User:Emarsh375/Unemployment in the United States

Women and marginalized individuals were particularly vulnerable to job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. This loss was surprising because women and minoritized people made up the majority of “essential” workers throughout COVID-19. This division is most likely due to racism and sexism in the labor market, especially during recessions. Geizi and Ozay (2020) found that Black women were more than 4% more likely to be unemployed than White men, while Hispanic women were a little over 5% more likely. Even when an employee worked in a telecommutable job, Black and Hispanic women were more likely to be laid off from their job than White men.

The effects of gender hierarchies were exacerbated during the height of COVID-19 (Bahn et al). Women’s unemployment was impacted more than men’s, which is not the case during typical recessions (Alon). Mothers were likely to suffer from unemployment for several reasons, including daycare closures, household structures, and job flexibility based on gender. Among married couples, women are more likely to provide childcare than men even when they both work full time. This means that daycare closures disproportionately affected mothers because they were more likely to be expected to take care of their children. While most parents struggled, single mothers were most negatively impacted, partly because single-mother households make up 21% of all households in the United States as compared to only 4% of single-father households. Additionally, mothers were more affected than fathers because men are more likely to have flexible jobs, which allowed them to telecommute. 28% of men work in jobs where they are able to telecommute often, but only 22% of women work in these jobs. Women were at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 in critical (or essential) job positions and more likely to be let go because their work was less flexible.