News
Women are getting most of the new jobs. What’s going on with men?
The Labor Department says the vast majority of new jobs created over the last year went to women, most of them in health care.
melitas
hide caption
toggle caption
melitas
In December 2016, as Donald Trump was headed to the White House for the first time, Betsey Stevenson offered the incoming president some economic advice.
Stevenson, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, argued in an op-ed that it would be a disservice to encourage men “to cling to work that isn’t coming back.” She cited Trump’s promise to bring an iPhone factory to the U.S.
“If Trump really wants to get more Americans working,” she wrote at the time, “he’ll have to do something out of his comfort zone: make girly jobs appeal to manly men.”
It’s a message she believes is even more relevant today.
For decades, the focus has been on getting more women into male-dominated fields. Some efforts have been more successful than others. But now, with the vast majority of new jobs going to women, it’s clear that men need help, too.
“This is happening at a time where it’s become verboten to talk about diversity, equity and inclusion,” Stevenson says. “And yet the people we need to be talking about right now are men.”
17 times as many jobs filled by women
In the mid-1970s, women held about 40% of jobs in the U.S, not including farm work or self employment. By the early 2000s, women’s share of jobs had grown to just under half. It’s hovered around there since, crossing the 50% threshold just a few times, including during the Great Recession, just before COVID, and now.
That parity masks the significant gains women have recently made in the labor market. Of the 369,000 jobs the Labor Department says were created since the start of Trump’s second term, nearly all — 348,000 of them — went to women, with only 21,000 going to men. That’s nearly 17 times as many jobs filled by women as by men.
The lopsidedness was driven by huge growth in health care, where women hold nearly 80% of jobs. Over the past 12 months, health care alone added 390,000 jobs, more than in the economy overall, making up for job losses elsewhere.
“If we want to see job growth that’s as robust for men as it is for women, we’re going to have to see men embracing those kinds of jobs,” says Stevenson.
So far, that hasn’t happened in any meaningful way. Stevenson believes it’s because men are more likely than women to have an identity tied to a particular occupation, making it harder for them to find work outside that field, much less in one dominated by women.
Meanwhile, in his second term, Trump has not strayed from his message that manufacturing will make the country strong. It’s something he emphasized in his second inaugural address, declaring that “America will be a manufacturing nation once again,” and in his repeated promises that tariffs would “bring factories roaring back.”
When manufacturers added 15,000 jobs in March, the White House called it proof that “the best days for American workers, manufacturers, and families are still ahead,” despite the fact that the sector is still down 82,000 jobs from when Trump took office.
“We have seen a year of a president absolutely fixated [on] growing the manufacturing sector,” Stevenson says. “There’s not enough of those jobs for men as a whole to thrive.”
A push for policies to open doors for men
What’s happening now in the labor market comes as no surprise to Richard Reeves, president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, a nonpartisan think tank.
He says not enough attention has been paid to the scarcity of men in certain professions, and now we’re seeing the consequences.
“There is no cause for panic here,” says Reeves, who’s been studying the decades-long decline in labor force participation among men. “But I do think we should be alert to signs that the labor market might be moving even more quickly in directions that are leaving too many men behind.”
Reeves notes that for years, the country has embraced policies and programs aimed at getting more women into science, technology, engineering and math, and the share of women in STEM jobs has grown.
“But that didn’t happen by itself. It happened as a result of concerted efforts to break down gender stereotypes,” he says.
Still, gaps remain, and some of those efforts have seen their government funding cut under Trump.
Now Reeves says what’s needed are policies and programs to draw male workers into fields such as nursing, teaching and social work.
“Those are occupations that serve people, and they should look like the people that they serve,” he says. “And it’s good for men because it means they won’t lose out on those jobs if that’s where the growth is coming from.”
Framing jobs as more masculine
Stevenson has been thinking about ways to make the fastest-growing sectors of the economy more welcoming to men.
“I think there are ways for us to talk about those jobs as being particularly masculine,” she says.
For instance, many health care jobs could be framed as roles requiring the strength to lift people. Preschools could highlight the need for teachers who serve as positive male role models.
“Kids love to be rough and tumble and build things,” she says.
Stevenson knows some people will be offended by such gender stereotyping.
“But I do want to encourage us to realize that we have to help men understand that they can do caregiving roles and stay masculine,” she says.
Ongoing challenges for women and men
What Stevenson doesn’t want people to conclude is that everything is okay now that women are leading on jobs.
“We know that there is still discrimination that holds people back,” she says.
For women, she says, that discrimination might be preventing them from getting the promotion that they deserve, contributing to the widening gender pay gap. For men, it may mean sitting on the sidelines because they don’t think there’s a role for them in the economy.
“I think we can use this moment to realize that discrimination, occupational segregation… these are things that harm all of us, not just one narrow group,” she says.
new video loaded: G.O.P. May Bear The Cost of Trump’s Unpopularity
By Shane Goldmacher, Nour Idriss, Stephanie Swart and Rafaela Balster
May 20, 2026
The central committee of the Colorado Democratic Party on Wednesday voted 89.8% in favor of a measure to censure Gov. Jared Polis. A censure temporarily bars him from speaking or participating in party-sponsored events.
Polis said earlier that the petition by hundreds of Democrats that called for the action is politically motivated. The petition is in response to Polis’ decision to commute the sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters. The judge gave her nearly 9 years for her role in tampering with election equipment to prove unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
Polis cut the sentence in half. Peters could be paroled as early as June 1.
“My goal is to make the right decision with the information I have and that’s exactly what I did in this case,” Polis said. “I think the fact this has seemingly become so partisan shows the problem with this case, frankly. No case should be viewed from a partisan lens. Each case is about an individual and the crime they committed.”
The governor says he looked at other cases of corruption by public officials and none of them had sentences as steep as Peters.
“In nearly every case we saw probation, we saw 6 months,” he said.
Peters’ sentence, he says, was based too much on what she said rather than what she did. The appellate court raised the same concern.
“Clearly, her free speech — however much we disagree with it — was used as a factor in that sentencing,” Polis said.
Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubenstein disagrees.
“This was not just a one act. This was a months-long pattern of deception to try to violate every security protocol we had as the person we entrusted specifically for that,” he said.
Rubenstein says Peters could have received 20 years. He notes even Polis’s own clemency board recommended against commutation.
Polis says he considered input from thousands of Coloradans and made his decision based on what he thought was right.
“I approach all these decisions with great humility and a very objective way looking at the data, of course,” he said.
Rubenstein says Polis ignored the advice of everyone closely involved in the case.
“That’s not humility, that’s arrogance — to believe that your judgment should substitute those others because you think they’re wrong and you think you’re smarter than them.”
The Democrats who asked the Colorado Democratic Party to censure the governor say his conduct is inconsistent with the party’s mission, which includes leading the battle for democracy. Polis insists he is doing exactly that.
“It’s caught up in the zeitgeist of the partisan divide which is a horrific thing that rips my heart apart, this divide that’s facing this country and our state. And I really hope that doesn’t impugn each individual sense of justice, whether they’re Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative. We need to make sure that you’re punished based on the crime regardless of your beliefs,” Polis said.
Rubenstein says he wouldn’t have protested a four-and-a-half year sentence for Peters had it come from the judge, who presided over years of litigation, is from Mesa County, and understands the impact Peters actions have had on the community.
The governor says he didn’t talk to Peters before making his decision, but he noted she apologized for her actions and took accountability in her clemency request.
Rubenstein wonders how long her remorse will hold up. He says she has until Friday to appeal her conviction to the Colorado Supreme Court.
The following statement was released by the Colorado Democratic Party after their vote. It expands upon a statement state party chair Shad Murib released after Polis’ announcement last Friday that he was commuting the sentence of Tina Peters.
Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers and sentenced by a judge who said she would do it all over again if she could. The Republican district attorney who prosecuted her called any sentence reduction ‘a gross injustice.’ He’s right.
Reducing her sentence now, under pressure from Donald Trump, is not justice. It sends a message to future bad actors that election tampering has consequences, unless you’re friends with the president. That’s a dangerous and disappointing precedent to set.
Colorado has spent years building trust in our elections and proving they are secure. At a time when democracy and voting rights are under attack across the nation, weakening accountability for someone convicted of undermining that trust is a mistake.
There are real cases that deserve the Governor’s attention and action. This is not one of them.
The State Central Committee finds that Governor Jared Polis’s decision to grant clemency to Tina Peters materially harmed the Colorado Democratic Party’s institutional credibility and efforts to defend democratic institutions and election integrity.
The State Central Committee formally condemns Governor Jared Polis’s clemency decision regarding Tina Peters and formally censures Governor Jared Polis for conduct inconsistent with the Colorado Democratic Party’s commitment to democratic institutions, election integrity, and public accountability.
The Colorado Democratic Party further clarifies that the clemency decision does not reflect the values, institutional positions, or democratic commitments of the Colorado Democratic Party.
The Colorado Democratic Party reaffirms its unwavering commitment to election workers, free and fair elections, and the rejection of election denialism and disinformation in all forms.
The State Central Committee recognizes the hundreds of Democrats who swiftly organized and raised their voices in defense of democracy and public trust in Colorado’s election system following the commutation decision.
Until further action by the State Central Committee or Executive Committee, Governor Jared Polis shall not participate as an honored guest, featured speaker, or officially recognized representative of the Colorado Democratic Party at Party-sponsored events and functions, including but not limited to the Obama Gala and DemFest.
-
Lifestyle31 seconds ago‘It’s one of my dreams,’ Rose Byrne says of her comic turn on Broadway
-
Education7 minutes agoVideo: Opinion | A Defense of a Liberal Arts Education in the Age of A.I.
-
Technology13 minutes agoPhilips’ new display has a screen on both sides
-
World19 minutes agoRecord number of climbers summit Mount Everest from Nepali side despite overcrowding concerns
-
Politics25 minutes agoSenate GOP erupts over Trump DOJ ‘anti-weaponization’ fund, punts ICE, Border Patrol funding
-
Health31 minutes ago‘Wild West’ peptide craze surges beyond GLP-1s as FDA faces pressure to ease access
-
Sports37 minutes agoCollege football player William Davis cause of death revealed: report
-
Technology43 minutes agoFake Geek Squad billing scam email: Red flags and how to avoid
