COVID-19 Pandemic Disproportionately Hurting Working Women

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate economic impact on women in ways that could have long-lasting effects on the U.S. economy, according to a report by the Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board.

The report – the latest in a series of Solutions Briefs – cites two critical factors that have magnified COVID-19’s impact on women. First, the lower-wage and service-oriented jobs which have been hardest-hit by the pandemic predominantly employ women. Those sectors include personal service, healthcare support, restaurant servers, food preparation, and administrative support. At the depth of the employment crisis, women’s employment – in absolute numbers – fell to its lowest point since the 1990s and has since only recovered two-thirds of that loss.

Second, women are far more likely than men to bear the brunt of disruptions to childcare and education. Even before the pandemic, mothers of children under age 18 reported spending nearly twice as much time on childcare and housework as fathers.

“This will likely be the first recession in half a century to feature a larger increase in unemployment rates among women than men,” said CED President Lori Esposito Murray. “When talented workers are forced to the sidelines the entire economy is hurt. Employers also miss out on important competitive resources. This catastrophe is a first-order national concern, and business leaders and policymakers must act quickly to respond to it.”

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