“This decline in public employment will inevitably be intensified by further cuts in public spending and has particularly ominous implications for women, who make up a disproportionate share of state and local payrolls.

As Eileen Appelbaum points out , men were harder hit by job losses in 2009 than women but also faster to regain jobs as private sector hiring revived. A recent report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research provides a vivid, up-to-date graph of these trends.”