Washington, DC – A new fact sheet from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) finds that women make up a majority of the low-paid workforce — defined as working in one of the 40 lowest-paying jobs in the U.S. — and are being hit hardest by the Trump-Vance administration’s cuts to basic needs programs. 

Using the most recent available data, the report highlights that while women make up 47.6% of the workforce overall, they make up 61.0% of the low-paid workforce. Latinas, immigrant women, and Indigenous women are especially overrepresented in low-paid jobs, at nearly twice their share in the overall workforce. Black women and women with disabilities are also overrepresented in low paid work. 

NWLC’s analysis explains how the Trump-Vance administration’s economic policies are particularly harming women in low-paid work. Despite working full time, these women are already struggling to afford everyday essentials, and the policies enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA) will only make things worse. For instance, OBBBA’s cuts to SNAP and Medicaid will harm low-paid workers who rely on these programs because they are not paid enough to afford healthy foods and health care. 

Read the brand-new fact sheet: Hard Work is Not Enough: Women in Low-Paid Jobs  

“Women, particularly women of color, working in low-paid jobs have always been the backbone of the American economy,” said Sarah Javaid, author of the report and senior research analyst at NWLC. “Yet, policymakers and employers continue to deny this crucial workforce thriving wages, affordable health care, child care, and workplace protections. The Trump administration’s cuts to SNAP and Medicaid are making it nearly impossible for these women workers to afford basic necessities. These workers deserve better. They deserve to prosper and to be able to invest in themselves and their families.”

Among the key findings:

• Over 24.8 million people work in low-paid jobs. Women make up 61.0% of the low-paid workforce and of those women, 54.2% are women of color.
• Nearly four in five women in low-paid jobs (79.5%) have at least a high school diploma. More than two in five low-paid women workers (43.2%) have at least some college education, and 12.1% have a college degree. 
• The gender wage gap persists in low-paid jobs. Among full-time, year-round workers in low-paid jobs, women are paid just 82 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts—an annual income loss of $6,800.
• One-quarter of women in low-paid jobs (25.1%) are mothers of children under 18, and of that share, nearly half live in or near poverty. 

This analysis of 2024 American Community Survey data serves as a resource for advocates and policymakers working towards an economy where workers at every pay scale can thrive.