US economy

Women edged out men in the workforce for the first time in almost a decade. Here's why


When it came to jobs, women edged out men in December for the first time in nearly ten years. 

Women had 50.04% of non-farm jobs at the end of 2019, 109,000 more than their male peers, according to data from the Labor Department. 

That was just one of the insights in the latest jobs report that showed U.S. employers adding 145,000 jobs in December and maintaining a 3.5% unemployment rate–a five-decade low.

The last time women had a larger share of jobs than men was in 2010, as the nation climbed out of the Great Recession.

“A decade ago you had a massive loss of employment in construction and manufacturing and both of those industries are overwhelmingly male,” says Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research  “That was why the women’s share of employment crossed 50%.”

In the last two years, however, there’s been another economic shift, as sectors traditionally occupied by men lost ground while those that primarily employ women grew.

 The manufacturing sector, which is dominated by men, lost 12,000 jobs in the last month of the year, while health care showed major gains with 28,100 jobs. Retail also added 41,200 positions during the holiday season.

“If you think personal caregiving … all the kinds of jobs related to elder care, they’re very heavily female-dominated,” said Ariane Hegewisch,  program director for employment and earnings for The Institute for Women’s Policy Research. “So as those sectors grow, the additional jobs go to women and they are among the most dynamic sectors.”

The data was cited in the Labor Department’s payroll report, meaning it focused on those who work for others rather than themselves, and a person having two or more jobs would be counted multiple times.

“Part time jobs have really grown quite a bit,” Hegewisch says. And “women are much more likely to work part time than men.”  

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Follow Charisse Jones on Twitter @charissejones



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