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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Maria Patrick or Andrea Maruniak, 202-588-5180

Recovery Leaves Women Behind in 2011, NWLC Finds

Women Lost 366,000 Jobs during Recovery, Gained Just 4,000 in January

WASHINGTON

Data
released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for January 2011
show a continuing and troubling gender imbalance in the distribution of
job gains, according to an analysis by the National Women's Law Center
(NWLC).

"The
improvements in the overall employment picture obscure what's happening
to women," said NWLC Co-President Nancy Duff Campbell. "In fact, women
have lost ground since the recovery began. Even though they
experienced slight gains in January, women have lost jobs and their
unemployment rate has risen since July 2009."

Based
on NWLC calculations using today's revised BLS data, from the official
start of the recovery in July 2009 through December 2010, men gained
more than 406,000 jobs while women lost 370,000--a
gap of 776,000 jobs. This gap has widened in the new year to 804,000
jobs, as men gained 32,000 jobs in January 2011 while women added only
4,000--just 11.1 percent of the jobs added last month. While
women lost three in every ten jobs cut over the course of the recession
(December 2007 - June 2009), they have filled fewer than one in every
20 since job growth picked up in 2010.

NWLC
found that continued job losses in public sector employment were a
major contributor to the low net job growth for women in January. Of the 14,000 jobs lost in the public sector last month, women lost 10,000 (71 percent). Over the course of the recovery, women have lost 84 percent of the 309,000 public sector jobs lost.

The
dramatic drop in the overall unemployment rate in January, from 9.4 to 9
percent, was driven by an improvement in men's unemployment rate. Women's
unemployment rate declined only slightly in January, from 8.1 percent
to 7.9 percent, and remained higher than women's 7.7 percent rate at the
start of the recovery. In contrast, men's unemployment
rate dropped from 9.4 percent in December to 8.8 percent in January,
putting it a full percentage point lower than men's 9.8 percent
unemployment rate at the start of the recovery.

Some particularly vulnerable groups experienced increased unemployment during January. Single
mothers saw their unemployment rate rise from 12 percent in December to
12.7 percent in January, a rate higher than the 12.3 percent average
annual rate this group experienced during 2010. Unemployment among Hispanics also rose last month, from 11.1 to 11.5 percent for women and from 12.8 to 13 percent for men.

"Today's data make it clear that recovery is still out of reach for millions of Americans. And if states and localities are forced to make additional cuts in critical public services, women may fall even further behind. Congress
must focus its attention on creating jobs and fostering a recovery that
works for everyone, not making deep cuts that will cost jobs and harm
struggling families."