Equitable Work and Wages

Stronger Together: Union Membership Boosts Women’s Earnings and Economic Security
Stronger Together: Union Membership Boosts Women’s Earnings and Economic Security

Stronger Together: Union Membership Boosts Women’s Earnings and Economic Security

In every state, unionized women out earn women in non-union jobs—an essential wage advantage that would increase women’s economic security following the pandemic-induced “she-cession.” This brief shares insights on the ways unions narrow gender wage gaps and improve economic security for all women.

By Chuxuan Sun, Acadia Hall and Elyse Shaw|2025-01-27T19:24:06-05:00September 1, 2021|Equitable Work and Wages|0 Comments

Strong Jobs Growth for Women in July, but a Troubling Recovery of Child Care Jobs
Strong Jobs Growth for Women in July, but a Troubling Recovery of Child Care Jobs

Strong Jobs Growth for Women in July, but a Troubling Recovery of Child Care Jobs

New July jobs data show that women’s jobs grew by 649,000, marking the largest jobs growth since August 2020. Yet women’s recovery continues to lag behind men’s: Women still need 3.1 million more jobs on payroll to get back to pre-COVID levels. And, child care centers are recovering much more slowly than the overall economy, signaling difficulties for women’s return to work.

By Ariane Hegewisch and Eve Mefferd|2025-01-27T19:24:06-05:00August 16, 2021|Equitable Work and Wages|0 Comments

Shortchanged and Underpaid: Black Women and the Pay Gap
Shortchanged and Underpaid: Black Women and the Pay Gap

Shortchanged and Underpaid: Black Women and the Pay Gap

The COVID-19 pandemic and related recession has both highlighted the persistent inequalities that Black women face in the labor market and exacerbated them. Black women were overrepresented in many low-paying jobs that were recognized as “essential” during the pandemic, but had often been dismissed as “low-skilled” before. [...]

By Chandra Childers, Ariane Hegewisch and Eve Mefferd|2025-01-27T19:24:06-05:00July 27, 2021|Equitable Work and Wages|0 Comments

Even as Payroll Jobs Recover, Young Workers Face Unemployment and a Hostile Labor Market
Even as Payroll Jobs Recover, Young Workers Face Unemployment and a Hostile Labor Market

Even as Payroll Jobs Recover, Young Workers Face Unemployment and a Hostile Labor Market

New June jobs data show the strongest monthly job growth for women since August 2020. Despite this, it will still take women another 9.3 months to get back to pre-COVID-10 levels, compared with 6.7 months for men. Further, the unemployment rate increased slightly, with rates of unemployment remaining twice as high for younger workers.

By Ariane Hegewisch and Eve Mefferd|2025-01-27T19:24:07-05:00July 15, 2021|Equitable Work and Wages|0 Comments

Before the “She-Cession”: A Pre-Pandemic Snapshot Shows More Women in the Workforce than Ever
Before the “She-Cession”: A Pre-Pandemic Snapshot Shows More Women in the Workforce than Ever

Before the “She-Cession”: A Pre-Pandemic Snapshot Shows More Women in the Workforce than Ever

The “she-cession” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has created economic instability for women across the United States. Yet, before the COVID-19 pandemic, women’s employment and earnings were improving nationwide. It is important to track trends in women’s employment and earnings prior to the pandemic [...]

By Elyse Shaw and Halie Mariano|2025-01-27T19:24:07-05:00June 22, 2021|Equitable Work and Wages|0 Comments

A Slow Climb Back from the “She-Cession”: High Jobs Deficit in Child Care and School Sectors Continues
A Slow Climb Back from the “She-Cession”: High Jobs Deficit in Child Care and School Sectors Continues

A Slow Climb Back from the “She-Cession”: High Jobs Deficit in Child Care and School Sectors Continues

New May jobs data show that despite greater jobs gains, women’s recovery continues to lag behind that of men. Women’s jobs on payroll are still 4.2 million below pre-COVID-19 levels, compared with 3.5 million fewer jobs on payroll for men. Further, high jobs deficits in schools and child care centers point to difficulties for employed mothers and mothers wanting to return to work.

By Ariane Hegewisch|2025-01-27T19:24:07-05:00June 9, 2021|Equitable Work and Wages|0 Comments

Young Women Workers Still Struggling a Decade After the Great Recession: Lessons for the Pandemic Recovery
Young Women Workers Still Struggling a Decade After the Great Recession: Lessons for the Pandemic Recovery

Young Women Workers Still Struggling a Decade After the Great Recession: Lessons for the Pandemic Recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a “she-cession,” with women experiencing a disproportionate share of job losses (Institute for Women’s Policy Research 2021). Young women ages 16 to 24 years old suffered the largest percentage decline in employment compared to young men and prime-age workers, mainly due to their concentration in service sectors and occupations that had been hit the hardest by the pandemic recession (Sun 2021). The outsized effects of the COVID-19 pandemic recession on young women reflect pre-existing inequalities in the labor market. Achieving an equitable economic recovery requires understanding how the U.S. labor market has been transformed in the past decade and beyond—to the detriment of workers.

By Shengwei Sun|2025-01-27T19:24:07-05:00May 25, 2021|Equitable Work and Wages|0 Comments

Narrow the Gender Pay Gap, Reduce Poverty for Families: The Economic Impact of Equal Pay by State
Narrow the Gender Pay Gap, Reduce Poverty for Families: The Economic Impact of Equal Pay by State

Narrow the Gender Pay Gap, Reduce Poverty for Families: The Economic Impact of Equal Pay by State

Equal pay would significantly reduce poverty for working women and their families across the United States. If working women received equal pay with comparable men—men who are of the same age, have the same level of education, work the same number of hours, and have the same urban/rural status—poverty for working women would be reduced by more than 40 percent.

By Elyse Shaw and Halie Mariano|2025-01-27T19:24:07-05:00May 11, 2021|Equitable Work and Wages|0 Comments

Despite Record Job Growth in March 2021, Gender Gap in Economic Recovery Widened
Despite Record Job Growth in March 2021, Gender Gap in Economic Recovery Widened

Despite Record Job Growth in March 2021, Gender Gap in Economic Recovery Widened

New March jobs data show that nearly one million (916,000) new payroll jobs were added, yet only one-third of these went to women (34.4 percent, or 315,000 payroll jobs). This marks an increased widening of the gender gap in recovery for a second month in a row. Women still need 4.6 million more jobs to get back to pre-COVID-19 levels, compared to men who need 3.8 million more jobs.

By Ariane Hegewisch|2025-01-27T19:24:07-05:00April 29, 2021|Equitable Work and Wages|0 Comments

Out of Work, Taking on Care: Young Women Face Mounting Challenges in the “She-Cession”
Out of Work, Taking on Care: Young Women Face Mounting Challenges in the “She-Cession”

Out of Work, Taking on Care: Young Women Face Mounting Challenges in the “She-Cession”

Longstanding inequities in access to quality jobs and affordable care, along with uneven caregiving responsibilities, create unique challenges for young women of color during this prolonged pandemic recession. Young women (aged 16 to 24) were more likely to lose their job than young men and workers of other age groups in the initial months of the pandemic recession, largely due to their concentration in industries and occupations that have been hit the hardest by the economic downturn.

By Shengwei Sun|2025-01-27T19:24:08-05:00April 6, 2021|Equitable Work and Wages|0 Comments

Stronger Together: Union Membership Boosts Women’s Earnings and Economic Security

Strong Jobs Growth for Women in July, but a Troubling Recovery of Child Care Jobs

Shortchanged and Underpaid: Black Women and the Pay Gap

Even as Payroll Jobs Recover, Young Workers Face Unemployment and a Hostile Labor Market

Before the “She-Cession”: A Pre-Pandemic Snapshot Shows More Women in the Workforce than Ever

A Slow Climb Back from the “She-Cession”: High Jobs Deficit in Child Care and School Sectors Continues

Young Women Workers Still Struggling a Decade After the Great Recession: Lessons for the Pandemic Recovery

Narrow the Gender Pay Gap, Reduce Poverty for Families: The Economic Impact of Equal Pay by State

Despite Record Job Growth in March 2021, Gender Gap in Economic Recovery Widened

Out of Work, Taking on Care: Young Women Face Mounting Challenges in the “She-Cession”

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