Women Rule - Women Overtake Men as Dominant Gender in US Labor Force

Women now hold more jobs in the US than men for the first time in history. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) this Fall the number of women in the labor force surpassed men. Women held only 30 percent of jobs in 1960 and have steadily increased, as a percentage of the total workforce, decade after decade to the present time. The recession has caused major employment reductions in many fields once ruled by men, like construction, manufacturing, finance, and information technology. Whereas, fields like education, healthcare, and government have been adding workers and women increasingly dominate these fields. In local governments this is especially pronounced. BLS data indicates 167,000 women were added to their ranks during this latest recessionary period while 86,000 men were given walking papers - contributing to the gender shift to a work force of over 50 percent female.

Now for the bad news. Women who worked full time earned only 80 percent of what their male counterparts earned, and 77 percent when part-time positions are also factored in. Part of this disparity is because men still control the ranks and higher pay of executive level positions. But nonetheless, there still exists a disturbing gender pay disparity. Women now earn a majority of associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees but experts believe it still may be decades before gender equality in pay is achieved.

Middle-aged men seem to be paying the highest price for their long time favored status, as the so called breadwinners, which they have enjoyed over women and minorities. In fact, men aged from 35 to 54 are almost twice as likely to lose jobs in a permanent layoff as in previous recessions. The pay scale bias that these men have enjoyed is now working against them when companies bent on cost cutting eliminate these higher paid jobs.

The BLS forecasts that males will again be the majority gender of the labor force when jobs are added as the recession subsides. They may not come back in manufacturing and construction in numbers great enough to absorb the recent losses, but jobs will be created in other industries such as network systems, data communications, computer software, home care aids, and others.

It is a historic time for women in the work force, after an epoch journey - and what must follow is gender pay equality. It must become a national priority.