‘What happened to our men?’: Gee and Ursula react to women outnumbering men in the workforce

For only the third time in history, women outnumber men in the workforce, as two-thirds of the 1.2 million jobs added to the economy between February 2024 and February 2026 went to women.

Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin, co-hosts of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, weighed the reasons behind the shift and what it says about men falling behind.

“Some of y’all might be mad at me after this. For years, since I’ve been alive, women have been preparing for this moment,” Gee said. “Who’s earning the college degrees at higher rates right now? Who does most of the homework in these classrooms? And oh, by the way, we’re talking about workplace initiatives that have been designed to recruit, mentor, promote and retain women. That’s not a knock on women because I’m giving them the props too. They’ve been prepared for this.

“One of the biggest beneficiaries of more inclusion in the workplace has been women. Look it up yourself,” he continued. “I want to just say this right here: What happened to our men? This is where I’m getting trouble. Somewhere along the way, there’s a lot of us men that say things like, ‘I don’t want to do that job, because some of these jobs are beneath me,’ and so they wait for the perfect job. The research is alarming because a large study found that about 70% of the time, young men who aren’t working spend their time playing video games and recreational computer use.”

Ursula eyes a worrying trend among some young men

Ursula noted that being a stay-at-home dad is more than OK when it works well for a family, but a growing trend of men staying at home and giving up entirely is something to flag.

“Also, society, even though we say we’re much more understanding or we’re much more open to the idea, I would bet that there are people who still give folks the side eye,” Ursula said. “If it works for your situation and your family, and it pencils out, I mean, I know of several situations that make sense. What is a little more worrisome is this trend of young men still staying in the basement, not fully launching, and just giving up on the idea.

“It’s this whole idea of men in crisis because women are now doing things that used to be traditionally held by men, and men are searching for their identities, kind of thing,” Ursula added. “That’s a blanket statement. That’s not everybody. That’s just some. One of the reasons we’re seeing women outpace men is because of careers like healthcare and social services. Women still make up the vast majority of the workforce. There are still also industries where men make up the bulk of it, but manufacturing, tech, and finance are predominantly male. Those are areas where we’re seeing jobs shrink.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.