Plain Sense Economics

Data on job losses suggest that more men are losing their jobs than women. One result is that women now are almost half of the civilian labor force – a significant gain from a couple of decades ago. I followed a trail from the Economix blog to this article posted by the Center for American Progress. The Center appears to be progressive, left-leaning, for those on bias alert. The main conclusion from the article is that this recession has affected men more than women, in terms of losing jobs, and that there are significant differences in job losses by sector.

Here’s a still version of the graphic. But click on it to go to the source and see the graphic in action – pretty cool.

More men losing jobs

This gives me a chance to remind my students that unemployment levels typically lag behind economic cycles. When the economy slows down, employers are reluctant to lay employees off. The process is expensive and disruptive, and some employers actually care about their employees and don’t want to have to show them the door. So we will see numerous signs of an economic slowdown, but changes in unemployment won’t be a strong sign. On the other end of the cycle, unemployment will not improve as quickly as other elements of the economy. We’ll see an improving stock market, hopeful signs in GDP, and other indicators, but unemployment will continue to be a concern. Employers, having gone through the pain of layoffs, want to make sure the recovery is real. And in some past recessions, the layoffs have given employers the opportunity to try new productivity tactics. These sometimes lead to permanent reductions in work force.