An article from CNN Money this week updates a topic we first posted about back in April. Men faced the larger share of job losses in the recession; now they're seeing larger employment gains than women.
According to the article -- and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- the unemployment rate for men fell to 8.3 percent in November. The unemployment rate also improved for women, down to 7.8 percent. However, 438,000 women left the labor force in November, and the number of women with jobs fell by 214,000.
The unemployment rate improved for women because when they leave the labor force, they are no longer counted as unemployed.
A labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute explains that the difference is due to the split in industries which are traditionally male-dominated and female-dominated. "Construction, manufacturing, and finance are typically fields where men are over-represented in the workforce, and they were among the sectors hit hardest in the downturn."
She also notes that women are more prevalent in the education, health care, and government sectors. Some of these areas have seen more job cuts in recent months.
Get more details (and a great graph!) in the full article.
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