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A Marshall's retail store in Miami advertises its hiring during the pandemic.
(Lynne Sladky/AP Photo)
APRIL SHOWERS
Over the past month, there seems to be an economic forecast for every letter of the alphabet — an optimistic V, a manageable U, the dreaded L. But after a grim report from the Labor Department last week, the letter we’re focused on is W (and no, not the W-shaped recovery. There’s one of those, too, and it’s bad).
More than 20 million people lost their jobs in April, bringing the U.S. unemployment rate to a staggering 14.5 percent. Women have suffered the brunt of it.
- Women made up 49 percent of the workforce, but accounted for 55 percent of the job losses in April.
- That’s partly because they are more likely to work in some of the sectors hit hardest by closures spurred by COVID-19.
- In the leisure and hospitality sector — which accounted for 34 percent of April’s job losses — 54 percent of newly unemployed people were women.
- Of the 2.5 million people who lost jobs in education and health services, 83 percent were women.
- Women also lost a disproportionate amount of jobs in retail and government employment.
Women of color were hit especially hard in April.
- The unemployment rate for Latinas hit 20.2 percent, or 1 in 5, in April. That represents the biggest two-month jump of any racial or ethnic demographic.
- Among black women, 16.4 percent are now unemployed.
- Unemployment for women ages 20 to 24 is at 28 percent, compared to 24 percent of men in the same age group.
- Women with disabilities saw an 11 percent jump in unemployment from March to April, bringing the rate to 19.7 percent.
Overall, job losses suffered by women in April outpaced a decade’s worth of gains in women’s employment.
- Between July 2010 and February 2020, women gained 11.1 million jobs — gains completely wiped out in April.
- Over the same period, men gained 10.8 million jobs. April chipped away 85 percent of those.
— Abby Johnston
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