Women Accounted for 98% of New US Jobs in August

Women accounted for 98% of new jobs in August, according to the monthly jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), prompting headlines and analysis.

Jobs Report: The US added 162,000 new non-farm payrolls in August, something that mainstream outlets across the spectrum framed positively as a better-than-expected result. Unemployment stayed steady at 4.1%. Food services added 59,000 jobs, local government education added 42,000, manufacturing added 16,000, construction added 22,000, and healthcare added 13,000. Conversely, the information sector, which includes things like web infrastructure, lost 23,000 jobs. The Wall Street Journal (Center bias) called the report a "bright spot" after "early-summer doldrums" and noted that it previously polled economists who expected the economy to add 53,000 jobs in August.

Ladies First: Women accounted for 158,000 new jobs in August, while men accounted for 4,000. This was covered in headlines by a handful of major outlets, including Fortune (Center), Semafor (Lean Left), CNBC (Lean Left), and The Post Millennial (Right).

Not Good News?: Semafor and Fortune both framed the news as lukewarm or possibly negative for women. Semafor quoted Indeed Hiring Lab and wrote, "Because women tend to earn less than men and are likelier to hold multiple jobs, the figure suggests hiring is clustered in low-paying, contingent roles, meaning it's not 'necessarily a positive story for women overall.'" Fortune spoke to Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, who said, "I think there's been way too much focus on the month to month – is it men gaining jobs or women? That moves around a lot." She claimed, ​​"The reason that women were down in July and up in August is almost entirely driven by education hiring – the teacher effect. It's not like something dramatically changed for women."

Another Angle: Fortune noted that men lost 6,000 jobs to women in leisure and hospitality and that "several other service industries showed the same pattern, where women accounted for more than 100% of net job growth since male employment fell." The Daily Wire (Right) highlighted that since President Trump took office for his second term, women have driven "nearly all net hiring." The Daily Wire referenced an analysis from the "left-leaning nonprofit" Economic Security Project, which noted that since December 2024, women's cumulative payrolls have risen by about 765,000, and men have dropped by about 6,000.

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