Women Overtake Men in U.S. Payroll Jobs as 1.2 Million New Roles Skew Female

3 articles · Updated · Fortune · Aug 2

Early 2026 data show women now hold more U.S. payroll jobs than men, a crossover economists say looks structural rather than a recession-driven blip like the two earlier reversals.
Over the past 12 months, men lost a net 142,000 jobs while women gained 298,000; of the 1.2 million jobs added from February 2024 to February 2026, about two-thirds went to women.
That shift tracks a wider participation gap: the male labor-force rate has fallen to 67.2% from 69.2% just before Covid, while the female rate slipped only 0.6 point to 57.2%.
Job growth is concentrated in female-heavy fields—health care and social assistance, 78.9% female, added 1.8 million jobs between July 2023 and July 2025—while manufacturing, tech, finance and media have stagnated or shrunk.
Economists also point to fewer young men entering work, with gaming, opioid damage and limited access to aid programs worsening the drop, while training pipelines for fast-growing care and medical jobs remain overwhelmingly female.