Women holding more jobs than ever but salaries still lag

BY JAMES HAGGERTY (STAFF WRITER)

Published: November 25, 2009

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Job losses from the recession threaten traditional male domination of the U.S. workforce.

Women hold 49.8 percent of all jobs, their highest proportion in history, according to U.S. Department of Labor data.

"Since the recession began, men have lost over seven of every 10 jobs that have been lost," said Heather Boushey, Ph.D., an economist at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C. "This isn't necessarily good news. It's about how the job losses have played out."

Men have lost more than 3 million jobs just in manufacturing and construction since the beginning of the recession in December 2007. The male unemployment rate nationally in October was 10.7 percent, compared to 8.1 percent for women.

"In many male-dominated fields, the blue-collar fields, the recession has been terrible," said Satyajit Ghosh, Ph.D., a University of Scranton economist.

Although women make up a larger share of the workforce than ever, they still lag in income. Female workers take home less than 80 cents on the male dollar, Department of Labor data show.

"For the same job, you'll find at least a 20 percent gap between what the women get and the male workers get. That's a shame," Dr. Ghosh said.

"The labor market is highly segregated, with women and men in different jobs," Dr. Boushey said. "There's a lingering gender pay gap. It's really a residual, most likely discriminatory, effect."

Social and family factors may contribute to women's diminished earning power. Women are more likely to work part-time and periodically leave and return to the workforce.

Average female workers in Pennsylvania earned 79 percent of the median income of their male counterparts in 2008, government data show.

The percentage of women in the workforce, though, has been rising for decades. In 1950, women held only 29 percent of all jobs, but the proportion increased to 42 percent in 1980.

"In order to improve your standard of living, it was no longer enough to have only the male member of the family working," Dr. Ghosh said.

"You have a lot of single women that have to support a family," said Susan Branley, Dickson City branch manager for Manpower, a job placement firm.

Men held 52 percent of all U.S. jobs at the end of 2006 before the female percentage of the workforce started its latest advance.

"If there's been an immediate increase, that's strictly due to the economy," Branley said.

Women also hold many positions in education, health care and government, which are less sensitive to economic shifts.

"Those are the stronger sectors of the economy that are holding on to employment," Dr. Ghosh said.

Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com

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The fact that men are paid more for the same job than are women will only work against men as unemployment increases. Who is the employer going to lay off? My guess is that the higher paid man doing the same work will get the axe. Thus the situation is self-correcting. Men make more, and are thus the first target to go when times are tough.

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realist, 11/29/09 2:39

I doubt the gender pay gap is mostly a discriminatory effect. I'm sure that has something to do with it, but I highly doubt it's solely responsible. The fact of the matter is that women tend to enjoy and gravitate towards certain career fields more than men do. The problem is that those career fields are undervalued because they are historically "women's work." We need to stop undervaluing jobs that women do!

Secondly, we live in an economy that now requires two incomes to survive. This more than anything else hurts single women and single moms incredibly. We need to institute REAL living wages so that every American can support him- or herself again.

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Singletude: A Positive Blog for Singles, 11/29/09 1:04