Men joined the labor market at a rate three times greater than women in 2025.
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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.”
Having fewer women in the labor force isn’t just a workplace issue; it’s also an economic issue.
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Less Women In the Workforce Impacts The Economy
Having fewer women in the labor force isn’t just a workplace issue; it’s also an economic issue. That’s because women make up roughly half the population, and having more people in the workforce helps boost the GDP. It translates to more people earning money that they can then spend on goods and services, helping fuel local economies.
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In addition, more people in the workforce means a greater percentage of the population paying taxes to help increase the government’s revenue to fund public goods and services, which in turn spurs more economic growth. We can’t afford to go backwards on gender equality: Closing the gender gap could lift the GDP by 20%, according to the World Bank.
Why Women Are Being Pushed Out Of The Workforce
There are many reasons behind the growing gender divide in the labor market. Here are some, but not all, of the factors contributing to this trend.
Lack Of Other Support Structures And Affordable Childcare
Women didn’t suddenly stop wanting to work; they were forced out, says Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Moms First. She believes this isn’t a personal problem, but rather it’s a business problem and a policy failure. One solution is to treat child care like an economic imperative. This is especially important given that women make up nearly two-thirds of the lowest-paid workers in the U.S., and we’ve yet to reach an equitable gender division of labor in the home.
Some states, such as New Mexico and New York, are leading the charge on investing in childcare.
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The average national price of childcare for just one child is $13,128 a year, meaning the price to send two children to daycare is higher than the average cost of rent. Moreover, immigrants make up 20% of childcare workers, so mass deportations are likely impacting this sector.
“When childcare costs more than your mortgage, someone is forced to step back. And in America, that ‘someone’ is still almost always the mother—that’s what’s behind the jobs report,” Saujani says. “We need affordable, reliable care so moms can work. We need paid family leave so women don’t fall out of the workforce the moment they have a baby. We need fair pay, predictable schedules, and flexibility that reflects how families actually live.”
Some states are leading the charge on investing in childcare. New Mexico is addressing the childcare crisis by becoming the first state to offer universal childcare. New York is doing the same. Saujani worked closely with Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to expand free child care for two-year-olds and universal pre-K. “If we want women to be able to work, we have to stop asking them to perform miracles, and start building a system that works for moms instead of against them,” says Saujani.
Job Losses In Sectors Where Women Are Highly Represented
Tucker points to a broader rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) 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.
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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Overall, about 317,000 federal employees left the government workforce in 2025, including those who were part of mass voluntary retirements and buyouts as well as tens of thousands who were fired. Women represent about half of federal workers, but are more highly represented in federal agencies targeted for job cuts, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (59% women), Social Security Administration (66%) and Environmental Protection Agency (54%).
More Companies Are Scaling Back Programs That Benefit Women
The 2025 Women in the Workplace annual report, the largest study of corporate women in America, finds that women are getting less support in the workplace and fewer opportunities for advancement.
“It felt like we as a culture were starting to get beyond messages such as ‘women aren’t good leaders,’ and yet we’re in a culture right now where we are seeing and feeling that,” says Rachel Thomas, co-founder and CEO of LeanIn.org. “Companies can’t change the world, but companies can change their systems and address ways to energize women and spur their ambition.”
The report reveals only about half of companies say women’s career advancement is a high priority, and 21% of companies are giving little or no priority to advancing women. This number rises to 29% for women of color.
At the same time the report shows signs that companies are less committed to women’s career advancement, it also finds women’s own ambitions are waning, with 80% of women overall saying they want to be promoted to the next level as compared to 86% of men.
“We’ve seen hard-earned gains over the last decade in women’s representation and getting more women into leadership, and this is a critical moment when we need companies to be investing more in women’s careers, not less,” says Thomas. “We know when women get the same support as their male counterparts, that ambition gap melts away.”
For example, people who have a sponsor at work are much more likely to want to be promoted, and to score a promotion. Yet only 31% of entry-level women have a sponsor as compared to 45% of entry-level men.
Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Meta and founder of LeanIn.org and OptionB, says women at both ends of the career spectrum face bigger barriers to advancement.
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“Women at both ends of the career spectrum face bigger barriers,” says Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Meta and founder of LeanIn.org and OptionB. “At the entry level, the ‘broken rung’ persists where for every 100 men who are promoted, just 93 women, 82 Latinas, and 60 Black women get promoted. Starting out like this, women are never able to catch up.”
The report found senior-level women also face obstacles to advancement. Senior-level women who say they don’t want to advance are more likely than men at the same
level to say they’ve been passed over for a promotion and that they don’t see a realistic path to the top, which may make their next career step seem out of reach.
Women Are Penalized More For Working Remotely
Research shows remote work hurts women’s chances of being promoted more than it does men’s.
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Remote work became the norm for a much larger segment of the workforce after the pandemic, and it contributed to a record for women’s labor force participation by 2023.
Yet increasing return-to-office mandates in 2024 and 2025 may be disproportionately impacting women. This is due to the fact that the majority of caregiving responsibilities are still shouldered by women, as well as gender biases and the motherhood penalty.
Case in point: The latest Women in the Workplace Report also finds that remote work hurts women’s chances of being promoted more than it does men’s.
According to the report, just 37% of women who work remotely three or more days per week have been promoted in the last two years, versus 49% of men with the same working arrangement. When it comes to entry-level remote workers, the gap is even larger: Only 25% of mostly remote working, entry-level women have been promoted in the past two years, compared with 44% of remote-working men at the same level. Remote work should be without penalty, regardless of gender.
We don’t have to go backwards on gender equity in the workplace; there are concrete solutions companies can put in place now to help reverse these trends. For example, it’s key to put systems in place to ensure that promotions are based on merit, such as by tracking and auditing outcomes, so women who work remotely aren’t penalized.
“2025 has been a tumultuous year for companies, not just for employees,” says Thomas. “The economy is changing quickly, AI is disrupting things, companies are trying to respond to a changing legal landscape. There is a lot going on, but we’re at an important crossroads when it comes to women’s progress. My hope is that leaders read this, see it as a wakeup call, and understand that doubling down on women’s career advancement is the only thing to do.”