Men used to go to war, discover new lands and sculpt things. They used to design and build beautiful cathedrals. Now, it appears a whole lot of them just sit home and are 'go-getters'. They drop their woman off for work and then go back and 'get her' after work. What is going on?
Women now outnumber men in the workforce. Here's why. https://t.co/KIojCt5Sre
— Axios (@axios) March 27, 2026
For only the third time ever, there are more women employed in the U.S. than men, according to federal data highlighted in a report from Indeed, the jobs site.
Why it matters: This isn't quite a women's empowerment story — what's happening in part is that traditional male-dominated occupations are shrinking, while female-led jobs are growing.
Between the lines: Overall, those jobs pay less than ones held by men.
- "If you're seeing a shift toward more female employment, all else equal, you would see a shift toward lower wages," Laura Ullrich, economic research director at Indeed, tells Axios.
Two dynamics are driving the shift:
1. The fastest-growing sector of the job market, particularly over the past year, is health care, where women dominate. Job growth in construction and manufacturing has been relatively flat or negative.
2. Men's participation in the job market has been declining. Male employment fell overall by 142,000 jobs from February 2025 to February 2026, Ullrich notes.
- That's also partly because the immigration crackdown pushed a lot more men out of the workforce and restricted their entry into it.
Friction point: It would seem like a no-brainer for more men to move into health care, but they so far have been reluctant to take jobs that can be perceived as "women's work."
- "There's no inherent reason that 95% of speech language pathologists are women," Ullrich says. "That's a good job. It pays six figures."
- "Men are missing out in the labor market because there are too many 'no-go' zones for male workers," economist Richard Reeves, founder of the advocacy group American Institute for Boys and Men, tells Axios.
The moral of the story is men need to look into healthcare careers and women need to stop financially supporting men. It's for their own good.
This is bad for everyone.
— Penny (@pennyelizabeths) March 28, 2026
What I've been told is that whenever there's a disparity like this it is due to racism or sexism or both.
— Larry Farlow (@LarryFarlow) March 28, 2026
because every institution on earth gave them priority over men
— Marauder (@marauder5307) March 28, 2026
This is also a problem. Men, particularly white men, were pushed way, way down the list of priorities. This led to them growing frustrated and giving up on the system. That also must be addressed.
I think a significant amount of male motivation to work was to provide for his family. That obviously got shamed to death and now maybe they just dont feel like doing it anymore
— Davis (@Davis2052035) March 27, 2026
Things were better when men were compelled to be providers.
Let this sink in: WOMEN outnumber MEN in the workforce
— Emma Waters (@emlwaters) March 28, 2026
What’s the cost?
-fewer stable marriages
-more children in daycare
-more anxiety/depression among women
-declining birth rate
-work, not home, as central to life
-weaker care economy
What else am I missing? https://t.co/ygTdLnXfDB
Not only do women vastly outnumber men in the workforce, especially in corporate settings, but in 2024, studies found 47% of women ages 25 to 34 held a bachelor's degree compared to 37% of men. It's time to stop pretending that women are still oppressed in any way professionally. https://t.co/oMwUozE8ym
— Thomas Schumacher (@SchumacherTommy) March 28, 2026
Men need to be valued and respected in the workforce, while it must once again become socially and economically acceptable for women to prioritize raising their own children at home. Only then can America rebuild the stable families and strong society it desperately needs.