Women accounted for 100% of job loss in Dec. 2020. Yes…100%

A historical moment we’re still paying the price for.

Understanding the data and the cause.

According to the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), women lost 156,000 jobs in December 2020. while men gained 16,000 jobs. That does not mean zero men lost their jobs in December.

It means women had a net loss of over 156,000 jobs and men had a net gain of just 16,000 jobs. These numbers are starkly disproportionate. Additionally, job loss affected women of color significantly more than white women.

The Data:

Fortune revealed the unemployment rates for Black and Latina women (20 and over) in December were 8.4% and 9.1%. The unemployment rate for white men in December was 5.8%. And the overall unemployment rate was 6.7%.

Since February 2020, the U.S had lost 9.8 million jobs. And women accounted for 55% of the total jobs lost.

This time in 2019, women outnumbered men in the labor force, making their disproportionate job loss even more questionable. If women surpassed men in their employment numbers, how had women come out in the deficit?

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The cause:

There are two main reasons women accounted for more jobs lost in Dec 2020.

1. Female-dominated jobs — The job sectors hit the hardest were primarily held by females. Hospitality, education, retail, and leisure jobs were the most common jobs lost, jobs held predominantly by females. Whereas male-dominated sectors such as construction, janitorial, and courier services remained operational. Additionally, Black and Brown women made up a large portion of the female-dominated industries, leading to an increased number of women of color experiencing unemployment. Fortune stated, “Last month alone, 154,000 Black women left the labor force — the largest one-month drop among that cohort since the pandemic’s onset in March and April.”
2. Childcare — As schools closed, homeschooling fell disproportionately on women. It’s 2022 and women still work the “double shift” in caring for the majority of the household tasks in addition to their full-time jobs. This is where we see a decline in female representation in the essential labor sector. Because these essential jobs can not be done from home, many women were forced to quit their jobs in order to homeschool their children. Black and Brown women were hit especially hard by this reality as most of the jobs lost were held by women of color.

What this means for the economy of women

The longer women are unemployed, the harder and slower it will be for us to accumulate wealth. While unemployed, women are either using up their savings, going into debt or living off of government funding.

None of which allow for the accumulation of wealth. Additionally, the longer someone is unemployed, the more it will affect their pay rate when they return to work. If someone is unemployed for a year, it’s unlikely they will return to work at the same pay rate or salary at which they left.

This issue of wealth accumulation will only add to the wage and wealth gap between men and women and women of color. Women are currently less likely to contribute to savings, retirement, or other long-term investments, which will inherently set women back in regard to wealth accumulation over time.

Questions to ask:

What is a coincidence and what is corrupt? The fact that women prefer to work in hospitality or education, two sectors hit the hardest in the pandemic, lead to an unfortunate outcome but seems simply coincidental.

However, in the pandemic, research shows men worked on average 20 hours less than women as a result of the “double shift” women are expected to do on top of their full-time jobs. This unfair expectation has led to more women than men leaving their jobs to homeschool children.

How can we encourage the equal distribution of the “second shift?” What policies or societal norms do we need to integrate in order to cue men to step up and step into the role of caregiver with equal commitment to the home? Equal paternity leave? Childcare coverage?

Why are Black and Brown women still dominating lower-income jobs? How do we build an onramp to insure women of color have an upward trajectory in the workforce, accumulate wealth, and exit the minimum wage job force in a timely manner? Does it start with education opportunities for low-income families?

Removing the private school voucher system? More government funding in low-income communities? Racial reconciliation workshops at larger corporations? Prison reform? Bank loan equality? How do we address the root of the issue: lack of opportunity due to existing racist policies in the financial and political sector?

Asking these questions is the first step to financial equality. Acting on them is the second.