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The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) monthly jobs report shows that men have now recouped all their labor force losses since February 2020 while over 1 million fewer women were in the labor force in January 2022 as compared to February 2020. The sharp contrast between the number of men and women in the labor force likely reflects the uneven caregiving responsibilities men and women have taken on in the pandemic which have caused continued school and child care disruptions.
**UPDATED 2/8/2022: The original headline for this analysis (“27 Times More Men Than Women Joined the Labor Force in January 2022”) stated 1 million men joined the labor force in January 2022. BLS made annual adjustments to January 2022 figures, but did not make adjustments to December 2021 or earlier, which makes comparisons difficult over time. While it appears these men joined the labor force in January 2022, they likely joined earlier in 2021 and are only now showing up in the data. This factsheet has been updated to remove this one-month comparison.
