New Delhi: A new phrase is gaining traction in the US: the “stay-at-home boyfriend”. Popularised through new-age social media, the term refers to men, especially of Gen Z, managing household tasks while women work as the main financial earners.
According to the US Federal Reserve data, Gen Z women are supporting the men in their lives due to changing economic factors. The data suggests that the number of jobs held by men fell by 1,42,000 over a recent 12-month period while women acquired 2,98,000 jobs, marking a major economic and cultural trend.
According to an Indeed Hiring Lab report, 1.2 million jobs were added in two years in the US, and women got two-thirds of those jobs.
“Much of this was driven by strength in the health and social assistance subsector, which tends to attract more women, and the relative softness of just about everything else,” states the report. “In the early 1990s, men held almost 7 million more jobs than women. As of early 2026, that gap had entirely closed. The gender gap in labor force participation has been declining uninterrupted for decades, and hit its lowest recorded level in February 2026.”
‘A long-term decline’
The ongoing shift in the US labour market reflects a deep structural realignment between men and women, driven by rising female educational attainment, changing industry demands, and evolving workplace expectations. The trend has always reversed, but this shift alters traditional employment patterns and long-term workforce participation.
“It definitely doesn’t, to me, seem like the change has been driven by a recessionary period, which is what typically drives it,” Laura Ullrich, the author of the Indeed Hiring Lab report, 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.”
The historic employment gap of the early 1990s—when men held nearly 7 million more jobs than women—has steadily eroded over three decades and is now entirely closed.
“Younger men today are less likely to be working than their fathers were at that same age,” Ullrich, who is also the former regional economist at the Federal Reserve Bank, Richmond, added. “There has been more of a transition where parents are supporting their adult children for longer. 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.”
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India’s gender gap remains wide
In India, meanwhile, the employment scenario is entirely different from the US. While the US has seen its 30-year workforce gender gap completely close, India continues to experience a massive, structural gender employment gap, though women’s participation has risen significantly.
According to the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2025 released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the female labour force participation rate (LFPR) stood at 40 per cent, compared to 78.8 per cent for men. The worker population ratio was 39.2 per cent for women against 75.5 per cent for men, underscoring the wide disparity in employment despite recent gains.
The survey also showed that women’s participation has risen sharply over the past few years, with female LFPR increasing from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18 to 40 per cent in 2025. Government data attributes the rise to higher participation across both rural and urban areas, although women continue to remain underrepresented in the formal workforce compared with men.
“Earnings of workers have shown a notable improvement in recent years across categories, with gains observed for both male and female in nominal terms. In regular wage/salaried employment, average earnings for male increased from Rs 22,891 in 2024 to Rs 24,217 in 2025 (about 5.8 per cent growth), while for female, earnings rose from Rs 17,126 to Rs 18,353 (about 7.2 per cent growth),” states the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation in a press release.