Women’s Jobs Take a Hit

This item caught my eye and I thought you would be interested. Note particularly the quote in bold!

LONDON (Reuters) – Women in Britain are being hit harder by the current economic downturn than by any previous recession, unions said on Wednesday. More women are employed nowadays and job losses are spreading into the areas where they traditionally work.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the redundancy rate among women over the nine months to September 2008 had risen by 2.3 percentage points, almost double that of men. In the last recession in the early 1990s, the rate of female unemployment was much lower than the male rate.

“This is going to be an equal opportunities recession,” said TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. Official figures are expected to show that unemployment in Britain rose by 85,000 people last month, the biggest jump since the last recession.

The TUC said the current economic slowdown would be worse for women because more were now in work than in previous recessions, and more households now depended on a woman’s wage. Furthermore, there will be job losses across the economy rather than in male-dominated sectors.

“Job losses in sectors where men predominate such as manufacturing and construction are now being balanced by job losses in retail and hospitality where more women than men work,” Barber said. “But job losses among men are still more likely to hit the headlines as women tend to work in smaller workplaces where redundancies go unnoticed by the media.”

The TUC said it was too early to say whether the recent job loss trends would continue, but figures suggested women’s jobs would be more at risk than before. It called for the government to take specific action to help unemployed women get back into work.

Reuters

Brand new course for women - Speak Up!
March 12th 2012 - Leadership training for women, with a difference!
Click here for all details of Speak Up!

Related posts:

1. Women Suffer More Than Men! November 2011 and the latest set of figures to be...
2. More Facts About Women and Work Sex and Power, the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s annual...
3. Women, Start Your Own Business? Why not! There has been something of  a theme emerging lately with...