The latest unemployment report shows that the women continue to maintain a more stable unemployment rate than men. As the economy recovers, they may continue to dominate.
It's no secret that women fared better than men during the latest recession. More men found themselves unemployed than women as male-dominated industries such as construction and manufacturing shed far more jobs than areas like education and health care, which typically employ more women.
And as the latest jobless report released today shows, the unemployment gender gap continues through the economic recovery. Though it has narrowed some since its peak in August 2009, the gap persists -- unemployment among men hovers near 10% versus 8% for women.
The overall jobless rate for September was unchanged from August at 9.6%, underscoring concerns from some Federal Reserve policymakers that the economic rebound has been moving much too slow and may need an extra jolt through easier monetary policy. The economy lost 95,000 non-farm jobs, driven mostly by layoffs in local governments and of temporary Census workers.
The financial strains of the so-called "Mancession" have pushed more women who previously took time off from their careers to search for jobs. It's a development that's been hard for economists to quantify, but recent studies and anecdotes offer a snapshot.
Is it really a "Mancession" if there is only 2% more men unemployed than women? Especially since there are fewer women in the workforce than men anyway.
ReplyDeleteAlso, another point is that more women are going to college than men now. So, since more women are getting educations, it is probably easier to find jobs. Since manufacturing jobs and more blue collared jobs are getting cut, it is a good observation that this could be a reason why men have higher unemployment.
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