Women Made Up Nearly All The Job Losses Last Month (December)). Here's Why
Women Made Up Nearly All The Job Losses Last Month. Here’s Why
Men joined the labor market at a rate three times greater than women in 2025.
A thriving economy is partly reflected by a labor force that represents the demographics of our population. The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics’ jobs report shows some striking disparities: 91,000 women left the labor force last month, compared to 10,000 men who joined the labor force last month. If we zoom out to look at all of 2025, men’s labor force size grew by 572,000, while women’s grew by only 184,000. That means men joined the labor market at a rate three times greater than women.
The Jobs Report Shows Widening Disparities In The Labor Market
Digging deeper, disparities among specific demographics, such as mothers and Black women, are widening. Some of the biggest labor force declines in 2025 were among mothers. Unemployment for Black women has increased in 2025, rising to 7.3% as compared to 5.4% in January 2025 (the overall unemployment rate for workers last month was 4.4%).
“If we saw an unemployment rate for white men at the current rate it is for Black women, we would have already declared a recession,” says Jasmine Tucker, vice president for research at the National Women’s Law Center. “The data shows that we are reverting back to more white and more male workplaces, as people tend to hire people who look, think, and talk like them. It’s also playing out in the wage gap data, where the gender and racial wage gap has increased for two years in a row for the first time ever. White men’s earnings are increasing, and that’s great—we want that. But we want that for everyone.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/hollycorbett/2026/01/14/women-made-up-nearly-all-the-job-losses-last-month-heres-why/
Job Losses In Sectors Where Women Are Highly Represented
Tucker points to a broader rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and cuts to federal jobs as a significant driver of fewer women in the workforce in 2025. Many federal positions, known for better pay equity and benefits, are being cut—jobs where women and Black women are highly represented.
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