Women drove nearly all of America’s job growth in August, accounting for an astonishing 98 percent of the nation’s net employment gains.
According to the figures, female workers filled 158,000 of the 162,000 jobs added to US payrolls during the month, while men represented just 4,000 of the increase.
The data offers another striking snapshot of a shifting US labor market, following a milestone earlier this year when women surpassed men in total payroll employment.
Still, economists warn that the headline-grabbing numbers may not signal a sweeping workplace takeover. The explanation is more grounded, they say, with seasonal hiring patterns in fields such as education and food service playing a major role.
Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, cautioned against drawing broad conclusions from one month of data, calling the gender split in the jobs report “noisy.”
‘I think there’s been way too much focus on the month to month – is it men gaining jobs or women?’ Long told Fortune. ‘That moves around a lot.’
And there is an important statistical wrinkle behind the 98 percent figure – it does not mean that 98 percent of everyone newly hired in America was a woman.
The figure is based on net employment gains – essentially the number of jobs held by women after gains and losses are taken into account.
Women are powering America’s jobs boom – with female workers accounting for a staggering 98 percent of the country’s net job gains in August
Healthcare has been one of the biggest engines of US job creation for more than a year – and women make up a large majority of workers in the industry
Healthcare has been one of the biggest engines of US job creation for more than a year – and women make up a large majority of workers in the industry.
Education is another major factor. Local government education added 42,000 jobs in August, while food service and drinking places added 59,000. Together, those two areas accounted for 62 percent of all jobs created during the month.
Both are industries where women are heavily represented. As Long put it, much of August’s dramatic gender swing came down to ‘teachers and servers.’
‘The reason that women were down in July and up in August is almost entirely driven by education hiring – the teacher effect,’ she said, alongside a rebound in hospitality. ‘It’s not like something dramatically changed for women.’
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Women also gained around 68,000 jobs in leisure and hospitality in August even though the sector as a whole added only 62,000 – meaning male employment actually fell by about 6,000 in the sector.
And compared with a year earlier, the number of employed women has risen by more than 870,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis, while the number of employed men has fallen by almost 1.5 million.
Additionally, women have overtaken men in total payroll employment for the third time in US history, according to the analysis supplied with the jobs report.
Unlike previous occasions – during the Great Recession and immediately before the pandemic – economists say the latest change could reflect a more structural shift in the economy.
Education is another major factor. Local government education added 42,000 jobs in August, while food service and drinking places added 59,000
Female-dominated industries such as healthcare and hospitality have continued to expand while some traditionally male-heavy sectors, including manufacturing, have struggled.
Women are also earning more college degrees than men, Long noted, potentially leaving them better positioned to benefit from growth in professional industries.
But the picture is hardly a straightforward victory for women. Laura Ullrich, director of economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab, warned that women’s outperformance could partly reflect the kinds of jobs being created.
Women are more likely to work in lower-paying occupations and are also more likely to hold multiple jobs, meaning some of the employment growth could reflect people taking on extra work rather than landing lucrative new careers.
‘You could look at it and say, ‘Yay, women,’ Ullrich told CNBC. But she cautioned: ‘I don’t think it’s necessarily a positive story for women overall.’
Meanwhile, men are increasingly concentrated in sectors facing their own pressures.
Reddit users pointed to manufacturing, construction and other traditionally male-dominated industries as areas where employment has been weaker, with one commenter arguing that job gains have increasingly been concentrated in women-dominated fields.
Another suggested the figures reflected a much broader economic divide, arguing that ‘healthcare and education are the two sectors that have been hiring recently.’
