Labour force participation rate of Singapore residents by age and sex, 1994 and 2004

I love a good chart. There are so many things you can tell from this chart.

• Both males and females are starting work at an older age.
• Females are more economically driven than males up to their early twenties.
• There is a sharp fall in female participation rates when they reach child-bearing age.
• For females, an absence of a second peak hints at the difficulty of re-entering the job market after giving birth, possibly due to a lack of family-friendly work arrangements. Or maybe they just prefer to stay home. (The worth of the work of a stay-at-home mom.)
  
• More females are continuing to work after childbirth in 2004 than in 1994.