New data released by the U.S. Federal Government has shown that women disproportionately fall behind men when it comes to re-entering the workforce post-pandemic. Between January 2020 to January 2022, 1.1 million left the workforce, accounting for 63% of all jobs lost during the period. Whilst male workers have recouped all their lost jobs, women are still short by more than 1.8 million jobs lost since February 2020 according to the National Women’s Law Centre’s (NWLC) analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistic’s report.
Similarly, a report by McKinsey and Co. highlights that women were leaving the workforce at much higher rates than men before the pandemic and COVID has exacerbated this trend. The pandemic shuttered schools and childcare services in order to stem the rise in infections and as a result, 1 in 4 women (versus 1 in 5 men) considered leaving the workforce in order to provide care for their children. The McKinsey report also highlighted that women often feel more exhausted, burnt out and under more pressure than their male colleagues, suggesting that companies need to do more to address these issues.
“While men have recouped lost jobs, women are still in a big hole, and that shows have the pandemic impacts genders in different ways. Women are still the ones that are likely to step in to fill the gap,” said Emily Martin, Vice President for Education and Workplace Justice, NWLC.
Difficulties for women of colour
The NWLC report also demonstrated that unemployment rates among women of colour were higher than those for white women. As of January 2022, 3.6% of all women were jobless yet 5% of Latinas and almost 6% of Black women were unemployed. The most affected group were women with disabilities with near 8% of them reported as being jobless.
“Women of colour face more obstacles in job seeking due to conscious and unconscious bias. They are also more likely to be single parents, and the pandemic makes it harder to find childcare services, which affects their employment. Long periods of unemployment can make it harder to find jobs due to the negative stigma employers associate with gaps in employment. Upon finding a job, these workers may not earn as much as they once did,” Martin said.
Looking ahead, employers need to understand that employee expectations surrounding DEI initiatives are strong. Globally, workers expect employers to be driving forces of change within society. Common hindrances to implementing DEI initiatives including lack of employee awareness and insufficient leadership role modelling are key areas business leaders may want to look to in order to address inequality issues.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
