Job growth has accelerated this year, but women are falling behind.
Women occupy 45% of all jobs gained over the past 12 months, down from half of all payroll additions in the previous year. They held 49% of the nation’s 131 million jobs in July, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures show.
Men have outpaced women since the jobs recovery began in 2010. That’s largely because they were hit much harder by job losses in manufacturing and construction during the 2007-09 Great Recession and benefited more as those sectors bounced back.