The December 2020 jobs report was an absolutely harrowing reflection of American inequality.
According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, nonfarm jobs declined by 140,000 in December, with the unemployment rate remaining unchanged around 6.7 percent. Of those jobs lost, 156,000 belonged to women.
"Wait," you say. "How did women lose more jobs than the total jobs lost?" That's because men gained 16,000 jobs last month.
But it gets worse, according to CNN:
Meanwhile, a separate survey of households, which includes self-employed workers, showed an even wider gender disparity. It also highlighted another painful reality: Blacks and Latinas lost jobs in December, while White women made significant gains.
[…]
Overall, women are still down 5.4 million jobs from February, before the pandemic began, as compared to 4.4 million job losses for men. They started 2020 on roughly equal footing, with women holding 50.03% of jobs, but ended it holding 860,000 fewer jobs than their male peers.
[…]
Among women, Latinas currently have the highest unemployment rate at 9.1%, followed by Black women at 8.4%. White women have the lowest unemployment rate at 5.7%.
Income inequality is a major issue in the United States. But you can't tackle income inequality until you tackle gender inequality and racial inequality.
The US economy lost 140,000 jobs in December. All of them were held by women [Annalyn Kurtz / CNN]
Image: Public Domain via NeedPix
