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 | 60 Percent of Women’s Job Gains in the Recovery Are in the 10 Largest Low-Wage Jobs

July 23, 2013

Women have regained a large number of the jobs they lost during the recession, but their gains are highly concentrated in low-wage occupations. Sixty percent of the increase in employment for women between 2009 and 2012 was in the 10 largest occupations that typically pay less than $10.10 per hour. In contrast, these 10 low-wage occupations accounted for only 20 percent of men’s employment growth over the same period.

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Reports & Toolkits | Fourth Anniversary of the Recovery Shows Job Gains for Women—But a Long Road to a Full Recovery

July 10, 2013

This report analyzes the employment picture for women and men as of June 2013, the fourth anniversary of the recovery from the deep recession that began in December 2007. Although the pace of the recovery has picked up, especially for women, four years since the start of the recovery in June 2009, employment for women and men has yet to return to pre-recession levels.

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Fact Sheet | Women Sharing in Slow Job Growth, but Full Recovery Is a Long Way Off

August 2, 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. 

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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.

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More Resources

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.

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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.

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Fact Sheet | Unemployment Rates and Unemployment Insurance Beneficiaries at Risk by State

November 30, 2010

This chart breaks down, by state, the unemployment rate increase since the start of the recession as well as the number of unemployment insurance recipients who will lose benefits starting in December 2010.

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Fact Sheet | Table of Indicators of Economic Insecurity By State

October 13, 2010

This table provides state-level indicators of economic insecurity for 2009 and 2010 based on Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

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Fact Sheet | The Unemployment Emergency Continues for Women and Their Families – But Emergency Unemployment Compensation Is About to Expire

October 08, 2010

The jobs data released for September 2010 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal that the pain continues for millions of jobless workers and their families.  The overall unemployment rate remained at 9.6 percent, and unemployment rates among single mothers and Black and Hispanic women were even higher. 

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