The American labor market is fracturing along gender lines, with nearly all net job growth over the past year coming from female-dominated sectors as male employment declines.
Back
US jobs data shows a 422,000 divergence between male and female employment
The U.S. labor market is tilting sharply away from men, with the latest jobs report showing nearly all net employment growth over the past year came from the female-dominated healthcare sector as male-heavy industries contracted. The healthcare and social assistance sector added 656,500 jobs over the year ended in April; without that gain, the private sector would have shed 145,500 jobs.
"To the extent that things are softening, they’re softening from a very strong place," Lauren Bauer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, said, characterizing the job market not so much as weaker for men but as much better for women. For women in their prime working years of 25 to 54, the employment-to-population ratio was 75% in April, above its 2019 average of 73.7%.
The divergence is stark when viewed through payrolls. By the Labor Department's count, the number of jobs held by women has increased by 421,000 since the end of 2024, while the number of jobs held by men has slipped by 1,000. Among the sectors shedding jobs are manufacturing, which employs more than two men for every woman, and transportation and warehousing, where men outnumber women three to one.
This structural shift poses a significant question for the U.S. economy, potentially signaling weakness in the goods-producing sector while highlighting sustained strength in services. A widening educational divide, with women earning bachelor’s degrees at a substantially higher rate than men, could exacerbate this trend, making it harder for less-educated men to transition into growing fields.
Education Gap Widens
A key factor underpinning the labor market's divergence is a growing educational divide. As of 2024, 46% of women aged 25 to 54 held a bachelor’s degree versus just 38% for men. The gap appears poised to widen, with the Education Department projecting that women earning bachelor’s degrees in the current academic year will outnumber men by nearly 40%. This matters because college graduates have much higher levels of employment and historically earn far more than people with less education.
Career transitions can also be difficult because some types of work “don’t fit into the identity of many men,” said Harvard economist Lawrence Katz. High-growth, well-paying jobs like dental hygienists—where the median annual wage was $94,260 in 2024—are only 5% male. However, change can occur gradually. The share of male nurses has risen from about 2% in 1960 to about 14% today, with men often gravitating toward higher-stakes nursing jobs in intensive-care units, according to research from Elizabeth Munnich, a health economist at the University of Louisville.
The overall employment-to-population ratio for men aged 16 and over was 64.1% in April, down from an average of 66.6% in 2019 and 70.9% in the 1990s. While an aging population explains much of the decline, the trend suggests a long-term structural challenge for male employment in a changing U.S. economy.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
