Unemployment & the Economy

Slow and Positive Job Growth for Women and Men Continues in April
by The Institute for Women's Policy Research (May 2012)

According to IWPR analysis of the May employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), job growth continued in April with 115,000 jobs added to nonfarm payrolls. In April, women gained 84,000 jobs (nearly three-quarters of jobs added) and men gained 31,000.

Job Growth Slows for Women and Men in March
by IWPR (April 2012)

Job Growth Slows for Women and Men in March
by IWPR (April 2012)

Improved Job Growth in January for Both Women and Men: Women Re-Entering the Labor Force, But Men Leaving
by Institute for Women's Policy Research (February 2012)

According to an Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) analysis of the February employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth improved in January with 243,000 jobs added to nonfarm payrolls. In January, women gained 95,000 jobs (almost 40 percent, above their share for the past year) and men gained 148,000.

Equal Job Growth for Women and Men in Last Quarter of 2011: Women Continue to Leave the Labor Force
by Institute for Women's Policy Research (January 2012)

According to IWPR analysis of the January employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth was moderate in December with 200,000 jobs added to nonfarm payrolls.

Slow Job Growth in November for Both Women and Men
by (December 2011)

Job growth remained slow in November with 120,000 jobs added to nonfarm payrolls. This is up slightly from 100,000 new jobs in October, but down from 210,000 addedin September.

Is the Recovery Starting for Women? Slow Job Growth in October for Both Women and Men.
by Institute for Women's Policy Research (November 2011)

Job growth slowed in October with 80,000 jobs added to nonfarm payrolls. This is down from 104,000 new jobs in August and 158,000 in September. (September’s gains included more than 40,000 Verizon workers returning after a strike. August and September’s totals were revised by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in November). Women’s employment now appears to be rising. In October women gained 66,000 jobs, but men gained only 14,000. The revised numbers for August and September show 136,000 new jobs for women compared with 126,000 for men.

Slow Job Growth in September Points to Need for Federal Help with Job Creation
by Institute for Women's Policy Research (October 2011)

Recommendations for Improving Women’s Employment in the Recovery
by Women's Scholars Forum (September 2011)

In the current economic recovery, women are facing a gap in employment that jeopardizes the well-being and economic security of themselves and their families. This briefing paper, prepared by a group of scholars and researchers collaborating as the Women Scholars Forum, proposes specific strategies to meet the needs of women facing joblessness in the recovery from the Great Recession of 2007–2009. This group, noting that women’s earnings are essential to the welfare of their families, is especially concerned that federal programs reach those most in need, including single mothers, women of color, and those with less education. The members of the Women Scholars Forum, listed below, offer these recommendations in order to achieve job growth and economic prosperity.

The Job Loss Tsunami of the Great Recession: Wave Recedes for Men, Not for Women
by Heidi Hartmann, Jeffrey Hayes (July 2011)

Monthly Number of Women and Men on Payrolls (Seasonally Adjusted), December 2007- April 2011
by Jeffrey Hayes, Ph.D. (May 2011)

Monthly Number of Women and Men on Payrolls (Seasonally Adjusted), December 2007– February 2011
by (March 2011)

Women and Men’s Employment and Unemployment in the Great Recession
by Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D., Ashley English, Jeffrey Hayes, Ph.D. (January 2010)

The Workforce Investment Act and Women’s Progress: Does WIA Funded Training Reinforce Sex Segregation in the Labor Market and the Gender Wage Gap?
by Ariane Hegewisch, Helen Luyri (December 2009)

Unemployment Among Single Mother Families
by Ashley English, Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D., Ariane Hegewisch (August 2009)

Women who maintain families without a spouse present are almost twice as likely as married men to be unemployed, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for August 2009. One of every eight women (12.2 percent) who are the sole breadwinners in their families is unemployed compared with one of every sixteen married men.

The Impact of the Current Economic Downturn on Women
by Heidi Hartmann (June 2008)

Testimony presented to the Joint Economic Committee At the hearing: “The Employment Situation: May 2008” June 6, 2008

Women at Greater Risk of Economic Insecurity: A Gender Analysis of the Rockefeller Foundation’s American Worker Survey
by Vicky Lovell, Ph.D., Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D., Claudia Williams (April 2008)

In February 2007, at the request of the Rockefeller Foundation, the consulting firm Yankelovich fielded a survey to explore Americans’ sense of economic insecurity. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research analyzed the survey data to explore impacts based on gender, racial and ethnic identity, education, employment status, and other important demographic characteristics. This report highlights IWPR’s findings.

Women and the Economy: Recent Trends in Job Loss, Labor Force Participation, and Wages
by Heidi Hartmann, Vicky Lovell and Misha Werschkul (September 2004)

In the months since the official end of the recession in November 2001, women’s employment has returned to pre-recession levels, but the lack of job growth in this period means millions of jobs for women are missing. At the same time, the long-term increase in women’s labor force participation has stalled, and the gender wage gap has increased.

Florida’s Unemployment Insurance System: Barriers to Program Adequacy for Women, Low-Wage and Part-Time Workers, and Workers of Color, Executive Summary
by Vicky Lovell, Ph.D. and Maurice Emsellem, Esq. (March 2004)

(Written collaboratively by Vicky Lovell, PhD, Institute for Women’s Policy Research, and Maurice Emsellem, Esq., National Employment Law Project) The Florida unemployment insurance (UI) system is not meeting its basic goal of providing a modest measure of income support to temporarily unemployed workers. This is due in significant part to the UI system’s failure to keep pace with fundamental changes in the labor market, including the growth of low-wage and parttime work and the vastly expanding role of women in the labor market. This situation exists despite the significant reserves in Florida’s UI trust fund, even during the current economic downturn, and record-level UI tax cuts.

40-hour Work Proposal Significantly Raises Mothers’ Employment Standard
by Vicky Lovell, Ph.D. (May 2003)