents, meaning women earned roughly 90 cents for every dollar earned by men.
  • In 2024, that gap stood at 12 cents—just shy of the pandemic-era record of 14 cents in 2023.
  • These wage disparities are driven by two types of occupational segregation. Many women are concentrated in lower wage jobs, also known as horizontal segregation. At the same time, even within the same field, many women earn less than men, a phenomenon known as vertical segregation and commonly referred to as the glass ceiling.
• Pay inequities are even more evident when considering race and ethnicity. In 2023, 44 percent of white men held high-wage jobs in New York City, compared to 33 percent of white women, 17 percent of BIPOC men, and just 14 percent of BIPOC women.
• These challenges are not unique to New York. In fact, New York City stands out as one of the nation’s strongest metro areas for women’s economic opportunity, which means access to equitable employment that offers upward mobility.
  • In a comparative analysis of 12 large US metro areas, New York ranks third overall, performing especially well on leadership representation, labor force participation, and relative unemployment rates.

The progress made can in part be credited to key interventions led by the Adams Administration and NYCEDC’s Women.NYC. Launched in 2018, Women.NYC is an ambitious initiative under NYCEDC dedicated to driving gender representation in growing fields in New York City that have good jobs available and business opportunities for talent of all kinds. In the last three years, Women.NYC has reached over 100,000 women in NYC and engaged over 30,000 while more than 4,000 participants have directly been served by the programs. Scale Ready Studio by Women.NYC and designed by Get Sh!t Done aims to challenge the narrative around scaling for female founders, providing practical tools to explore multiple pathways: scaling through revenue-first frameworks, forging strategic partnerships, unlocking large procurements, and centered on self-generating funding.

“Record participation shows the extraordinary power of women in our city, yet these findings—consistent with our own Unequal Ground report—reminds us that inequities persist,” said Women Creating Change President & CEO Sharon Sewell-Fairman. “Women still earn 12 cents less on every dollar, with women of color earning even less, while occupational segregation and rising affordability pressures weigh heavily on families. This progress should inspire us—not to pause, but to act. When we invest in women, we don’t just close gaps—we build a stronger, more vibrant New York for all.”

“Venture capital didn’t invent growth. Customers did,” said Get Sh!t Done Founder & CEO Alex Batdorf. “As one of the few women founders who has raised capital, scaled past seven figures, and had a company exit, I built Scale Ready Studio with Women.NYC because I know how lonely and uncertain the business growth journey can be. Over the last few years, we’ve seen the market shift dramatically, drying up funding for many entrepreneurs. We’re not going back to the days where success is how much money you raise. To future-proof your businesses, founders must build sustainable, people and profit-first models that can scale no matter the market conditions. That’s what we do—help founders build companies with optionality and impact. When women build sustainable businesses, they’re not just creating profit, they’re creating wealth for themselves, their families, their communities, and for New York City’s economy.”

“As an advisor with the Women.NYC Network, I've had the privilege of meeting women across every corner of New York's economy—from engineers to consultants to entrepreneurs—many of whom are building their first company from the ground up,” said Gray Matters Partner & Women.NYC The Network Advisor Christine Lane. “What they need most in those early stages isn't just funding; it's access—access to the right expertise, introductions, and networks that can change the trajectory of their business. For New York City to continue leading on women's economic opportunity, we have to keep investing in this ecosystem of connection and mentorship. Women succeed with initiatives such as Women.NYC and when they do, New York City grows with them.”

The launch of Scale Ready Studio by Women.NYC is part of a larger effort from the Adams Administration to boost opportunity for female entrepreneurs. Key programs have included:

• In November 2024, NYCEDC released an impact report on the success of the Women.NYC Network initiative’s inaugural year, highlighting its large-scale impact and unlocking future growth.
• In February 2024, NYCEDC launched Women.NYC: Pivot to Growth, a cohort bridge program designed to facilitate career and entrepreneurial pivots for women of color in early to mid-career stages to forge a career path in New York City’s emerging industries.
• In January 2024, the Adams Administration unveiled “Women Forward NYC: An Action Plan for Gender Equity,” a more than $43 million investment aimed at making New York City a national leader on gender equity, with the ambitious goal of becoming the most women-forward city in the United States.
• In April 2023, NYCEDC announced the launch of The Women.NYC Network, a social capital building platform designed to connect women in New York City with resources to help them excel and identify opportunities in emerging industries namely, offshore wind, life sciences, technology, and green economy.
• In May 2021, NYCEDC, Women.NYC, and Maven Clinic hosted “It’s Not You, It’s an Economic Crisis: Forging NYC’s Path Towards Accessible Childcare” to present original NYCEDC research on the economic impact of a lack of access to childcare options in New York City and discuss best practices employers can use to support working parents.

About NYCEDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that works for a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers. We take a comprehensive approach, through four main strategies: strengthen confidence in NYC as a great place to do business; grow innovative sectors with a focus on equity; build neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play; and deliver sustainable infrastructure for communities and the city's future economy. To learn more about what we do, visit us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram.