A new analysis of global human capital data has highlighted a striking gender pattern: girls and young women often perform better than boys in health and education, yet men can accumulate greater overall human capital once employment and workplace experience are taken into account.

The World Bank’s latest Human Capital Index Plus (HCI+) analysis shows that women score about five points higher than men when health and education are considered together. However, when employment and work experience are included, men’s overall HCI+ score is about 19 points higher globally.

The pattern is particularly notable across countries. Among the 145 countries with sex-disaggregated HCI+ data, women outperform men in health and education in 101 countries. The difference emerges primarily after the completion of formal education, when participation in the labor market and opportunities to build skills through employment begin to influence lifetime human capital.

The Gap Emerges After Education

Traditional measures of human capital often focus heavily on childhood health, years of schooling and learning outcomes. The HCI+ takes a broader approach by following human capital through working life, extending its measurement horizon to age 65.

This means the index considers not only what people learn in schools but also what they gain from employment and professional experience.

According to the World Bank analysis, employment accounts for essentially all of the global gender difference between women’s and men’s overall HCI+ scores. This suggests that the transition from education into work is a critical stage in determining how human capital develops over a person’s lifetime.

Workplaces can function as important learning environments. Employees develop skills by solving problems, using technology, working with colleagues, interacting with customers and adapting to new responsibilities. The World Bank estimates that work experience and education contribute roughly equally to the skills people accumulate over their lives.

Female Employment Remains a Major Factor

One of the factors highlighted by the HCI+ is the difference in labor-force participation between women and men.

Women who spend fewer years in paid employment may have fewer opportunities to accumulate workplace experience and develop additional skills. This can affect both their future productivity and their earning potential.

The situation begins early for many young women. Globally, around 40 percent of women aged 20–24 are neither working nor studying, compared with 17 percent of men in the same age group, according to the World Bank’s HCI+ analysis.

The difference is even larger in some regions. In South Asia, for example, the World Bank reports that 55 percent of young women aged 20–24 are neither working nor studying, compared with 15 percent of young men.

Being outside both education and employment can create a prolonged gap in skill development. A young person who is not studying or working may miss opportunities to gain qualifications, professional experience, workplace networks and practical skills.

Education Gains Do Not Automatically Translate Into Economic Gains

The findings challenge the assumption that improving educational outcomes alone will automatically eliminate gender differences in lifetime economic outcomes.

Girls have made substantial progress in education across many parts of the world. In numerous countries, girls now achieve stronger outcomes than boys in measured health and education indicators.

However, educational achievement represents only one stage of human-capital development. What happens after graduation can substantially influence lifetime productivity and earnings.

The HCI+ was designed to capture this wider picture. Unlike the earlier Human Capital Index, which primarily measured human capital through childhood and adolescence, the newer framework incorporates elements of tertiary education, employment and learning on the job.

Why Workplace Experience Matters

Employment does more than provide an income. People can continue acquiring skills throughout their careers.

A worker may become more productive through experience with machinery, software, management systems, customers, colleagues and increasingly complex responsibilities. These accumulated capabilities can influence future employment opportunities and earnings.

The World Bank’s analysis estimates that a worker with 30 years of experience in wage employment can be roughly two and a half times as productive as someone beginning a career, illustrating the potential economic value of accumulated workplace learning.

This makes access to employment an important part of the human-capital equation.

A Global Economic Issue

The gender difference identified by the HCI+ is therefore not simply an education issue. It also concerns labor-market participation, job quality and opportunities for professional development.

The World Bank has noted that workers in wage employment accumulate skills faster than those in informal self-employment, while many workers in low- and middle-income economies remain concentrated in jobs with limited opportunities for workplace learning.

For policymakers, this creates a broader challenge: ensuring that investments in girls’ education can be followed by meaningful opportunities to participate in the economy and continue building skills.

The findings also indicate why gender gaps can look very different depending on what is being measured. A country may have strong female educational outcomes while still experiencing a substantial gender difference in employment and lifetime earnings potential.

The HCI+ consequently provides a more complete picture of human-capital development by connecting childhood outcomes with what happens during adulthood.

The central finding is clear: the gender gap in human capital is not primarily created inside the classroom. In many countries, it becomes much more pronounced during the transition from education to employment and throughout working life.

Understanding that transition could be important for countries seeking to convert educational progress into broader economic participation, productivity and opportunity.