One stand-out piece of data in the March jobs report, which showed nonfarm payrolls rise by 98,000? The percentage of women between the ages of 25 and 34 in the US who weren’t working last month.

That number plunged to 27%, its lowest level since January 2001.

The red line of the chart below, tweeted by Bloomberg’s Matthew Boesler, reflects improved data for this cohort of women.

This lower number reflects an increase in the participation rate (more women entering the workforce) along with a drop in unemployment among those seeking work.

Renaissance Macro’s Neil Dutta says this decline is key.

“It is important….Beyonce is onto something. Who runs the world? Girls. Women are the ones that are actually getting educated and can move up in this knowledge economy,” he said.

Women across all age groups were an important driver of workforce participation from 1960 to 2000, as females entered the workforce (i.e. started looking for work) in droves during this time, according to RBC’s Jonathan Golub.

Those unprecedented rates, though, had subsided over the last decade. The chart below from RBC reflects the more muted drive into the workforce by women, leveling out in the last decade.

However, the increased ability for women in the 25 to 34 age cohort to find work (reduced unemployment) along with a higher participation rate of this group could be significant for overall labor participation, which remains well off its highs.

The participation rate—or the share of working-age Americans employed or looking for a job—has been an important indicator for economists. It stood at 63% in March, still significantly below its peak of 67% in 2000.

The Federal Reserve sees the economy as “operating at or near maximum employment,” though they are divided over the extent of slack remaining in the labor market. Improving participation would reflect less slack in the market, putting more upward pressure on wages.

Nicole Sinclair is markets correspondent at Yahoo Finance.

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