Gender continues to shape access to opportunity in the workforce, sorting men and women into occupations with very different wages, benefits, and working conditions. Men dominated physically intensive roles in 2021, making up 99 percent of construction laborers, 95 percent of truck drivers, and 79 percent of material movers. Women concentrated in care and service work, making up 94 percent of childcare workers, 86 percent of registered nurses, and 85 percent of personal care aides.

The wage gap between these categories is not just about skill or difficulty. Work historically performed by women tends to be undervalued in labor markets, even when it requires comparable education, skill, and responsibility.For instance, registered nurses require years of training, yet care work consistently pays less than construction work.

Breaking gender-based occupational segregation requires two changes. First, wages in female-dominated occupations must better reflect the skill, responsibility, and difficulty of the work. Second, barriers that steer women away from higher-paying trades and men away from care professions must be removed. Achieving both will require structural change, including stronger pay equity enforcement, investment in apprenticeship programs that actively recruit women, and a broader revaluation of care work in public and private sector wage systems.

Insights & Analyses: Central Coast

• Women in the Central Coast make up the majority of workers in select frontline occupations in the care economy. For example, women account for 94 percent of child care workers, 86 percent of registered nurses, and 85 percent of personal care aides. 
• Men make up the majority of frontline occupations which are important to the logistics industry or construction. For example, they make up 99 percent of construction laborers, 95 percent of truck drivers, and 79 percent of laborers and material movers.