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More Than 5 Million Women Have Lost Their Jobs During the Pandemic

Kamala Harris, vice president of the United States, says the pandemic has been brutal on women workers:

About 2.5 million women have lost their jobs or dropped out of the workforce during the pandemic. That’s enough to fill 40 football stadiums. This mass exodus of women from the workforce is a national emergency, and it demands a national solution. Job loss, small business closings and a lack of child care have created a perfect storm for women workers.

It's actually worse than that. The Reuters article she links to says that the 2.5 million figure is just for women who have dropped out of the labor force. What's more, it's wrong. According to BLS figures, the number of women who aren't in the labor force (i.e., not looking for jobs) has increased from 56.5 million before the pandemic to 59.6 million today. That's an increase of 3.1 million. Add in the increase in unemployment and you get a total of 5.2 million women who have lost their jobs.
Lots of men have lost their jobs too, but women have lost more. In particular, the number of women who have dropped out of the labor force is 700,000 more than it is for men. This is especially notable since fewer women than men worked outside the home to begin with.

I still wouldn't call this a "women's recession" or anything like that, but women have clearly been hit a little harder—and that's before you account for the fact that they've undoubtedly taken the brunt of additional childcare duties. Harris isn't really right to say that the Democratic coronavirus bill helps women any more than men, but it certainly helps everyone who's lost income since the pandemic started. That's why it needs to be passed quickly.

11 thoughts on “More Than 5 Million Women Have Lost Their Jobs During the Pandemic

  1. bobjohnson

    I just want to note that the new left hand sidebar (Facebook, Twitter, Email, Print, +) is absolutely atrocious on mobile. It cuts into the body text substantially, and basically renders the page unreadable on a typically mobile phone display. Writing this I cannot see the left two characters of ever comment line. Modern doesn't mean better! The site was great a few days ago.

  2. Vog46

    Service industry jobs took a big hit. Hotel workers, cleaners, store clerks, day care workers etc. Most of these jobs are filled by women, most of them being minority women.
    THATs what makes it a priority to fix.

    Then there;s the other problem. How many full time jobs went part time?

    1. frankwilhoit

      Most of the "service sector" only exists because of the false idea that everyone must/should/can work. This has been false since the invention of the steam engine, but the entire history of politics and economics for the past 250 years consists of an emotional tantrum, trying to deny the fact that there is not enough work to go round and never will be again.

      1. Joel

        Uh, no. Most of the "service sector" exists because of demand. People like to stay in hotels when they travel, eat out at restaurants from time to time, have their woolens dry cleaned, have professionals repair their car, paint their house, repair their plumbing, have their garbage and recycling hauled away and disposed of, etc.

        1. HokieAnnie

          Thank you! My younger self might have been more DIY and I'll just do it myself but between allergies and creaky joints, I'll gladly pay for my house getting cleaned, lawn mowed and leaves cleared in the fall along with any other house maintenance.

          1. MontyTheClipArtMongoose

            & don't get me started on that influencers who has made a fortune from her (alleged) ability to reduce each year's waste to the contents of a medium sized coffee can.

          2. ScentOfViolets

            Oh yeah. I distinctly remember the last time we did a move funded on the strength of beer and pizza because all of the involved parties swore that this would be the last time. Making a decent amount of money and owning a substantial amount of, er, substantial stuff will do that to you. Sure, those custom floor-to-ceiling oak bookcases look nice and are incredibly functional to boot. They also weigh a ton-and-a-half.

        2. MontyTheClipArtMongoose

          frankwilhoit trying to demonstrate #OurRevolution bona fides by turning all work into unnecessary, sadistic, & fascistic exploitation of the underclass by shiftless, indolent billionaires.

          Of course, the also indolent trustfund class of Berniebros & broettes* would have such a low regard for work, as they don't need to do it, wouldn't do it if they should, & use "opposition to wage-slavery" as their go-to come-on when toolingforanus.

          Now, of course, maybe one day the rise of AI -- the rare chance where Drum's neoliberalism & Bernie's nonworkers paradise intersect -- will enable an end to work, but that day isn't anywhere close to coming into view, let alone practice. Until then, work is a necessity.

          *Modifying bro in the way of Snooki's feminization of Guido into Guidette, but acknowledging brette doesn't really work.

          1. Crissa

            Only if we want it to.

            Which requires the political will to allow people to live and yet not work directly.

            Right now we don't allow that.

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