Teachers & First Responders Back to Work

Today’s jobs data brought surprising news – not only did women gain jobs, they actually gained most of the jobs added to the economy in October. However, our analysis shows that the news isn’t all good – overall unemployment was 9.0 percent and women’s unemployment dropped by just 0.1 percentage points to 8.0 percent, still higher than the 7.7 percent unemployment they had at the beginning of the recovery.  In fact, since the official start of the recovery in June 2009, women have actually lost 117,000 jobs, despite the fact that the economy added more than 1.0 million jobs during that time.

The data show that the job market remains bleak.  The unemployment rate overall hardly dropped, nearly 14 million Americans are officially unemployed, and millions more are underemployed or have given up on finding work. Despite these numbers, just yesterday, the Senate blocked yet another jobs bill, the Rebuild America Jobs Act, which would have created hundreds of thousands of jobs. This bill was just one of three blocked in the last month by the Senate, which also blocked the American Jobs Act and another of its components, the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act. Read more »

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) tried to get the Senate to consider another component of the American Jobs Act. The Rebuild America Jobs Act would create hundreds of thousands of jobs by investing $50 billion to repair and upgrade our highways, bridges, rail systems and airports, with $50 million dedicated to enhancing access to those job opportunities for women, people of color, and disadvantaged individuals. It would also provide $10 billion for a National Infrastructure Bank to finance additional improvements in water, energy and transportation infrastructure. It would be fully paid for by a surtax of 0.1 percent on income above $1 million.

But – as you’ve probably guessed – it was filibustered, just like the comprehensive American Jobs Act and another of its components, the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act.   Read more »

Last week, Senate Republicans and two Democrats voted to block debate of the full American Jobs Act, even though 14 million Americans – 9.1 percent – are still looking for work. Now, the Obama Administration and Senator Harry Reid are looking to take up the Jobs Act one piece at a time to tackle our nation’s jobs deficit.

First up on the agenda is the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act. It’s a part of the American Jobs Act that particularly helps women, and it couldn’t have come sooner. Since the recovery began in June 2009, women have lost 264,000 jobs while men have gained 1.1 million jobs. The job-hemorrhaging public sector is primarily to blame for women’s dismal employment picture.

Local government education, a field which is three quarters women, lost more than 255,000 jobs since June 2009. So the $30 billion the Senate bill would provide to protect or create about 400,000 education jobs would be a boon to women’s employment, families’ economic security, and children’s education. Read more »