Women now outnumber men in U.S. payroll jobs, signaling a lasting shift

Data from the Federal Reserve show that, for the first time since early 2026, women hold more payroll positions than men in the United States, a change experts say reflects a structural labor-market shift.

Federal Reserve data indicate that women have overtaken men in payroll employment as of early 2026, a reversal that has occurred only twice before and never persisted. Over the last twelve months, male employment fell by 142,000 jobs, whereas female employment rose by 298,000, meaning women captured about two-thirds of the 1.2 million jobs added since February 2024. Laura Ullrich, a former regional economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, argues the shift stems from a sustained decline in male labor-force participation, not a cyclical recession.

Younger men are less likely to work at the same age as their fathers, often relying on parental support and spending more time on video games, a pattern highlighted in a Journal of Political Economy paper. Meanwhile, sectors with strong growth—health care, social assistance, and other female-heavy fields—continue to expand, while traditionally male-dominated industries like manufacturing and tech stagnate, reinforcing the gender gap.