One interesting aspect of today's unemployment numbers is the up-tick in women's emplyoment. Economist Dean Baker writes in:
The unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent in January driven by a 0.4 percentage point drop in the unemployment rate for women to 8.4 percent. The unemployment rate for men fell 0.2 pp (percentage points) to 10.8 percent... The improved employment picture was primarily a story for adult white women. Their unemployment rate fell by 0.6 pp to 6.8 percent, while their employment rate (EPOP) rose by 0.6 pp to 56.1 percent. Theunemployment rate for black women rose slightly to 13.3 percental though their EPOP also rose 0.2 pp to 54.7 percent. It is striking that the EPOP for white women is now 1.4 pp higher than for black women. Until last summer it had always been lower, although the gap had been narrowing over the last three decades.
This reflects the long-time trend in recessions where typically "male" jobs bear the brunt of cut backs, and the more recent expansion of the health-care sector, which disproportionately hires female workers. Dana Goldstein discussed this trend on TAPPED earlier in the fall, highlighting the need to look for a balanced recovery, when a decline of women in the work force is expected. We also published a special report on women in the work force in June.
-- Tim Fernholz
