Issues

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|2021-10-28T13:30:24-05:00April 6, 2021|Economic, Security, Mobility, and Equity|0 Comments

The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation, Race, and Ethnicity 2020
The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation, Race, and Ethnicity 2020

The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation, Race, and Ethnicity 2020

In 2020, women earned less than men in almost all occupations, whether they worked in predominantly male, predominantly female, or more integrated occupations. In the lowest paid of the largest 20 occupations for women, Maids and Housekeepers ($503 per week), women are nine-in-ten workers (and face a wage gap of 10.6 percent); in the highest paid of the largest 20 occupations for men, Chief Executives ($2,402 per week), women are fewer than one-in-three workers (and face a wage gap of 24.4 percent).

By Ariane Hegewisch and Eve Mefferd|2021-12-03T14:48:02-05:00March 21, 2021|Briefing Paper, Economic, Security, Mobility, and Equity, Publications|0 Comments

Busy with Purpose: Lessons for Education and Policy Leaders from Returning Student Parents
Busy with Purpose: Lessons for Education and Policy Leaders from Returning Student Parents

Busy with Purpose: Lessons for Education and Policy Leaders from Returning Student Parents

Postsecondary attainment is widely recognized as key to accessing living-wage careers—in addition to fulfilling workforce demands and elevating the United States’ standing on the world stage. While much of the work to increase attainment rates has recognized the role of reengaging adults who have some college credit, but no degree or certificate, less attention has been paid to the salience of parenthood in adults’ postsecondary experiences.

By Susana Contreras-Mendez and Lindsey Reichlin Cruse|2021-12-03T14:51:32-05:00March 16, 2021|Publications, Student Parent Success Initiative|0 Comments

Here to Stay: Black, Latina, and Afro-Latina Women in Construction Trades Apprenticeships and Employment
Here to Stay: Black, Latina, and Afro-Latina Women in Construction Trades Apprenticeships and Employment

Here to Stay: Black, Latina, and Afro-Latina Women in Construction Trades Apprenticeships and Employment

The skilled construction trades provide opportunities to build careers that are both challenging and fulfilling, pay a family sustaining wage with benefits, and can be accessed through ‘learn as you earn’ apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are particularly common in the unionized sector of the construction industry, where contractors and unions jointly run and fund apprenticeship programs.

By Chandra Childers and Lark Jackson|2021-04-21T14:22:53-05:00March 9, 2021|Briefing Paper, Economic, Security, Mobility, and Equity, Publications|0 Comments

Asian and Pacific Islander Women Earn Less than White Men in All but One State
Asian and Pacific Islander Women Earn Less than White Men in All but One State

Asian and Pacific Islander Women Earn Less than White Men in All but One State

In 2019, the median earnings of Asian American and Pacific Islander women for a year of full-time work were just 84.6 percent of White non-Hispanic men’s, and just 73.3 percent of the median annual earnings of Asian American and Pacific Islander men.2 While Asian American and Pacific Islander women had the highest median annual earnings for full-time year-round women of the largest racial and ethnic groups in the United States, $55,0003 compared to $47,299 for all women workers,4 this hides large differences in the labor market experiences for different groups of women.

By Ariane Hegewisch and Halie Mariano|2021-12-03T14:58:42-05:00March 8, 2021|Briefing Paper, Economic, Security, Mobility, and Equity, Publications|0 Comments

The Weekly Gender Wage Gap by Race and Ethnicity: 2020
The Weekly Gender Wage Gap by Race and Ethnicity: 2020

The Weekly Gender Wage Gap by Race and Ethnicity: 2020

As lowest paid women lost most jobs, the gender wage gap for full-time workers shrank for all women and men, and by race & ethnicity. The gender wage gap in weekly earnings for full-time workers in the United States narrowed between 2019 and 2020, from 19.5 percent in 2019 (a gender earnings ratio of 81.5%) to 18.7 percent in 2020 (a gender earnings ratio of 82.3%)

By Ariane Hegewisch|2021-04-21T14:26:21-05:00March 4, 2021|Briefing Paper, Economic, Security, Mobility, and Equity, Publications|0 Comments

On the Books, Off the Record: Examining the Effectiveness of Pay Secrecy Laws in the U.S.
On the Books, Off the Record: Examining the Effectiveness of Pay Secrecy Laws in the U.S.

On the Books, Off the Record: Examining the Effectiveness of Pay Secrecy Laws in the U.S.

The Equal Pay Act, passed over a half century ago, prohibits sex-based wage discrimination (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 2020). But the gender pay gap remains substantial: full-time, year-round women workers earn 18 percent less than their male counterparts (Hegewisch and Mariano 2020). A lack of knowledge about who makes what within organizations contributes to this continuing disparity.

By Shengwei Sun|2021-04-21T14:26:04-05:00February 9, 2021|Briefing Paper, Economic, Security, Mobility, and Equity|0 Comments

Women and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Five Charts and a Table Tracking the 2020 “She-Cession” by Race and Gender
Women and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Five Charts and a Table Tracking the 2020 “She-Cession” by Race and Gender

Women and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Five Charts and a Table Tracking the 2020 “She-Cession” by Race and Gender

The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for the U.S. economy, and women, particularly women of color, have been hit especially hard. 2020 ended with women’s numbers of jobs on payroll being still much further below their February levels than men’s.

By Ariane Hegewisch|2021-07-20T11:39:13-05:00January 28, 2021|Economic, Security, Mobility, and Equity, Quick Figure|0 Comments

Building a Better Future for Women in New Orleans Post COVID-19: Opportunities for Women in Skilled Trade and Technical Jobs
Building a Better Future for Women in New Orleans Post COVID-19: Opportunities for Women in Skilled Trade and Technical Jobs

Building a Better Future for Women in New Orleans Post COVID-19: Opportunities for Women in Skilled Trade and Technical Jobs

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,

By Chandra Childers, Elyse Shaw, Zohal Barsi and Eve Mefferd|2021-02-09T21:52:58-05:00January 25, 2021|Briefing Paper, Economic, Security, Mobility, and Equity|0 Comments

Centering the Student Voice: Community Colleges and Sexual and Reproductive Health Access in Texas and Mississippi
Centering the Student Voice: Community Colleges and Sexual and Reproductive Health Access in Texas and Mississippi

Centering the Student Voice: Community Colleges and Sexual and Reproductive Health Access in Texas and Mississippi

Community college students’ lives outside of the classroom—including their sexual and reproductive health— can directly impact their ability to succeed in school, yet most community colleges do not provide sexual and reproductive health services (Bernstein and Reichlin Cruse 2020). Growing efforts to implement holistic approaches to student success also often ignore the role that sexual and reproductive health outcomes can play students’ academic careers.

By Anna Bernstein and Lindsey Reichlin Cruse|2023-08-17T22:12:24-05:00January 12, 2021|Center for Success, Center for the Economics of Reproductive Health, Report, Student Parent Success Initiative|0 Comments

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

The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation, Race, and Ethnicity 2020

Busy with Purpose: Lessons for Education and Policy Leaders from Returning Student Parents

Here to Stay: Black, Latina, and Afro-Latina Women in Construction Trades Apprenticeships and Employment

Asian and Pacific Islander Women Earn Less than White Men in All but One State

The Weekly Gender Wage Gap by Race and Ethnicity: 2020

On the Books, Off the Record: Examining the Effectiveness of Pay Secrecy Laws in the U.S.

Women and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Five Charts and a Table Tracking the 2020 “She-Cession” by Race and Gender

Building a Better Future for Women in New Orleans Post COVID-19: Opportunities for Women in Skilled Trade and Technical Jobs

Centering the Student Voice: Community Colleges and Sexual and Reproductive Health Access in Texas and Mississippi

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