COVID-19 and Recovery Response
As the pandemic enters its third year and the nation turns to recovery, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research is committed to amplifying and addressing the challenges women face. IWPR’s new research provides insights and recommendations for policymakers to help meet the urgent and long-term needs of women, their families, and their communities.
The pandemic has derailed women’s careers and livelihoods. Is America giving up on them?
By Maria Aspan and Emma Hinchliffe In early 2020, just before the first U.S. patient was diagnosed with COVID-19, women crossed a major employment milestone. The labor market was booming. Health care, education, and other service sectors largely staffed by female workers were racing to hire more people. And for a few shining months in early 2020, government data showed that women outnumbered men in the U.S. paid workforce. Then “the whole house burned down,” says Michael Madowitz, a labor [...]
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.
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 [...]
New study finds moving women into manufacturing, trade and technical jobs will speed recovery efforts, raise earnings, and cut poverty in New Orleans
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 26, 2021 Contact: Contact: Erin Weber | 646-719-7021 | weber@iwpr.org Moving women into manufacturing, trade and technical jobs will speed recovery efforts, raise earnings, and cut poverty in New Orleans, new study finds Women in New Orleans are missing from high-wage COVID-19 Recovery trade and technical Jobs. Moving them, especially women of color, into those jobs will have a dramatic impact on their ability to reenter the workforce and regain their economic footing. Washington, DC—New research [...]
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 [...]
