The artificial intelligence boom is reshaping the US labour market, but new research suggests that men are experiencing stronger employment growth than women in occupations more exposed to AI. A study by the Pew Research Center found that the gap has widened since generative AI tools became widely available, with the biggest differences appearing among workers without a college degree.
The findings challenge the assumption that AI’s impact on employment can be measured only by counting jobs created or eliminated. They also raise questions about who benefits from the changing demand for skills.
Men See Faster Employment Growth in AI-Exposed Jobs
Pew compared employment trends from 2017–2019 with those from January 2023 to June 2026, excluding the pandemic years to reduce the influence of COVID-related disruption.
Researchers examined 480 occupations and assessed how much generative AI could perform or assist with important job tasks. For every one-point increase in an occupation’s AI exposure score, men’s employment growth was associated with a 6.3% increase, while women’s employment growth changed by just 0.2%.
At the highest exposure score in the study, men’s employment growth reached 17.8%, compared with 0.5% for women.
The findings do not establish that AI directly caused the difference. Other economic and labour-market developments during the period may also have contributed.
Workers Without College Degrees Face the Widest Gap
The gender divide was particularly pronounced among people with a high school diploma or less.
For every additional point of AI exposure, men’s employment grew by 8.8%, while women’s employment declined by 9.5%, according to the study.
Among workers with some college education but no bachelor’s degree, men’s employment grew by 3.6% per exposure point, while women’s employment fell by 6%.
The estimates were much closer among workers with at least a bachelor’s degree: employment growth was 0.8% for men and 0.7% for women per exposure point. Neither estimate showed a statistically significant relationship between AI exposure and employment growth.
These differences suggest that education and the types of occupations people hold may influence how labour-market changes affect them.
Which Jobs Are Most Exposed to AI?
Jobs involving reading, writing, analysing information and communicating with customers tend to have higher AI exposure. Examples include accounting, software development and financial management.
By contrast, occupations requiring substantial physical work, such as construction labour and truck driving, generally have lower exposure to generative AI.
Women are more likely to work in certain administrative, reception and customer-service roles where automated workflows can perform or assist with a significant share of tasks. This may help explain why employment trends differ across groups.
However, AI exposure does not automatically mean that a job will disappear. The measure reflects the tasks AI could perform or assist with, not whether employers have actually adopted the technology or plan to eliminate positions.
Why the Findings Matter
The research highlights the need to look beyond headline figures about AI-driven job creation. Even when employment grows in AI-exposed occupations overall, the benefits may not be distributed equally.
Access to training, opportunities to move into emerging roles and employers’ hiring decisions could all influence who benefits from AI-related changes.
For businesses, the findings also underline the importance of monitoring workforce outcomes as AI tools become more integrated into everyday operations.
AI’s Long-Term Employment Impact Remains Uncertain
The study provides an early snapshot of the labour market following the widespread availability of generative AI. It does not establish that AI alone caused the observed gender gap, nor does it predict what employment will look like in the long term.
As adoption expands, future research will be needed to determine whether these differences persist and how education, retraining and workplace policies affect the results.
Summary
A Pew Research Center study found that men experienced stronger employment growth than women in US occupations with greater exposure to AI between 2023 and 2026. The gap was largest among workers without college degrees. Researchers stressed that AI exposure measures task potential, not inevitable job losses, and that the findings show an association rather than proof that AI caused the employment differences.
