Jobs

I had intended to write about the need for equal job creation for men and women, inspired largely by Philip Cohen's post on this issue, but Linda Hirshman beat me to it. My point was initially similar to theirs--Obama's job creation plans are concentrated in sectors that traditionally employ men (engineering, construction, etc.), thus leaving women out of luck. So should the new government think about women, too?

As reported in the NY Times, job losses primarily affected those in manufacturing, construction, retailing, financial services, hotel and restaurant work, as well as temporary workers. Some of these are "male" jobs (manufacturing and construction), but many disproportionately affect women--particularly service sector jobs. Therefore, we might expect women to be losing jobs at a similar or even increased rate than men in the present downturn. However, the same article also lists the sectors in which employment is growing--areas such as health care, which disproportionately employs women. So maybe women are not really losing jobs, so much as moving to new jobs. Employment statistics suggest this is the case: men's unemployment has grown from 5.3 to 6.3 in the last three months (here I am looking at the seasonably adjusted rates for 20+ males), while women's unemployment has grown from 4.6 to 5.3. This is not changed by looking at labor force non-participation, either.

So is focusing on men's jobs more important? I would argue, along with Philip and Linda Hirshman, that we still need to consider women's employment. Most importantly, when we consider the impact of joblessness on children, women's employment becomes much more important. Men may be nearly 20% more likely to be unemployed than women, but children are about 10 times more likely to live with only their mothers than only their fathers. So mother's employment means a lot more in terms of family well-being.

What kinds of government initiatives could be instituted to support women? I can think of three: First, the government could couple Obama's interest in pre-kindergarten education with a job creation program, funding both educational initiatives for young children and job training to employ educators in these positions. Second, the federal government can create incentives to state and local governments as well as companies to provide on-site childcare for parents, thus making it easier for women to work and creating jobs in childcare. Third, legislation designed to fund retraining programs for unemployed workers should create specific plans to open traditionally "male jobs" to women, by training women to be able to work in these areas and by creating incentives for managers to hire women.

Well, that is, if anyone were asking me... :)