For the third time in history, women outnumber men in the workforce as their stay-at-home boyfriends become the norm in American society.
According to the Federal Reserve, as of early 2026, women held more payroll jobs than men in the United States.
Women are bringing home the paychecks and their unemployed men help them spend it.
Economic experts say the recession is not driving the statistics of working women and stay-at-home men.
“It definitely doesn’t, to me, seem like the change has been driven by a recessionary period, which is what typically drives it,” economist Laura Ulrich told Fortune. “This seems to be more of a long-term decline that’s led to more of a permanent shift going forward, or at least semi-permanent.”
According to the Federal Reserve, women have gained 298,000 jobs, while jobs held by men fell by 142,000 over the last 12 months.
Economics are trying to figure out why men are dropping out of the workforce while more women are bringing home the bacon.
Ulrich theorizes that fewer men are entering the workforce because more young males are living with their parents today.
“It’s fewer men entering [the workforce],” Ullrich said. “Younger men today are less likely to be working than their fathers were at that same age.”
She continued: “The data do show that more young adult men live with their parents than women. The wealth transfer from older generations to younger generations is part of that story.”
Ulrich said more men are staying at home because male unemployment doesn’t hold the same stigma that it once did.
She said the stay-at-home boyfriend, once a punchline, is now a statistically significant labor market phenomenon, according to Fortune.
A recent study shows that that young men who aren’t working spend more time playing video games and livestreaming TikTok videos. Ulrich agrees that computer use among young males has taken up a significant portion of their time.
“I think that’s part of the story — the basement story,” Ullrich said, referring to young men playing video games in their parent’s basement.
Studies show more women are going into the nursing field or studying for their bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
As of 2023, 87% of nursing bachelor’s students were women. Medical schools have been majority-female since 2019.
“Women are the ones who have the training for these jobs,” Ullrich said. “The growth that’s happening in the economy in terms of jobs is happening in female-dominated sectors.”