Women now hold more jobs than men in the United States for the third time in recorded history, a trend experts believe could be enduring due to significant shifts in the American employment landscape.

As of June 2026, women held 79.64 million jobs, surpassing the 79.34 million jobs held by men, according to data from the Indeed Hiring Lab. This marks a notable increase from February 2026, when the disparity was 96,000 jobs in favor of women, indicating a growth of 208,000 jobs over four months.

Over the past year, approximately 95% of newly added positions have gone to women. Between February 2024 and February 2026, women accounted for 814,000 of the 1.2 million jobs added, representing two-thirds of the total gains.

Concurrently, male labor force participation has seen a decline. In 2000, 66.8% of men were employed or actively seeking work, a decrease from 75.1%. Women's labor force participation also dipped to 56.6% as of June 2026, down from 60.1% in 2000.

“This gap in male-female labor force participations rates [has] steadily declined over time,” said Laura Ullrich, Director of Economic Research at Indeed and author of the study. “As more women have worked, less men have worked.”

This represents a significant reversal from historical trends. Just 60 years ago, men held 24 million more jobs than women. By the 1990s, men still held approximately 7 million more jobs, and as recently as 2005, the gap was around 5 million.

Previous instances where women held more jobs than men include the period following the 2008 Great Recession, when male-dominated sectors were heavily impacted, and a period before the 2020 pandemic, though lockdowns disproportionately affected working women, leading to a temporary inversion.

Ullrich suggests the current trend may be a return to pre-pandemic labor market dynamics, potentially establishing a permanent shift. "I think we’ve just returned back to what it would have been if COVID never happened,” she stated. “I actually think this switch to a level that is permanent was coming before COVID.”

Driving Factors Behind the Shift

The rise in employment for women is attributed to growth in sectors traditionally dominated by women, such as healthcare, education, and hospitality. Conversely, a decline in jobs within male-dominated fields like technology, business, and manufacturing is also contributing to the trend. Ullrich noted that changes in gender norms, such as men taking on more caregiving roles, do not appear to be a significant factor. "The research does not show that men are caregiving at higher levels,” she explained. "It really is a decline in just work activity.”

Ullrich described the reasons for this decline in male work activity as “very depressing,” citing factors such as increased leisure time spent on activities like video games, as well as societal issues including the opioid epidemic, depression, and disability, which disproportionately affect men. Research from 2017 indicated that young men were spending a significant portion of their off-work hours on video games.

Economist Justin Wolfers' data indicates that women have secured a substantial majority of jobs created during President Trump's second term. Since January 2025, the US economy has added 468,000 payroll jobs, with 86% of these, or 403,000, going to women, while men accounted for 65,000.