HR=Humans Represent: The Recession Recovery – Does It Exist For Women?

We all heard about the recent recession being called a “mancession” due to job cuts in male-dominated work, but as the economy slowing hits its upswing, men are recovering quicker than women as far as unemployment numbers. They say the reason for this is that women are disproportionately represented in state and local governments – which is where the job cuts are now.

So far this year state and local governments have cut 86,000 jobs. Since 2008? State governments have eliminated 98,000 jobs. Not so great news, right? Especially when you consider that local governments employ more people than the entire manufacturing sector. According to the Labor Department, around 18.2% of employed women work in the public sector, and they are nearly 50% more likely to hold public-sector positions than men.

So why the reductions in force now? States and cities are somewhat delayed in the recession because of how they collect and spend tax revenue. Everything eventually catches up, and the Obama administration’s stimulus package provided billions of dollars to states to help fill budget gaps – and that money is pretty much now spent. So, it would seem natural that the next step is for state and local governments to cut jobs (another 22,000 positions gone in April).

While the news may not be so great for female workers right now, I sit here struggling to find just one ray of light in all of this. I think I have…at least for all the men out there – which is so much for the mancession, it looks as though you are all entering a mancovery!

Information source: Wall Street Journal