“Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.” — B.F. Skinner
In the latest job report, women held more jobs than men. The development reflects, in all likelihood, the future of the American workforce. According to the Labor Department, women now hold 50.4% of jobs, surpassing men by 109,000.
America benefits from greater participation by women. There is positive evidence that women and men bring different skills and perspectives to the workplace, including different attitudes toward risk and collaboration. Studies have also shown that firms’ financial performance improves with more gender-equal corporate boards.
What trends are favoring women?
Dean Baker, senior economist at Center for Economic and Policy Research, pointed out that we could expect women henceforth to account for a larger share of the U.S. labor force. He argued that because women have been getting college degrees in larger numbers than men, they have a better skill set for today’s job market.
The gender gap now favors women in higher education. In the 1970s, men went to college in much higher proportions to women — 58% to 42%. Today the ratio has almost reversed. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 2.2 million more women will be enrolled in college than men. By 2026, the Education Department estimates that 57% of college students will be women.
Betsey Stevenson, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan and an economic adviser in the Obama administration, said: “As women get into more senior positions, it creates more space to hire women and brings more equality into management decisions.”
Women are dominating sectors, such as service industries, that are growing the fastest. Sectors such as education and health care predominantly favor women. In December, the education and health-services sector added 36,000 jobs. By contrast, mining and manufacturing industries, historically dominated by males, lost a combined 21,000 jobs.
For the first time, women make up a majority (50.7%) of those enrolling in medical school. They now make up 50.3% of law-school grads and 51.3% of those currently enrolled in law school.
By contrast, Wall Street and the financial services industry remain male-dominated cultures. A Catalyst study (global nonprofit) reported that women account for less than 17% of senior leaders in investment banking, and only 9% in private equity. A CNBC/LinkedIn survey revealed massive pay disparities in the financial industry.
There has been only one other time when women held more jobs than men — from June 2009 until April 2010 (Great Recession). During that period, America was suffering from a significant drop in employment in the construction and manufacturing sector. Today’s advances for women have more staying power because our current economic conditions reflect more normal times.
The Washington Post highlighted one woman’s success story that reverberates through our economy. Rachel Higgins left her job at IBM to stay home with her children. She wanted to return to work when her son went to college. She was hired 21 years later by a software and professional services firm, Lionbridge. She said: “I’m walking through the doors of major global companies and giving a presentation. I’m back! I’m back, baby!”
Originally published in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
