All working people want jobs that allow them to support their families and live with dignity. But far too often, employers do not provide the wages, hours, or benefits that people need to achieve economic security. And our policymakers have failed to enact the labor standards and economic policies needed to help millions of workers—particularly women—make ends meet, let alone prosper.  

In every state in the U.S., women are the majority—often the vast majority—of child care workers, home health aides and personal care aides, food service workers, and others holding underpaid and undervalued jobs. Nationwide, more than one in six employed women works in a low-paid job, defined here as the 40 lowest paying jobs in the country. Women represent 61% of the low-paid workforce, and women of color, immigrant women, and disabled women are especially overrepresented relative to their share of the workforce overall.   

With typical wages below $17 per hour, women in low-paid jobs struggle just to get by, especially as costs for housing, gas, groceries, health care, and child care continue to rise. Millions live in poverty—and millions more live near poverty (with household income below twice the federal poverty line), where a medical emergency, a car breakdown, or a few cut shifts can mean that families won’t have enough to pay for the essentials.  

Instead of working to boost worker pay and ensure everyone can afford what they need to thrive, the Trump-Vance administration has dismantled workers’ rights, slowed wage and job growth, and cut critical supports for low-paid workers. The administration’s centerpiece law—the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), enacted with congressional Republicans in 2025—made massive cuts to programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid that low-paid workers rely on to meet their basic needs, all to pay for equally massive tax cuts for the billionaire class.  

Hard Work Is Not Enough: Women in Low-Paid Jobs  examines who women in low-paid jobs are and how they were faring in 2024, the most recent year for which national data on poverty and income are available—with a focus on women of color and women supporting children, who face the highest risk of economic instability. It confirms that in 2024, millions of women were straining to pay their bills and support their families, despite their education, experience, and hard work in essential jobs. While these data do not yet capture the impact of the Trump-Vance administration’s policies, it is clear that women in low-paid jobs and their families face a severe and growing threat of poverty and hardship.