Men may have been hit harder during the recession, losing more than twice as many jobs as women, according to a recent study from the Pew ResearchCenter. However, according to the findings, they are not only bouncing back and getting jobs faster than women, but are also doing so by moving into typically female fields.
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In the center's recent report, "Two years of Economic Recovery: Women Lose Jobs, Men Find Them," the Pew Research Center found that from the end of the recession in June 2009, through May 2011, men gained 768,000 and lowered their unemployment rate by 1.1% to 9.5%. This compares to women, who lost 218,000 jobs during that time period. Their unemployment rate rose by 0.2% to 8.5%.
These findings are a departure from the trends that took place during the recession. The report found that men accounted for 5.4 million, or more than 70% of the 7.5 million jobs that were lost from December 2007 through June 2009.
This trend goes against the historical pattern of post-recession job growth. The Pew Center reports that women gained jobs at a faster pace than men after the recessions of 1969-1970, 1973-1975, 1980-1982 and 1990-1991. This growth was due to the woman's shift from home work into the labor force, the report said.
Men are gaining jobs at a faster pace in all but one of the 16 sectors listed in the center's report. They have gained jobs in retail trade, a typically female sector, whereas women have lost jobs. Men are also gaining jobs at a faster pace than women in health services and education, also typically female sectors according to Pew research.
However, women gained jobs in local governments while men these lost jobs, the report found. Men are more prevalent in industries that suffered more job losses during the recession, such as construction and manufacturing. They gained less jobs in industries that continued to grow during the recession, such as education and health services.