http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/business/06women.html
The New York Times
February 6, 2009
As Layoffs Surge, Women May Pass Men in Job Force
By CATHERINE RAMPELL
With the recession on the brink of becoming the longest in the postwar
era, a milestone may be at hand: Women are poised to surpass men on the
nation's payrolls, taking the majority for the first time in American
history.
The reason has less to do with gender equality than with where the ax
is falling.
The proportion of women who are working has changed very little since
the recession started. But a full 82 percent of the job losses have
befallen men, who are heavily represented in distressed industries like
manufacturing and construction. Women tend to be employed in areas like
education and health care, which are less sensitive to economic ups and
downs, and in jobs that allow more time for child care and other
domestic work.
"Given how stark and concentrated the job losses are among men, and
that women represented a high proportion of the labor force in the
beginning of this recession, women are now bearing the burden -- or the
opportunity, one could say -- of being breadwinners," says Heather
Boushey, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress.
Economists have predicted before that women would one day dominate the
labor force as more ventured outside the home. The number of women
entering the work force slowed and even dipped during the boom years
earlier this decade, though, prompting a debate about whether women
truly wanted to be both breadwinners and caregivers.
Should the male-dominated layoffs of the current recession continue --
and Friday's jobs report for January may offer more insight -- the
debate will be moot. A deep and prolonged recession, therefore, may
change not only household budgets and habits; it may also challenge
longstanding gender roles.
In recessions, the percentage of families supported by women tends to
rise slightly, and it is expected to do so when this year's numbers are
tallied. As of November, women held 49.1 percent of the nation's jobs,
according to nonfarm payroll data collected by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. By another measure, including farm workers and the
self-employed, women constituted 47.1 percent of the work force.
Women may be safer in their jobs, but tend to find it harder to support
a family. For one thing, they work fewer overall hours than men. Women
are much more likely to be in part-time jobs without health insurance
or unemployment insurance. Even in full-time jobs, women earn 80 cents
for each dollar of their male counterparts' income, according to the
government data.
"A lot of jobs that men have lost in fields like manufacturing were
good union jobs with great health care plans," says Christine Owens,
executive director of the National Employment Law Project. "The jobs
women have -- and are supporting their families with -- are not
necessarily as good."
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Full at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/business/06women.html
Michael