How have male and female employment recoveries differed, since the global financial crisis? This article hopes only to clarify a component of the macro-employment statistics, providing credible information that can be used in conversing about gender inequality.
Much has been noted -during the great recession- that men were more impacted. And we can see that in the chart below ("M"ale in blue, "F"emale in red). Both "Total" employment data are indexed to the peak of the previous economic growth cycle, or January 2008. We see men have only just now recovered, through the gains made in last week's November 2014 jobs report. Women had already recovered by August 2013 (15 months ago), and female employment is now 2% above where they were at the January 2008 peak. Could one, therefore, argue that all employment gains have gone to women? Note that even if overall employment stayed locked at 100% since the peak of the last economic cycle, the underlying population has grown about 7% over this time, implying less opportunities per person.
Now another interesting aspect of this economic recovery is when we isolate specific industries, where wages are more lucrative and gender disparity is made more visible. Also in the same chart (above) we show is dotted-lines, "Select sub" to represent a composite of three, Department of Labor industry groups. All three industries, in isolation, performed relatively similarly as well:
We see that the indexed dotted-lines for males is currently shown as 4% higher than the level for females. At the start of the global financial crisis, the portion of all U.S. employment that women had in these "Select sub" occupations was 10.3%, whereas the portion that men had for these same occupations was higher, at 10.9%. Both genders of course saw their portions come down smartly during the great recession. And women are now back to their prior 10.3%, though men are now at an even higher, 11.3%. In other words, all else equal, there was a sizeable 0.4% (11.3%-10.9%) rise in share of total employment going towards these more, higher-paying industries noted above (i.e., "Select sub"). And one could here argue that all of this has gone to men.
Much has been noted -during the great recession- that men were more impacted. And we can see that in the chart below ("M"ale in blue, "F"emale in red). Both "Total" employment data are indexed to the peak of the previous economic growth cycle, or January 2008. We see men have only just now recovered, through the gains made in last week's November 2014 jobs report. Women had already recovered by August 2013 (15 months ago), and female employment is now 2% above where they were at the January 2008 peak. Could one, therefore, argue that all employment gains have gone to women? Note that even if overall employment stayed locked at 100% since the peak of the last economic cycle, the underlying population has grown about 7% over this time, implying less opportunities per person.
Now another interesting aspect of this economic recovery is when we isolate specific industries, where wages are more lucrative and gender disparity is made more visible. Also in the same chart (above) we show is dotted-lines, "Select sub" to represent a composite of three, Department of Labor industry groups. All three industries, in isolation, performed relatively similarly as well:
- Information
- Financials
- Professional and Business
We see that the indexed dotted-lines for males is currently shown as 4% higher than the level for females. At the start of the global financial crisis, the portion of all U.S. employment that women had in these "Select sub" occupations was 10.3%, whereas the portion that men had for these same occupations was higher, at 10.9%. Both genders of course saw their portions come down smartly during the great recession. And women are now back to their prior 10.3%, though men are now at an even higher, 11.3%. In other words, all else equal, there was a sizeable 0.4% (11.3%-10.9%) rise in share of total employment going towards these more, higher-paying industries noted above (i.e., "Select sub"). And one could here argue that all of this has gone to men.
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