Kathryn Anne Edwards, Columnist

This Labor Market Isn’t Great for Women, Either

Amid all the talk of an economic crisis among young men in the US, female workers are also facing obstacles.

September 24, 2025 at 9:30 AM UTC

By Kathryn Anne Edwards

Kathryn Anne Edwards is a labor economist, independent policy consultant and co-host of the Optimist Economy podcast.

Sign of the times.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America

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For all the talk about “the crisis” among boys and young men and why they aren’t thriving in today’s America, and about which policy would help them more, the economic data shows that there is real trouble among women. At the heart of the problem are two deeply worrying trends in the labor market.

The first is that the gender wage gap widened for the second year in a row. Women’s earnings as a share of men’s fell to 80.9% in 2024, from 84% in 2022. There is no racial group or educational class within the working population in which women outearn men.