DOWNLOAD REPORT
  • Women in New Orleans are particularly severely affected by COVID-19 related job losses because they are more likely than men to work in leisure and hospitality and tourism.
  • Women are much less likely than men to work in construction, manufacturing, transportation, and Port-related jobs, sectors which are projected to bounce back from the COVID-19 recession much faster. One in five of all jobs in New Orleans are in these sectors, but only one in twelve of women’s jobs.
  • Black and Hispanic women earn just half of what White men earn in New Orleans, and only four-fifths of what Black and Hispanic men make.
  • Women’s underrepresentation in construction, manufacturing, and transportation— in jobs that often pay family-sustaining wages without the need for a four-year college degree—is a major cause of the gender wage gap.
  • The average hourly pay of a plumber is as high as that of a middle school teacher in New Orleans; while teaching requires at least a four-year college degree, earn-as-you-learn apprenticeships provide a cost-free route to becoming a skilled tradesperson. Women are just 6.3 percent of apprentices in the trades in the region.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the inequities that women in New Orleans experience. New Orleans’ recovery from the pandemic offers an opportunity to rebuild in an equitable manner, ensuring that all workers, especially those hardest hit by the recession and those historically excluded from well-paying jobs, are able to benefit from the recovery.