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34
The San Francisco-based service reported that the
2.3 percentage-point gap in June between men’s unemploy-
ment rate of 10.6% and women’s 8.3% rate was close to
the widest it has been since 1948, when records began
to be kept. The gap first hit two percentage points in March
of this year, and 2.5 percentage points in May. “The gap
between female and male unemployment has never been
as large as it is now,” Sophia Koropeckyj, an economist
with Moody’s Economy.com, told
MarketWatch
.
The explanation offered was fairly simple. Two male-
dominated industries – construction and manufacturing –
account for about half of the 6 million jobs lost since the
official beginning of the recession, in December 2007.
Given that men account for 87% of workers in
manufacturing and 71% in construction, it is not surprising
that the unemployment rate for men is rocketing past the
rate for women.
The only two private-sector industries to show a net
increase in jobs from the start of the recession through
May are health care and education – and women workers
are highly concentrated in both. Also, government has
shown a net job gain of 259,000 in that period, and 57% of
government workers are women.
MarketWatch
’s Andrea Coombes wrote, “That is not to say
that women are escaping unscathed. And lower-income
and less educated workers, no matter their sex, usually
face steeper job losses than others in recessions. This one
is no different.”
The variations are even more striking when the
unemployment rates are broken out by race and age.
For example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of
the US Labor Department, in May the unemployment rate
was 9.7% for white men, 18% for black men. The rate was
7.3% for white women, 12.2% for black women.
As for the prospects for employment once the recession
is behind us, some
MarketWatch
respondents expressed
optimism.
“The manufacturing jobs that have been lost will largely
come back,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the
Economic Policy Institute. “We’ve seen manufacturing
decline as a share of the work force for decades – that
won’t stop.” But Ms Shierholz expects the “recessionary
losses” to be restored as people start buying durable goods
again, including cars and appliances.
Little by slowly, the four-day week
gains acceptance
Concessions recently agreed to by the Canadian
❖
❖
Auto Workers – frozen wages, leave without pay,
forfeit benefits and bonuses – were in line with
recommendations made by US President Barack Obama
in his first address to Congress. Mr Obama hailed a
growing trend toward the four-day workweek, with
corresponding pay cuts, as a way to save jobs. While
the Canadian government has long supported work
sharing as an alternative to outright layoffs, the concept
is fairly new to Americans.