Women: Nearing a Majority at Work?

Posted by: Jena McGregor on August 11, 2009

Here’s a bittersweet moment in the progression of women in the workplace: While the recession is hitting men in outsized numbers, women are gaining ground.

At least proportionately, according to The New York Times, which gives this particularly bad downturn a new moniker: the Mancession. On its Economix blog, Catherine Rampell writes that men “are more likely to work in cyclically sensitive industries like manufacturing and construction. Women, on the other hand, are overrepresented in more downturn-resistant sectors like education and health care.” That leaves women close to what she calls a “bittersweet milestone”: For the first time in American history, women may soon outnumber men on non-farm payrolls.

This, of course, is likely a cyclical blip, one that will revert back to the norm once unemployment again begins declining. (Soon, we all hope.) Men now make up 50.17% of non-farm payrolls, while women account for 49.83%, the closest ratio on record.

Still, play out the current labor trends of this recession for a moment, and there could be some more lasting change. Sectors typically dominated by male workers—construction, automotive manufacturing, to name two—are undergoing fundamental, structural change, and are unlikely to rebound anytime soon. Meanwhile, healthcare and education, in which women have long held strong positions, are two sectors that have remained strong, and should keep growing.

What that means for women in the workforce is unlikely to be substantial. Such a shift in total workforce employment says nothing about the gender wage gap. And just because women may make up more of the workforce doesn’t mean they’ll end up in a greater number of managerial roles.

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