Men lose ground in labor market

Friday’s weaker-than-expected jobs report may feel especially lousy for men.

Women outnumbered men in the workforce for eight straight months as of September, according to an analysis of government data by Indeed. That’s the longest stretch since 2010, the job search platform found.

“Back then, the gap emerged because men were losing jobs,” said Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed. “This time, it’s because women are gaining them.”

Men represented slightly over half of net job growth in September, according to a CNBC analysis of Friday’s BLS data. A month prior, men represented just 2% of payroll growth.

Despite the monthly increase, the seasonally adjusted number of employed men in the U.S. was lower by about 1.2 million in September compared with a year ago. Women’s employment rose by more than 650,000 in the same period.

This divergence in labor market performance by gender can be partially explained by which industries are growing, according to Stahle.

Healthcare, a key driver of the U.S. job market for the last several years, accounted for more than half of overall payroll expansion in September. Women make up nearly four out of every five workers in the sector.

But the BLS said in its Friday release that healthcare hired at a slower pace in September than on average over the past year. Because of that, women may not have gotten as big of a boost from the sector as they did in prior months.

Monthly payroll contraction in industries with a higher share of women workers like government also diluted overall gains for women in the month, Stahle said.