Unemployment

Unemployment among women, especially those who head families, remains high, and many women are at risk of losing unemployment insurance benefits. We're working for unemployment insurance reforms to expand coverage and improve benefits for women.

Highlights

Fact Sheet | Stronger Jobs Recovery Reaching Women

May 3, 2013

This resource, updated monthly as new data on jobs and unemployment is released, shows how women are faring in the recovery that officially started in June 2009. 

 Read more...

Fact Sheet | Renewing Federal Emergency Unemployment Insurance Benefits: Vital for Women & Families – and the Economy

December 11, 2012

Persistently high unemployment – and historic levels of long-term unemployment – necessitate renewing federal emergency unemployment insurance benefits that are set to expire in December 2012.

 Read more...

Reports & Toolkits | Third Anniversary of the Recovery Shows Job Growth for Women Slowed by Public Sector Job Losses

July 9, 2012

The deep recession that began in December 2007 was harder on male workers, but the recovery that officially began in June 2009 has been slower for women. After losing ground at the start of the recovery, the pace of the recovery has picked up for women. Three years into the recovery (June 2009 to June 2012), women have gained back 24 percent of the jobs they lost during the recession; men have gained back 39 percent.

 Read more...

Reports & Toolkits | A "Man"ufacturing Comeback: Men's and Women's Employment Gains and Losses in 2011

March 19, 2012

In 2011 manufacturing employment increased for the first time in more than a decade, with annual average employment rising by 205,000 jobs. Unfortunately, women did not share in these gains. In fact, between 2010 and 2011 men’s annual average employment in manufacturing increased by 230,000 jobs while women’s dropped by 25,000 jobs.

 Read more...

More Resources

Fact Sheet | The Economic Recovery's Untold Story: Black and Hispanic Female Teens Face a Growing Employment Crisis

August 30, 2011

This analysis shows that black and Hispanic female teens lost far more jobs and suffered larger increases in unemployment than they did during the recession.

 Read more...

Fact Sheet | State-by-State Fact Sheets for Super-Committee Advocacy

August 19, 2011

These 51 fact sheets provide state-specific information to help advocates demonstrate why any plan the congressional "super-committee" devises for deficit reduction must protect programs vital to the wellbeing of women and families; make millionaires and corporations pay their fair share; and create jobs for women and men.

 Read more...

Fact Sheet | Employment Crisis Worsens for Black Women during the Recovery

August 03, 2011

This analysis shows that black women lost more jobs in the first two years of the recovery than they did in the recession, even as men overall and black men gained jobs. 

 Read more...

Fact Sheet | Second Anniversary of the Recovery Shows No Job Growth for Women

July 08, 2011

This analysis of women’s employment trends during the first two years of the recovery, June 2009 to June 2011, finds that women lost over 280,000 jobs while men gained over 800,000, and women’s unemployment rate rose while men’s declined.  Women suffered heavy and disproportionate losses of public sector jobs and fared worse than men in most industry sectors.

 Read more...

Reports & Toolkits | The Case for Dependent Allowances in Washington: $98 Million in Federal Funds Available to Help Jobless Workers Support Their Families

December 16, 2010

This report explains how reforming Washington state’s unemployment insurance (UI) program to include “dependent allowances” for jobless parents could help vulnerable families make ends meet while making Washington eligible for nearly $98 million in federal funding to finance the reform.

 Read more...