Men getting new jobs; women get pink slips

WASHINGTON -- The early stages of the economic recovery have taken on a decidedly masculine tone.

Job gains by men fueled the January decline in the national unemployment rate to 9 percent from 9.4 percent.

Labor Department figures say men have gained 438,000 jobs since the recession officially ended in June, 2009, and women have lost 366,000 in the same period. Of the 984,000 jobs created from January, 2010, to January, 2011, only 47,000 went to women -- less than 1 of every 20 new job openings.

These numbers would barely draw a second look in the aftermath of past recessions, when women made up a much smaller share of the labor force. But women now account for almost half of all U.S. workers, so the great disparity is all the more startling.

The trend has given a new gender-specific meaning to the phrase "jobless recovery" and is further proof that the hiring rebound is not reaching all groups.

"The improvements in the overall employment picture obscure what's happening to women. In fact, women have lost ground since the recovery began," said a recent statement by Nancy Duff Campbell, co-president of the National Women's Law Center.

However, some observers say the picture is more about economic justice than gender bias.

During the downturn, men absorbed 7 of 10 job losses. Male-dominated industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and wholesale trade shed millions of jobs. Heather Boushey, senior economist at the Center for American Progress, a liberal research group, said that as these and other industries slowly rebound, it is hardly a surprise that men have landed more than 95 percent of new jobs.

Education, health care, and state and local government fueled women's job opportunities during the recession. Because women are nearly 60 percent of government workers, they have felt the brunt of recent layoffs at the state and local level. Over the past year, women lost 202,000 government jobs, or 4 out of 5 that were eliminated nationwide.

Even in the women-dominated service sector, only 99,000 new jobs went to women over the last year. Nearly 800,000, or 8 of 9 new openings, went to men.

In retail trade, women have lost 59,000 jobs since last year, while men have grabbed 147,000 new jobs.

Stacy Ethun, president and CEO of MRINetwork, an international executive search firm, said she has noticed two things that work against job-seeking women: a lack of aggressiveness and limited use of professional networking options.

"Those are the two areas where women are lagging, and it's impacting their eligibility for employment," Ms. Ethun said. "Having the courage and conviction to get out there, call on people that you don't know personally, brag on yourself, and compete for a job, those are all things, I think, that men in general are naturally stronger at than women."