In the wake of the pandemic, it was widely feared that women would bear the brunt of the economic fallout. However, the reality has turned out to be quite the opposite. Women have emerged as the backbone of a resilient labor market, driving it to surprising strengths.

The gender pay gap, a long-standing issue, is now the narrowest it has ever been, according to axios.com. This change has been a long time coming, reflecting the gradual decline of discrimination and other structural barriers that have historically held women back in terms of pay. A significant factor contributing to this change is the robust labor market, which has seen an influx of women returning to work.

Julia Pollak, the chief economist at ZipRecruiter, notes, "Many women are coming back into the labor force at higher wage rates than before." What was initially termed a 'she-cession' now seems to be transforming into a 'she-boom.'

To put things into perspective, full-time working women earned median weekly earnings of $1,001 last quarter, which is about 84% of the $1,185 median for men. While men continue to earn more than their female counterparts, the pay gap is the smallest it has been since the government started collecting this data in 1979.

Women have been the driving force behind the record-high employment rates for working-age Americans. Approximately 75% of women aged 25 to 54 are employed, which is the highest proportion on record.

The current economic cycle might be set apart from others due to the higher employment rates for women, coupled with early signs of significant progress in reducing the pay gap. Pollak observes, "In the 2010s, there was a lot of progress for women on plenty of other measures, like labor force participation rates. There was less progress on pay, which really baffled observers."

The shrinking gender pay gap is a positive sign of progress, but there is still a long way to go. The current trends are encouraging, and it will be interesting to see how they develop in the future.