In the Lead
Asian American and Pacific Islander Equal Pay Day Reveals Racial Challenges Despite Model Minority Stereotype
Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit AAPI women particularly hard as businesses continue to close and caregiving responsibilities increase. While AAPI women consistently earn more than any other group of women in the United States, both prior to the pandemic and now, the gender wage gap persists, with AAPI women earning 84.6 percent of White men’s earnings, and only 73.3 percent of AAPI men’s earnings. For many AAPI women, the wage gap perpetuates existing inequalities, and combined [...]
New Report Lifts Up Black, Latina, and Afro-Latina Women’s Voices in Construction Trades
March 7th-13th is Women in Construction Week. For women who work in the union construction trades, it’s more than just a job. It also means high wages and the opportunity to earn while learning as an apprentice. It means healthcare, the ability to provide for one’s family, and the chance to own a home. It means pride and satisfaction in a challenging but rewarding career. A new brief published by Chicago Women in the Trades’ Center for Gender Equity in [...]
Weekly News Roundup – March 1 to 5, 2021
Activism on the Frontlines (03/04/21) When it comes to Myanmar’s protests, women have been in the frontlines. Security forces have killed at least thirty people nationwide in the single bloodiest day since the February 1 coup according to the United Nations, including 18-year-old Ma Kyal Sin. Kyal Sin, like many other women at the forefront of the Myanmar’s protest movement, gathered for marches in response to when the generals ousted Aung San Suu Kyi, a civilian leader, and reimposed a [...]
COVID-19 Related Long-Term Unemployment Could Lead to Long-Term Scarring, Especially for Women of Color
Almost four in ten unemployed women have now been out of work long-term, for 27 weeks or longer. Between February 2020 and January 2021, the number of unemployed women almost doubled (from 2.7 to 4.8 million), but the number of long-term unemployed more than tripled (from 491,000 to 1.9 million). While the overall rate of unemployment fell slightly in January (to 6.3%), the share of unemployed women who were unemployed for more than half a year increased (to 38.9%). Added [...]
Weekly News Roundup – February 22 to 26, 2021
House Legislation and Presidential Action (02/26/21) Raising the minimum wage in the American Rescue Plan was nixed by Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. MacDonough is the unelected, nonpartisan interpreter of chamber rules, commonly referred to as the Senate referee. She asserts that the push to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour did not meet the strict requirements of reconciliation, a process that allows the majority party to pass big-ticket legislation with a 51-vote majority. The full scale of this decision will [...]
As Low Wage Care Jobs Projected to Increase Over the Decade, the Minimum Wage Needs to Increase Too
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the pernicious effect of deep racial and gender inequities in the labor market. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) 10-year projections about growing (and declining) jobs suggest a grim post-COVID future. The projections are published annually after extensive consultations about likely change for 790 detailed occupations with industry and demographic experts; for 2019-2029 they estimate that there will be 4.78 million more workers in the workforce in 2029 than in 2019 and their model [...]