Jobs and Gender

USAToday reports that men are losing jobs at a higher rate than women during the current recession.

Since December 2007, the jobless rate for men rose from 4.4 percent to 7.2 percent while the jobless rate for women rose from 4.3 percent to 5.9 percent during the same time period.

Why?

Because "the types of jobs women hold generally offer more stability, albeit at less pay."

The story says that 75 percent of the workers in health care and education are women, while men dominate the fields of construction and manufacturing.

Women are also more likely to work part-time, making them less vulnerable to cut-backs.

I'm not sure anyone can consider this good news, given the overall increase in joblessness, but the story does point out that the trend is helpful to dual-income households. (And are there many at this point that aren't?)

The story quoted Donna Ginther, director of the Center for Economic and Business Analysis at the University of Kansas:

"It's a kind of built-in insurance. If you lose one of two incomes and you are losing the highest income, it hurts, but it's not as catastrophic as say, losing the only income in a household."