The Washington Post reported that economists say the broader shift toward a service-based economy has hurt men. Between January 2025 and March 2026, the U.S. economy created 369,000 jobs — an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the University of Michigan shows that 94 percent went to women and 6 percent went to men,. That’s partly because new jobs added to the U.S. economy during that period were in health care or public and private education. Men often shy away from jobs in those industries because of their perception that they are pink jobs, not suitable for real men and are low paying.
“There are guys just dropping off the planet. They’re not looking after their kids. They’re not in school. They’re not in the labor force,” said Betsey Stevenson, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan. “Across the board when we look at men, we see challenges that they face that leave too many men disconnected.”
As mentioned in previous blogs, disconnected men are more likely to commit suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, suffer from depression and have a higher incidence of domestic violence offenses. Frankly, can a society afford the lack of participation by such a significant portion of its population? We can’t, but what can we do about it? One suggestion would be for the various associations linked to the so-called pink occupations need to make a concerted effort to highlight both men who are already thriving in these jobs and to focus on recruiting young men through presentations in schools and job fairs. Imagine a male nurse speaking to a high school assembly about the tremendous job satisfaction of being a nurse and how his male presence has added to the recovery of patients, particularly men. In addition, we need far more attention to reexamining masculinity stressing that we do not haft to be gender neutral to be gender equal and reminding men that the living the best of masculinity can contribute to any profession.