Women Dominate Job Growth
Women account for 77% of payroll job gains since January 2025 amid strong hiring.
Women have driven nearly eight out of every ten new payroll jobs added since January 2025, capturing 77% of total gains, according to an analysis of federal data reported by KOAT. The surge is tied to booming hiring in healthcare and education — sectors where women make up the majority of workers.
The trend came into sharp focus on June 5, 2026, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employers added 172,000 jobs in May — roughly double what economists had forecast, according to WJCL.
Healthcare and Education Carried the Entire 2025 Job Market
The U.S. economy added only 181,000 jobs in all of 2025 — an average of just 15,000 per month — according to KCCI. Nearly every net new job came from private education and health services. Women make up 77% of that sector's workforce, which is why they captured such a large share of total gains.
A March 2026 report from the Bank of America Institute found that women added jobs at nearly three times the rate of men in 2025. Meanwhile, male-dominated industries like construction and manufacturing shed 68,000 jobs as immigration crackdowns and shifting trade policies bit into those sectors, according to WCVB.
May's Blowout Jobs Report Shifts Hiring Into Low-Wage Sectors
The May 2026 report showed broader hiring than the healthcare-only growth of 2025. Leisure and hospitality added 70,000 jobs in a single month — possibly tied to early hiring for the FIFA World Cup, according to WLKY. But those jobs pay less than half the average weekly U.S. wage.
Critics say women are not winning. Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, argues that women are being "shunted into low-wage service work" while higher-paying federal and financial jobs disappear. The federal workforce has shrunk by 333,000 workers since January 2025, according to WMUR.
Strong Job Numbers Mask Deep Cracks for Long-Term Unemployed
The national unemployment rate held at 4.3%, but the share of people out of work for 27 or more weeks surged to 27.5% in May — up sharply from 20.4% a year ago, according to WBALTV. Economists call this a "low-hire, low-fire" market: hard to get laid off, but also very hard to get back in.
The broadest jobless measure, called U-6, rose to 8.2% as more workers took part-time jobs they did not want. Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute warned that slowing wage growth is making things worse, since inflation sits at 3.8% — nearly double the Federal Reserve's 2% target, according to WMTW.
Fed Rate Hike Fears Rattle Markets Despite Rosy Headlines
The strong May report reversed expectations for interest rate cuts. Markets now bet the Fed will raise rates — not cut them — at its December 2026 meeting. New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, sworn in on May 22, faces his first rate decision on June 16-17, according to WYFF4.
Investors did not cheer the jobs news. The Nasdaq dropped 4% in a single day — its largest one-day fall in over a year — on fears that a hot labor market will keep borrowing costs high. The Information sector also lost 13,000 jobs in May, a decline tied directly to artificial intelligence replacing white-collar roles, according to KCRA.
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