Women accounted for an estimated 98% of U.S. employment gains in August, according to an analysis of federal employment data. Yes, of roughly 162,000 gains, women accounted for about 158,000, compared with approximately 4,000 for men.
That’s 158,000 to 4,000.
One major reason is the types of industries adding workers. Food services, education and healthcare all experienced employment growth, and women make up large portions of the workforce in these fields. Women also posted particularly strong gains in leisure and hospitality.
The numbers reflect a broader shift in the American workforce, with women now accounting for slightly more than half of total nonfarm payroll employment.
However, economists caution against reading too much into a single month because employment figures can fluctuate significantly.
The strong August numbers also don’t mean women face no challenges. Women remain more likely than men to work multiple jobs, and other measures show continued weakness in women’s labor-force participation compared with earlier periods.
Overall, August provides a striking example of how America’s job market is changing, particularly as healthcare, education and service industries become increasingly important sources of employment.
Women in the U.S. Workforce: Key Facts & Stats
- Women make up roughly half of the U.S. workforce. Women have become nearly as numerous as men in payroll employment, a major change from several decades ago.
- Women earned about 82 cents for every $1 earned by men among full-time workers in 2025. Median weekly earnings were $1,089 for women versus $1,326 for men.
- The pay gap is considerably smaller among younger workers. Pew found that women ages 25–34 earned about 95 cents for every $1 earned by men their age in 2024.
- The overall pay gap has narrowed substantially over the long term. Pew estimates women earned about 65% as much as men in 1982, compared with 85% in 2024 when looking at median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers.
- Women actually outnumber men in professional and related occupations. In 2025, approximately 32.5 million people worked full-time in these occupations, and women represented about 57% of them.
- Women remain underrepresented in management. Among full-time workers in management occupations in 2025, about 44% were women—6.85 million women compared with 8.73 million men.
- The gap becomes much larger at the very top. Women accounted for roughly 36% of full-time chief executives in the BLS’s 2025 occupational data.
- Only 11% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. A record 55 women were running Fortune 500 companies in the 2026 ranking. Although that’s an all-time high, men still run 89% of America’s 500 largest companies. However, female CEOs have made enormous gains since the 1990s. In 1995, there were no female Fortune 500 CEOs. By 2023, women held 10.6% of those positions, and the figure reached 11% in 2026.
- Women are major business owners. Census data show women owned approximately 14.2 million U.S. businesses in 2023, including businesses with and without employees. Those businesses generated about $2.8 trillion in receipts.
- Women in management still earn substantially less than men in management. In 2025, women working full-time in management occupations had median weekly earnings of $1,602, compared with $2,000 for men.
