Economic Security

Third Anniversary of the Recovery Shows Job Growth for Women Slowed by Public Sector Job Losses

Submitted by asklar on Fri, 07/13/2012 - 10:55am

The deep recession that began in December 2007 and cost nearly 7.5 million jobs 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. However, heavy public sector job losses continue to hinder the recovery for both women and men, but especially for women: for every 10 private sector jobs women gained in the first three years of the recovery, they lost more than 4 public sector jobs.

URL:

http://www.nwlc.org/resource/third-anniversary-recovery-shows-job-growth-women-slowed-public-sector-job-losses

Member Organization:

National Women's Law Center

How Congressional Republicans and Democrats Pay Women

Teaser:

National Journal examines LegiStorm salary data for Congressional staffers, and finds that women earn significantly less across both houses and party lines.

Editorial:

From National Journal:

But what's $10,000 to you if you're a female Republican congressional staffer? It's about how much less you'd make than the men in your office, according to salary data from LegiStorm.

As Catherine Hollander notes as part of this week's National Journal magazine cover story, these numbers aren't a perfect science. Additionally, the salary divergence can be largely explained by thegender disparity in high-level congressional jobs--especially among Republicans. Women working in Congress tend to have lower-ranking jobs and thus lower salaries. But the salary contrasts are striking when matched to congressional salary data on the whole.

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Source:

National Journal

URL:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress-legacy/how-congressional-republicans-and-democrats-pay-women-20120711

Date:

July 13, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Oceans Apart: The Higher Health Costs of Women in the U.S. Compared to Other Nations, and How Reform Is Helping

Submitted by asklar on Fri, 07/13/2012 - 10:42am

An estimated 18.7 million U.S. women ages 19 to 64 were uninsured in 2010, up from 12.8 million in 2000. An additional 16.7 million women had health insurance but had such high out-of-pocket costs relative to their income that they were effectively underinsured in 2010. This issue brief examines the implications of poor coverage for women in the United States by comparing their experiences to those of women in 10 other industrialized nations, all of which have universal health insurance systems. The analysis finds that women in the United States—both with and without health insurance— are more likely to go without needed health care because of cost and have greater difficulty paying their medical bills than women in the 10 other countries. In 2014, the Affordable Care Act will substantially reduce health care cost exposure for all U.S. women by significantly expanding and improving health insurance coverage.

URL:

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Issue-Briefs/2012/Jul/Oceans-Apart-Women.aspx

Did John Roberts Accidentally Save Planned Parenthood?

Teaser:

By rewriting the rules that govern which strings the federal government can attach to its spending on the state level, Chief Justice John Roberts may have inadvertently prevented a future Tea Party-dominated Congress from executing one of its top priorities, defunding Planned Parenthood.At the same time, it raises the question of whether the federal government can withhold Medicaid money if a state decides on its own to defund Planned Parenthood.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post:

At the same time, it raises the question of whether the federal government can withhold Medicaid money if a state decides on its own to defund Planned Parenthood. Before Roberts' ruling, no legal scholar would have questioned whether the federal government had the authority to spend its own money or tie any strings it deemed appropriate to it. But after the ruling, it's an open question that will likely be decided in court, legal experts told The Huffington Post.

"I perceive NFIB v. Sebelius as throwing the courthouse doors open to coercion claims," said Nicole Huberfeld, a University of Kentucky law professor. "Because the holding is so dependent on the somewhat unusual facts of Medicaid, and because the court set forth no theory of coercion, I think we will see a lot of challenges in an effort to discover the contours of the coercion doctrine."

The issue raised by Roberts' opinion is whether the federal government can coerce a state into using its federal grant money in a particular way by threatening to withhold that money. For instance, if Congress voted to defund Planned Parenthood through the Title X federal family planning program, but New York wanted to continue sending its federal Title X dollars to Planned Parenthood clinics in the state, could the government withhold all Title X money from New York?

[...]

Source:

Huffington Post

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/06/scotus-medicaid-john-roberts_n_1654713.html

Date:

July 9, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

10 Countries With Huge Gender Gaps In The Workplace: Survey

Teaser:

According to recent data from Gallup, a quarter of countries struggle with a wide gender gap in the workplace.

Editorial:

From the Huffington Post:

A significant number of countries continue to struggle with a wide gender gap in the workplace -- a fourth to be exact, according to data recently released by Gallup. That gender gap is technically the difference between the number of men and women in full-time or voluntary part-time work.

The problem is not universal. For every Ecuador or Saudi Arabia, two countries with enormous gender gaps, there is a Ireland or United Kingdom, both of which were found to posses a gender gap that actually favors women.

That's not to say gender gaps only exist in developing countries. Italy, a member of the European Union, posted a workplace gender gap of 13 percent, the survey found.

The pollsters last year questioned 187,119 people across 144 countries.

[...]

Source:

Huffington Post

URL:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/countries-women-work_n_1651946.html

Date:

July 9, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Three Years into the Recovery, Job Growth for Women Undermined by Public Sector Job Losses, NWLC Analysis Shows

Teaser:

Analysis by the National Women’s Law Center of jobs data for June 2012 shows that women gained more private sector jobs than men did: 49,000 v. 35,000. But women lost 17,000 public sector jobs in June, while men gained 13,000 public sector jobs.

Editorial:

From the National Women's Law Center press release:

Analysis by the National Women’s Law Center of jobs data for June 2012 shows that last month women gained more private sector jobs than men did: 49,000 v. 35,000. But women lost 17,000 public sector jobs in June, while men gained 13,000 public sector jobs. Since the start of the recovery three years ago, women have gained 908,000 net private sector jobs—and lost 396,000 net public sector jobs. Men have gained 2,304,000 net private sector jobs—and lost 231,000 net public sector jobs. In the last three years, women have a net gain of 512,000 jobs; men have a net gain of 2,073,000 jobs.

“The June jobs data reflect a disturbing trend we’ve seen during the three years of the recovery: cuts in public sector jobs are undermining the recovery overall—but especially for women,” said Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security at the National Women’s Law Center. “For every ten private sector jobs women have gained since the recovery began in June 2009, they’ve lost more than four public sector jobs. Our communities are losing teachers, nurses, police and firefighters but some policy makers still don’t get it. They’re pushing for deeper budget cuts that will mean more lost jobs, more cuts in education, health care, public safety, and other vital services.”

[...]

Source:

National Women's Law Center

URL:

http://www.nwlc.org/press-release/three-years-recovery-job-growth-women-undermined-public-sector-job-losses-nwlc-analysi

Date:

July 9, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

California's Women Veterans: Responses to the 2011 Survey

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 07/05/2012 - 10:05am

CRB, at the request of CalVet and the Commission on the Status of Women, surveyed California’s women veterans to find out what they currently need, what they needed at the time they transitioned from the military, and what are their sociodemographics. This report presents the findings of that survey. Women veterans told us they need help finding a job when they leave the service and that they currently want physical and mental health care. The needs for women-specific and senior-specific services are growing needs in the women veterans community as well."

Rebecca E. Blanton and Lisa K. Foster (CRB-12-004)

URL:

http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/12/12-004.pdf

Israel Existential Crisis Creates Haredi Breadwomen as Men Study

Teaser:

Editorial:

From Business Week:

Ultra-orthodox, or haredi, women are joining the Israeli labor force in increasing numbers and many are choosing to work in technology, attracted in part by the industry’s willingness to accommodate their religious lifestyle. While that has helped keep jobs that might otherwise have gone offshore, their husbands’ joblessness is a drag on economic growth, according to the Bank of Israel and the International Monetary Fund.

“A continued increase in the share of the population which does not participate in the workforce cannot continue forever, and so will have to stop,” Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer said earlier this year. The imbalance has to be corrected for the health of the economy, he added. The central bank predicts growth will slow to 3.1 percent this year from 4.8 percent in 2010 and 2011.

While the ultra-Orthodox make up about 8 percent to 10 percent of the population, they will represent 17 percent of working-age Israelis in 20 years because of their high birth rate, according to the bank. By the late 2050s they will account for a quarter of the population, a March 9 IMF report found.

[...]

Source:

Bloomberg Business Week

URL:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-06-27/israel-existential-crisis-creates-haredi-breadwomen-as-men-study

Date:

June 28, 2012

Affiliate:

NCRW’s Ground-breaking Report, Caring for Our Nation’s Future: The Impact of ARRA Funding on Access to Childcare

“Having it All?”—The Wrong Question for Most Women

Teaser:

Ellen Bravo points out that most American women are juggling work and life just to make ends meet.

Editorial:

From the Women's Media Center:

As it has done at least once a decade for the past 40 years, the media seems intent on pitting women against each other in a "Having it All" debate about work inside and outside the home. Author and organizer Ellen Bravo explains why the discussion defies reality.

When Anne Marie Slaughter wrote her article for Atlantic magazine on “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” describing her decision to leave a top job for Hilary Clinton at the State Department, she acknowledged that she’s talking about a small sliver of elite women. “Millions of other working women face much more difficult life circumstances,” Slaughter noted.

But neither Atlantic, nor the New York Times, nor any of the other major media outlets that has run or commented on Slaughter’s article, spotlight these working mothers—the majority, in fact—who are struggling with daily hardships because our country does not provide basic policies that help value families in the workplace.

These women are not thinking about “having it all,” they’re worried about losing it all—their jobs, their children’s health, their families’ financial stability—because of the regular conflicts that arise between being a good employee and a responsible parent.

[...]

Source:

Women's Media Center

URL:

http://www.womensmediacenter.com/feature/entry/having-it-allthe-wrong-question-for-most-women

Date:

June 26, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

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