Women took on slightly more than half the jobs created in U.S. in the first part of the decade, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Women posted a net increase of 1.7 million jobs paying above the median salary, while men gained a net increase of just over 220,000 of such positions, the newspaper said, citing a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the years 2000-2005.

Overall, men gained 1.804 million jobs and women 1.996 million, or 52.5 percent of the total increase, for the period studied.

Women outpaced men in obtaining work that pays in the top quarter of all jobs, primarily positions in the health-care, financial and managerial fields, according to the report.

The BLS also found that from 2000 through 2005, service jobs accounted for the largest portion of the net 3.8 million increase in jobs.