Women job gains in August were concentrated in education and services
Women accounted for 158,000 of 162,000 U.S. jobs added in August, a monthly split shaped by education and hospitality hiring.
By Sofia Marchetti · Columnist
· 3 min read
Women job gains in August accounted for 158,000 of the 162,000 net U.S. payroll jobs added that month, according to CNBC's analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Sept. 4. Men accounted for about 4,000 of the net increase. For investors watching the economy, the striking 98% figure says as much about which industries hired in August as it does about the broader labor market.
The result should be read as a one-month net employment change, rather than a count of every individual person hired. Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told Fortune that gender splits in monthly employment data can move around substantially.
Why did women account for most August job gains?
August growth was concentrated in sectors where women make up a large share of workers. Food service and drinking places added 59,000 jobs, while local-government education added 42,000, Fortune reported. Together, those industries supplied 101,000 jobs, or 62% of the month's total payroll gain.
Education hiring is especially prone to seasonal swings around the school calendar. Long said much of the August gender split reflected education hiring, along with a rebound in hospitality. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said local-government education employment had shown little net change since January 2025, according to Fortune, suggesting the August jump followed a seasonal summer decline rather than a clear new trend.
Women hold close to three-quarters of jobs in education, training and library occupations, CNBC reported, citing BLS data. Women also represent more than four in five workers in health care and social assistance, an industry that continued to add jobs in August. Those employment patterns can make a monthly gain centered on schools, restaurants and other services look heavily tilted toward women.
The figures also include a counterintuitive result within leisure and hospitality: women gained roughly 68,000 jobs even as the sector overall rose by 62,000, Fortune reported. That implies men had a net decline of about 6,000 jobs in the sector during the month.
A broader gap, with important caveats
CNBC reported that seasonally adjusted employment among women was up by more than 870,000 from a year earlier, while male employment was down by nearly 1.5 million. The August unemployment rate was 3.9% for women and 4.4% for men, CNBC said. Fortune reported that the overall unemployment rate held at 4.1%.
Still, a bigger share of job gains does not automatically mean a better outcome for women. Laura Ullrich, director of economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab, told CNBC that the pattern could reflect hiring concentrated in lower-wage roles. She also noted that women are more likely to hold multiple jobs, which can raise employment counts without necessarily improving workers' financial security.
The August report therefore offers a clear picture of where payroll growth landed in one month. Whether it marks a durable change in the labor market will require more than one unusually concentrated jobs report.
This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.
