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Half of US Jobs Now Held by Women

March 4th, 2010 at 09:24am Under Economy Report

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Women are on their way to holding more than half of all American jobs. The latest government report shows that their share of nonfarm jobs nearly reached fifty percent in September. Not only have more and more women entered the labor market over the years, but the recession has been harder on men. In October the unemployment rate for men was almost eleven percent, compared to eight percent for women.

Former eBay chief Meg Whitman, right, a Republican candidate for California governor, talks to a supporter at a business women’s conference

Industries that traditionally use lots of men have suffered deep cuts. For example, manufacturing and building lost more jobs last month. But health care and temporary employment services have had job growth. Both of those industries employ high percentages of women.

Thirty years ago, women earned sixty-two cents for every dollar that men earned. Now, for those who usually work full time, women earn about eighty percent of what men earn. And women hold fifty-one percent of good-paying management and professional jobs.

Yet a study released Thursday said men still hold about nine out of every ten top positions at the four hundred largest companies in California. The results have remained largely unchanged in five years of studies from the University of California, Davis.

Also, a new research paper in the journal Sex Roles looks at the experiences of women who are the main earners in their family. Rebecca Meisenbach at the University of Missouri in Columbia interviewed fifteen women. She found they all valued their independence and many enjoyed having the power of control, though not all wanted it.

But they also felt pressure, worry and guilt. Partly that was because of cultural expectations that working women will still take care of the children. Also, men who are not the main earners may feel threatened.

The job market continues to suffer the effects of last year’s financial crash. Now, a judgment has been reached in the first case involving charges of criminal wrongdoing on Wall Street.

Last week, the government lost its case against two managers at Bear Stearns, the first investment bank to fail last year. A jury found Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin not guilty of lying to investors.

The hedge funds they supervised lost their value in two thousand seven. But jurors said there was no clear evidence that they meant to mislead investors.

The Justice Department continues to investigate other companies.

And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I’m Steve Ember.

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So Where Are the Jobs?

February 20th, 2010 at 09:01am Under Economy Report

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

America’s economy has started to grow again. Now what about jobs?

The government says productivity jumped in July, August and September. That meant companies produced more with fewer workers. Also, new claims for unemployment aid fell last week to the lowest number since January.

People waiting in line at a job fair in Livonia, Michigan

But eight million jobs have disappeared since the recession began in December of two thousand seven.

Jack Strauss at Saint Louis University in Missouri says recent recoveries have been slow to create jobs.

JACK STRAUSS: “Historically, during our last two recessions in ninety-one and two thousand one it’s taken twenty-three months in ninety-one and about thirty-six months, three years, in our last recession in two thousand one for the United States to regain the jobs lost in the recession.”

Experts debate the reason for these so-called jobless recoveries. But Professor Strauss says a banking crisis is especially hard to recover from, because there is less money to lend to support growth. Banks have been holding bigger safety reserves.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve kept its target rate near zero for overnight loans between banks. The central bank said levels are likely to remain “exceptionally low … for an extended period.”

Low interest rates and growing federal deficits have weakened the dollar. But that also lowers the price of American exports, which could help drive job creation. Yet where exactly will future jobs come from?

Investor Warren Buffet says America’s “future prosperity” depends on its rail system. On Tuesday his Berkshire Hathaway company agreed to buy the nation’s second-largest railroad, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The forty-four billion dollar deal is Berkshire’s biggest ever.

The Obama administration is also putting money into transportation to speed recovery. A program that paid Americans to buy new vehicles with higher fuel economy lifted sales for automakers. Ford just reported a profit of almost a billion dollars for July through September.

A second government program — a tax credit for first-time home buyers — has helped the housing market. These two programs fueled a lot of the recent economic growth.

But economist Jack Strauss says credit conditions threaten the main engine of job growth since two thousand one — small businesses.

This week, CIT, a lender to small and medium sized businesses, sought bankruptcy protection from its creditors so it can reorganize. Taxpayers will likely lose more than two billion dollars in federal rescue money.

And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report, available online at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Mario Ritter.

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