Men Recover Better Than Women Post-Recession

Men were hit hard in the recession, but they have recovered far faster than women with job growth and rates of unemployment decreasing.

“The employment gap has widened again in favor of men during the recovery,” according to a report released by the Pew Research Center.

Men may have more to make up for since they lost 5.4 million jobs, but they are — slowly but surely — gaining ground. Unfortunately, we can’t say the same for women, who lost 2.1 million jobs in the recession. From June 2009 to May 2011, men gained 768,000 jobs and lowered their unemployment rate. In the same period, women lost 218,000 jobs and unemployment increased.

Usually, women reclaim lost jobs in the fields of education and health care after recessions. They did in the Great Recession, but men were favoured in these fields this time around. The difference is striking: 804,000 men got jobs in education and health services compared to 691,000 women. So men have outpaced women in all sectors except for one, state government.

So why is this happening?

Analysts conclude that men lose more jobs at the outset of a recession because they are more concentrated in the industries that get hit hard, like construction and manufacturing. On the other hand, women comprise the majority of jobs in education and health care, which are still in high demand during an economic slump.

While this explains why men lost more jobs than women when the recession hit, it doesn’t explain why women can’t reverse the increase in the unemployment rate. Influences on unemployment rates can’t even offer us any explanations. For example, labour force participation rates have fallen for both genders in the two-year recovery period.

It’s “not entirely clear why men are doing better than women in the current recovery,” but lack of reasons can’t cancel out an attempt at resolutions. This report must be a call to action for more job growth for women so the gap doesn’t get any bigger.

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