COVID 19 and Recovery Response
In these unprecedented times, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) is committed to communicating and addressing the challenges women are facing. IWPR’s new research outlines how policymakers can address the immediate and long term needs of women, their families, and their communities in policy responses to the pandemic.
Building Back Better Post-COVID: Opportunities for Women in Skilled Trade and Technical Jobs in New Orleans
Read IWPR's new briefing paper, Building a Better Future for Women in New Orleans Post COVID-19: Opportunities for Women in Skilled Trade and Technical Jobs. Watch IWPR's webinar discussion on how to improve women's access to skilled trade and technical jobs in New Orleans. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the inequities faced by women—particularly Black and Hispanic women— in the New Orleans metro area and around the nation. A weak safety net, occupational sex- and race-segregation, and low [...]
Black & Latinx Women Hit Hardest By Job Loss — Let’s Talk About Why
By Sa'iyda Shabazz When COVID hit and the stay-at-home orders began, some women were losing their jobs due to closures, while others were forced out to care for their families as schools and daycares closed. In December, a report was released showing that women accounted for all of the jobs lost that month. And now the Bureau of Labor Statistics has released newer numbers. These show that within these numbers, Black and Latinx women are suffering from higher numbers of [...]
JPMorgan Sees Biden’s Stimulus Cutting Unemployment to Less Than 5% by Year End
by Juliana Kaplan In December 2020, the unemployment rate was 6.7%. December also saw a surprise decline of 140,000 jobs on nonfarm payrolls, with 10 million Americans still unemployed. That unemployment rate is still just a percentage of the pandemic's peak of 14.7%. In her Tuesday confirmation hearing, Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen stressed the importance of helping small businesses and the unemployed. She said the pandemic has been "particularly brutal in its impact on minorities and on women." The [...]
Will Biden’s Stimulus Package Help Reverse the ‘Shecession’?
By Alisha Haridasani Gupta From the get go, this economic crisis has been markedly different from previous ones: It wasn’t caused by geopolitical or financial forces, and it disproportionately affected women. A bulk of the jobs that vanished at the start of the coronavirus pandemic were held by women — particularly women of color — who worked in service industries like hospitality, travel, retail and entertainment. The downward trend held through the year, with more than 800,000 women dropping out [...]
IWPR Statement on President-Elect Biden’s American Rescue Plan
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 14, 2021 Contact: Erin Weber | 646-719-7021 | weber@iwpr.org IWPR Statement—The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) applauds the Biden Administration’s ambitious $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that will provide needed economic support to struggling families and the workers who have been most impacted by the pandemic. The comprehensive plan includes direct cash payments to households, the extension of unemployment insurance, child care supports, housing and nutrition assistance, and an increase in the minimum wage, among [...]
Unemployment Claims Are Rising as the Pandemic Surges
By Peter Wade The jobs crisis in the U.S. is worsening as weekly unemployment claims reached a five-month high, according to new unemployment numbers released by the Department of Labor. Almost 1.4 million people filed initial jobless claims for the week ending January 9th, which is many more than economists expected. The number of continued jobless claims also exceeded economists’ expectations, reaching nearly 5.3 million compared to the expected 5 million. As of the end of last month, there were [...]