Moms Become Breadwinners As Job Losses Hit Men
Legions of women will have little time to mark Mother’s Day this year. They will be busy working weekend jobs as they step up to being their families’ primary wage earners.
Economists say this recession is reshaping the financial roles of millions of women whose husbands have lost jobs. Since the recession began in December 2007, about 5.7 million jobs have disappeared in the United States. About 4 out of 5 of those jobs were held by men. That’s because the heaviest employment cuts have been concentrated in construction, manufacturing and financial services, where male workers predominate.
The uneven impact of the recession shows up in the unemployment data. On Friday, the Labor Department said the overall jobless rate in April was 8.9 percent. But for adult men, the rate was 9.4 percent; for adult women, it was just 7.1 percent.
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