Women up 650,000, men down 1.2 million: What's happening in the US labor market

Data show a clear trend in the US labor market: male employment is shrinking while female employment is rising. Attention is now focused on the forces driving the widening gender gap, particularly after women outpaced men in employment for eight consecutive months.

The US Department of Labor's September nonfarm payrolls report showed a gain of 29,000 jobs, far below the market consensus of 84,000.

Responding to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, CNBC noted that "men accounted for just over half of the net employment gains in September, but over a 12-month period the trend runs in the opposite direction — the number of employed men in the US, on a seasonally adjusted basis, fell by about 1.2 million in September compared with the same month a year earlier, while the number of employed women rose by more than 650,000 over the same period."

Job platform Indeed also reported that female employment exceeded male employment for eight consecutive months through September, the longest such stretch since 2010.

Indeed Chief Economist Cory Stahl said that in 2010, the gap opened because men were losing jobs, but "this time, the gap is emerging because women are gaining jobs."

Analysts say the industries driving job growth have played a significant role in shaping the gender employment gap.

The healthcare sector, which has led US job growth for years, accounted for more than half of all employment gains in September. The industry is heavily female-dominated, with roughly four out of every five workers being women.

Stahl said the type of industry adding jobs is "an important factor explaining the difference in employment outcomes by gender."

However, healthcare hiring also slowed somewhat in September. The Labor Department said the pace of healthcare job growth last month was below its average over the past year, meaning women may not have benefited from employment gains as much as in previous months.

A decline in government-sector hiring in September — another area where women make up a large share of the workforce — also limited overall gains in female employment. Stahl noted that while women continue to outpace men in employment, the monthly pace of job growth has slowed compared with earlier months.

CNBC concluded that "the gender gap in the US labor market cannot be explained simply by the fact that men are losing jobs — a structural shift in which female-heavy industries such as healthcare and other services are leading job growth is widening the divide."