Current US job market appears to favor women

By Barry Eitel

SAN FRANCISCO (AA) – The U.S. labor market is increasingly favoring analytical skills and appears to be leaning toward women, according to a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center.

The market is being reshaped by “tectonic changes”, according to the authors of the report that analyzed Labor Department data. Jobs that require social or analytical skills are growing much faster than those that require manual labor. Pay for the less physical jobs is also rapidly increasing.

This disparity appears to be favoring women most of all, and the pay gap between male and female workers has decreased sharply since 1980.

Continual training and skill-building is seen by many as crucial to better employment, according to a survey Pew conducted between May 25 and June 29 of 5,006 adults, that included 3,096 who are employed.

“The vast majority of U.S. workers say that new skills and training may hold the key to their future job success,” the report said.

Interestingly, though, the role of a traditional college education – long held as the gold standard of improving job prospects – is hotly debated. Only 16 percent of those surveyed believe four-year degree programs properly prepare graduates for lucrative jobs in the current employment climate.

Only 49 percent of participants with college degrees believed college provided them with specific job-related skills and knowledge.

Pay, however, appears to be stuck in place, Pew contends. The institution found that the average hourly waged, when adjusted for inflation, rose slightly from $19 in 1990 to $22 in 2015, a 16 percent bump in a quarter century. The stagnation is even worse for more physical jobs, which rose from $16 an hour to $18 an hour during the same period.

“Jobs requiring higher levels of social or analytical skills generally pay more than jobs requiring higher physical or manual skills, and the pay gap between manual and analytical jobs has grown over the years,” Pew said.