A new International Labour Organization report suggests closing the gender gap between men and women workers by 25 percent in the next eight years could add $5.8 trillion to the global economy.
Women face a number of challenges in the job market. They’re less likely to participate in it, according to ILO, and less likely to find a quality job.
As of this year, the global labor force participation rate for women, 49 percent, is nearly 27 percentage points lower than the rate for men. Women’s labor force participation rate is not expected to change in 2018.
G20 leaders vowed in 2014 to reduce the labor force participation global gender gap by 25 percent by 2025 — which ILO found could also result in global tax revenue potentially increasing by $1.5 trillion.
Find out more about the effect closing the gender gap could have in ILO’s report.