Friday’s unemployment report showed 20.5 million Americans lost their jobs for the month of April, bringing the unemployment rate to 14.7%, the highest ever. Women lost over 12 mil jobs, which can be explained by the job loss in four sectors that employ a large share of women. Hospitality lost 7.7 million jobs, accounting for over one-third of total jobs lost. Education and health lost 2.5 mil jobs, professional and business services lost 2.1 mil, and retail trade also lost 2.1 mil jobs. The good news is that Friday’s unemployment numbers were not 20% or higher, as some economists had predicted.
Over 1.6 mil Black women and 2.3 mil Hispanic women lost their jobs in April. Nearly 8.1 mil White women became unemployed in April, representing three-quarters of the women who lost their jobs that month (See Table 1). The rate of unemployment for Black women increased by 10.9% percentage points. The unemployment rate for Hispanic women more than tripled, going from 6% to 20.2%.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics April 2020 Table A-2, and Table A-3.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics April 2020 Table A-2, and Table A-3.
These dismal numbers come as we wrap up National Nurses Week and National Teacher Appreciation Week, which were hard hit in April. Our infographic for nurses shows that 90% of nurse practitioners are women, 5% are Asian women. A similar pattern holds for teachers. Seventy -six percent of teachers are women, 20% are women of color.
As we plan to celebrate Mother’s Day, figuring out where to order dinner for takeout, practicing social distancing when purchasing Mother’s Day cards or gifts, and hoping that the gift ordered arrives on time, we must be mindful of the thousands of families who have lost their mothers during this pandemic. Our infographic for Mother’s Day shows that over 50% of Black, Hispanic, and Native American women are heads of household, which suggests many families may have lost the primary provider for their households.
To all the mothers in the WISER community, we wish you a Happy Mother’s Day!
Be well,
Rhonda V. Sharpe
President
