Women gain as men lose jobs

In advance of Labor Day I thought this article in USA Today was interesting, “Women gain as men lose jobs.”

According to the article, in June of this year women held 49.83% of jobs in this country and despite the record unemployment their numbers are growing. In fact, women are poised to become the majority of the workforce for the first time in our history in October or November of this year.

The article does a good job of pointing out a few caveats and important tidbits for thought:

(1) The change reflects the growing importance of women as wage earners, but it doesn’t show full equality. On average, women work fewer hours than men, hold more part-time jobs and earn 77% of what men make.

(2) Through June, men have lost 74% of the 6.4 million jobs erased since the recession began in December 2007. Men have lost more than 3 million jobs in construction and manufacturing alone.

(3) Strikingly, this also applies to other sectors, such as local government. Of the 14.6 million-person workforce (which includes cities, schools, water authorities and other local jurisdictions) 86,000 men were cut from payrolls during the recession while 167,000 women were added.

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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