Lakeland is the best city for female workers, according to a new report by Checkr, a background-checking service for businesses.
The company crunched the numbers using data sourced from the US Census Bureau from 2019 to 2023 to try to determine the best US cities for women currently working and those hoping to return to work.
Checkr based their results on key metrics, including the growth of women in the workforce, women’s median income, and the gender wage gap. Lakeland placed just outside the top 15 for the number of women in management positions as well.
The business looked at 100 of the country’s largest cities for their report and examined jobs data from 2019 to current. The study looked at several factors: The number of women in the workforce, their salaries, the wage gap (the amount women make compared to men in similar positions and careers), the unemployment rate for women, and the number of women in management positions.
Two other Florida cities also ranked high for female workers: Sarasota and Palm Bay both ranked in the top 10.
The Checkr report also shows how the labor market has changed for women since pre-pandemic times, adding that during the pandemic, the US labor market lost nearly 22 million jobs, and a significant percentage of those jobs were lost by women, according to company leaders at Checkr.
“Nearly 12 million women (about twice the population of Arizona) left the workforce during COVID-19 due to pandemic-related disruptions, including increased caregiving responsibilities and challenges in balancing work with the closure of schools and daycare facilities,” the report notes.
Yet, in 2023, the report found women are returning to work in large numbers.
You can read the full report here.