More working men are caregivers as women leave workforce, survey finds

By the numbers: In 2025, men made up 57% of the workers who say they are juggling both paid work and caregiving, per the survey from The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America shared exclusively with Axios.

• In 2023, Guardian found that women made up 56% of worker-caregivers.

Zoom out: Guardian only surveyed workers, and so doesn't know for sure why this switch happened. However, the report's authors believe the change was led by women leaving the workforce entirely.

• "Instead of a dramatic gender shift in caregiving, women are actually doubling down on this responsibility by departing the workforce entirely," they write. "They are more likely than men to feel that they have to leave the workforce when their balancing act becomes unmanageable."

The big picture: There's a raft of other evidence that suggests this shift is underway. Government data from this year tracks a decline in women's participation in the workforce through August.

• There were drops for all women, but the biggest was among college-educated mothers with very young children, who arguably benefited most from the rise of remote work. Coming out of the pandemic a record number of mothers joined the workforce.

Where it stands: Return-to-office policies pushed many women out of the workforce —a recent survey found that nearly two-thirds of executives whose companies have mandated an office return of some sort say the policy has led a disproportionate number of women to quit.

• Adding to the pressure — prices for child- care and elder care are rising faster than inflation. In-home care prices rose more than three times as fast as inflation this year alone. Child-care costs rose 29% from 2020 to 2024.
• And as the population of Americans over 65 surges, so do the number of caregivers in the U.S. The number of "family caregivers" looking after older adults jumped by one-third from 2011 to 2022, according to data from Johns Hopkins.

The latest: Though the overall share of women in the workforce ticked up a smidge in September from August, according to the latest government data out Thursday morning, it's still down for the year.

• About 400,000 men entered the workforce this year, compared to 100,000 women, according to the BLS.

Zoom in: 57% of worker-caregivers surveyed by Guardian were helping an elderly parent or relative. 36% were caring for kids under 18.

• The company surveyed 1,181 adults age 22 or older in early 2025, who identified as caregivers, and were employed full-time at companies with at least five employees.
• Guardian defines care-work as looking after young children, elderly loved ones, those with special needs, and those who are ill.

Between the lines: The White House purge of the federal workforce and its return-to-office mandates have also pushed women out of work this year.

• Though women make up a slight minority in federal workforce, they are overrepresented in the agencies targeted for reduction by the Trump administration, as Axios previously reported.
• Some of the exodus out of the workforce is likely also about a worsening job market and the backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion; women held a large share of DEI roles.
• Women made up more than 71% of all DEI professionals from 2020 through 2024 — compared with 51% of other roles, according to data from Revelio labs.

Reality check: Labor market data is harder to come by these days — it will take more months of data to know for sure what's happening economy-wide with women.

The bottom line: It's getting harder to balance work with caregiving responsibilities, and it looks like working women are making a difficult choice.