Based on an analysis by the Institute for Women's Policy Research of the August employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women gained 43,000 jobs, which totaled to 45 percent of the new jobs, while men gained 53,000 jobs.
According to the BLS, the private sector added 103,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in August. Still, there were also 7,000 fewer government jobs for a net total of 96,000 jobs added to nonfarm payrolls in August.
IWPR finds that women's employment growth was helped by strong growth in education and health services with 22,000 additional jobs; leisure and hospitality with 14,000 additional jobs; professional and business services with 13,000 additional jobs; and trade, transportation and utilities with 10,000 additional jobs. Women also lost 16,000 government jobs in August.
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The analysis also reveals that women have regained 41 percent or 1.1 million of the total jobs lost since December 2007 to the trough for women's employment in September 2010 for 2.7 million jobs.
Men, however, have regained 49 percent or 2.95 million of the jobs lost between December 2007 and the trough for men's employment in February 2010 for 6.1 million jobs. Between August 2011 and August 2012, of the 1.8 million new jobs, women filled 669,000 jobs for 37 percent while men filled 1,139,000 jobs for 63 percent, making the gap between women's and men's employment at 1.9 million jobs in August.
The household survey data reported by the BLS also finds that the unemployment rate for women age 16 and older fell from July at 8.1 percent to August at 7.8 percent, and the unemployment rate for men age 16 and older dropped from 8.4 percent to 8.3 percent. In August, 12.5 million workers were still unemployed.
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