The gender gap in the U.S. labor market is widening

U.S. labor market data showed that women kept their stronger position in the workforce despite weak September job growth. An analysis by the job-search platform Indeed using public data found that, as of September, women had outnumbered men in the labor force for eight straight months — the longest streak since 2010.

The picture suggested that while men saw a modest rebound in the monthly data, the annual trend continued to deteriorate. According to seasonally adjusted data, the number of employed men in the U.S. was about 1.2 million lower than a year earlier. Over the same period, female employment increased by more than 650,000.

September hiring missed expectations

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said nonfarm payrolls rose by a net 29,000 in September. That was well below economists' average expectation for a gain of 84,000 and intensified concerns about slowing momentum in the labor market.

Using BLS data, CNBC calculated that men accounted for just over half of September's net job gains. In the previous month, however, men made up only 2% of total payroll growth, underscoring how volatile their monthly contribution has been.

Sector mix helps explain the difference

Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed, said the current divergence can partly be explained by which industries are expanding. Stahle said, “This time, the gap is driven not by men losing jobs, but by women gaining them.”

More than half of September's job growth came from the health care sector. Women make up about four-fifths of workers in this area, which has been one of the main engines of the U.S. labor market in recent years.

  • Hiring in health care slowed in September compared with the average pace of the past year.
  • Monthly payroll declines were also seen in areas such as the public sector, where women are heavily represented.

Together, those two developments limited women's monthly employment gains compared with previous months, but the broader picture still showed women holding the stronger position. For financial markets, the data painted a more cautious picture of both growth momentum and the sectoral makeup of employment.