Women accounted for 100% of the 140,000 jobs shed by the U.S. economy in December
My wife and I were just discussing this recent article from Fortune Women accounted for 100% of the 140,000 jobs shed by the U.S. economy in December
The article starts out with some jarring facts.
Women accounted for all of U.S. job losses in December, dramatically underscoring the pandemic’s unrelentingly disastrous impact on working women. Actually, it’s even worse than that: Technically, women accounted for more than 111% of jobs lost last month. The U.S. economy lost a net 140,000 jobs in December, the first month since April that total payrolls declined, the Labor Department said Friday. But women lost 156,000 jobs overall during the month, while men gained 16,000 jobs, according to an analysis by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC).
We knew that the pandemic was impacting women disproportionately, but this is sad. I’m sure you know people that have been impacted by the pandemic I know we have. I also know that the pandemic is hurting women of color even harder as the article points out.
So why are women being impacted more drastically than they male counterparts? I believe it’s society’s misogyny and businesses sexist practices.
That misogyny may not be clearly evident, but in this society the role caretaker falls on women There’s an unspoken pressure and many women fill that role not by choice.
Since February, women have lost a net 5.4 million jobs, or 55% of the more than 9.8 million U.S. jobs that have been lost since February, according to the NWLC. Meanwhile, the crippling burden of childcare and remote learning has fallen much more heavily on mothers than on fathers, leading many women to stop working or even looking for work. Almost 2.1 million women have dropped out of the labor force entirely since February, meaning that they are not looking for employment.
This total loss of employment is most prevalent in low-wage service sector which impact people of color. By nature these types of jobs can’t be done from home. These are the jobs where, due to the caregiving crisis, they have to leave the workforce entirely.
Beyond the current damage to working women’s finances and livelihoods. I believe there will be long-term impacts on women’s economic health and future earnings. For anyone who leaves the Workforce for an extended amount of time you know how difficult it is to find a new position. This is even true or for a woman in today’s society. Looking at past economic situations they have shown that even if you were able to find a job after a prolonged gap in employment wages are depressed.
I don’t see very many outlets talking about this issue. Women have so many pressures and as a society we need to look at how to help women who are forced to make these decisions. This falls businesses, state and federal governments. Affordable childcare should should not fall on schools we need to look at creating systems that are readily available to help those in need. This pandemic has highlighted the need to look at many systems and rethink what we are currently doing.
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