During a recession, unemployed workers may find that the jobs and professions in which they were engaged, or even entire industries, evaporate. This could be due to technical obsolescence or a structural change in the economy as a result of an economic shock that may have precipitated the recession.
What kind of occupations withstand a downturn?
8 industries with the best job security during a downturn
- Health-care services. People get sick and require medical care regardless of the state of the economy, thus the demand for health-care occupations is fairly stable, even during a downturn.
During a recession, who loses their job?
Women, particularly women of color, have lost more jobs than men in the first ten months of the pandemic, as industries dominated by women have been impacted the hardest. 4 During the recession, women have lost a net of 5.4 million jobs. 5nearly a million more job losses among women than among males. 6 These patterns are exemplified by the employment losses in December: Women of color, Hispanic women, and Asian women accounted for all of the job losses that month, with 154,000 Black women dropping out completely. 7 This push of work losses, combined with the pull of increasing caregiving at home8, has resulted in the first-ever “she-cession,” according to Dr. C. Nicole Mason. 9 The lack of Congress and the federal government to act quickly has only harmed families’ precarious financial security and has the potential to undermine women’s careers and the US economy as a whole.
These consequences, however, are not predetermined. They are the outcome of legislators’ decisions, which usually include decisions not to address systemic disparities, upgrade labor norms, build a strong social safety net, or invest in caregiving. The COVID-19 recession is unlike any other in recent memory, and it will necessitate remedies that diverge from typical recovery strategies. In order to secure a broad and deep recoveryone that is critical to the performance of the entire US economywomen and their families require strong, structural policy changes that prioritize their economic security. In order to achieve a gender-equitable recovery, lawmakers must implement urgent COVID-19 relief as well as the effective, long-term measures suggested in this brief that promote women’s work and caregiving in the long run, such as:
Without these progressive remedies, the status quo will persist, jeopardizing women’s advancement and economic success in the United States.
Women were already struggling to manage work and care before the pandemic
Economic precarity was already a reality for many women and their families prior to the pandemic-induced recession. Women made up 21.4 million of the world’s poorest people in 2018. 10 In 2019, about 11 million children lived in poverty, accounting for 14.4% of all children under the age of 18. 11 By the time the coronavirus pandemic began, women’s labor force participation had not yet recovered to its 2000 peak,12 and workers faced slow wage growth that failed to keep up with productivity development. 13
Long-standing gender biases and inequities contribute to the segregation of women into low-paid occupations14 and the continuing gender wage gap.
15 In 2019, the median annual earnings for full-time year-round working women were $47,299, or 82 percent of men’s wages. 16 Due to the existence of intersecting gender, racial, and ethnic biases, most women of colorparticularly Black, Hispanic, and Native American womenexperience a bigger wage disparity. These groups are also overrepresented in jobs in the service and care industries, which are frequently regarded necessary yet underpaid. 17
The predominant role that women play in caring for their families contributes to their lower salaries. Women are more likely to be burdened with a variety of family caregiving obligations, such as caring for children at home, managing household needs, scheduling appointments and activities, and so on, which costs them money. 18 Many working women, particularly the 64.2 percent of mothers who were the major or co-breadwinners for their families in 2017, lack access to supportive work-family policies that would allow them to work full-time while still caring for their children. 19 In 2019, a large proportion of women worked part-time: 17.3 million, roughly double the number of males working part-time. 20 And 84 percent of these women worked part-time for reasons other than economics, such as family obligations. 21 Women are in this hazardous position due to a lack of legislation in the United States that support both employment and caregiving, which is based on long-held preconceptions and sometimes racist and sexist prejudices that devalue them’s responsibilities and require women to balance it all. 22
Child care has long been underfunded, leaving child care providers with razor-thin profit margins, low-paying child care workers, and many families without access to cheap, high-quality care.
23 In addition, the United States is a global outlier in failing to assure that workers have access to any sort of paid leave. Only 21% of civilian workers had access to paid family leave to care for their families in 2020,24 and Black and Hispanic workers were less likely to have access than white workers. 25 Workers and their families lose $28.9 billion in income per year due to a lack of affordable child care and comprehensive paid family and medical leave, a figure that is certain to climb during the pandemic. 26
Many women of color face particular difficulties, as they are more likely to work in occupations that pay less, offer fewer benefits, and provide less access to child care while managing the combined consequences of racial, ethnic, and gender inequality. Despite the fact that women of color do important economic tasks, they are rarely treated with the dignity that such work demands. 27 At the same time, they provide critical financial assistance to their families in order to help them get by. In 2018, more than two-thirds of Black women and 41.4 percent of Latina mothers, compared to 37 percent of white mothers, were the primary breadwinners for their families. 28 Due to long-standing expectations that they work outside the homeoften in jobs providing care to white familiesblack, Asian, and Hispanic women have higher rates of labor force participation than white women29, but they are less likely to have access to paid leave and workplace flexibility to manage their caregiving responsibilities.
The coronavirus economic crisis has harmed women the most
From employment losses to caring issues, women have been the hardest hit by the pandemic-induced recession. The lack of laws or a social safety net to protect women and families, along with the chaotic and severely defective management of the coronavirus pandemic and the following economic collapse, has only pushed millions of women farther into financial misery.
The pandemic-induced recession is the first to cost women more jobs than men
The recession’s disproportionate impact on women has been obvious and striking from the start. Every prior recession has had an impact on the financial markets or goods-producing industries, where men make up the majority of the workforce, adding to their disproportionate employment loss. 30 The recession caused by the coronavirus is distinct: It has mostly affected the service industry, where women are overrepresented, owing to prolonged occupational segregation. 31 Furthermore, caring obligations have pushed more women out of the workforce than men. Because of these interconnected difficulties, women have lost the majority of their employment for the first time in history during a recession. 32
The pandemic’s forced shutdowns and physical separation, as well as the resulting drop in economic activity, have harmed specific industriesoften low-wage occupations with a lot of consumer interactionin which women are disproportionately employed. In the next months, the recent uptick in cases is expected to accentuate these tendencies. 33 Employees in the leisure and hospitality industry53 percent of whom were womensaw the most job losses during the recession as Americans ceased traveling and staying in hotels, watching live entertainment, and eating out at bars and restaurants. 34 Similarly, as schools closed and shifted to virtual learning, child care providers closed, and non-essential health procedures were halted, workers in the education and health services industrieswhere women make up a staggering 77 percent of the workforcesaw significant job losses, accounting for 13 percent of all jobs lost during the recession. 35 Employees in the federal, state, and local governments have all lost jobs as a result of the decrease in tax revenue. 36 This was especially damaging for women, who made up 58 percent of government employees37, and especially for Black women, who made up over 18 percent of public sector workers38, more than tripling their percentage of the general workforce. 39
During the pandemic-induced recession, women have lost a net of 5.4 million employment, compared to 4.4 million for males. (Refer to Figure 1) This means that women have only reclaimed 55% of the 12.1 million jobs they lost at the start of the pandemic. 40 Nearly two-fifths of unemployed women aged 20 and up had been out of employment for six months or longer. 41
During a recession, what happens to jobs?
When firms fail, their assets are sold to other businesses, and their former employees are rehired by other competitive enterprises, as is the regular course of business. Because numerous businesses across various industries and markets collapse at the same time during a recession, the number of unemployed workers looking for new opportunities rises quickly. The amount of labor available for immediate hire increases, but business need for new employees decreases. Economists would expect such an increase in supply and drop in demand to result in a lower price (in this example the average pay) but not necessarily a lower total number of jobs once the price adjusts in a perfect, frictionless operating market.
In a recession, does employment fall?
When the term “recession” is used to characterize specific periods of economic downturn, it usually refers to the official recession dates set by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s business-cycle-dating committee (NBER). The NBER recession periods used to correlate with times of declining employment, but this link began to break down with the 1990-91 recession. For the current recession, job growth started fell below zero in early 2007, months before the official start of the downturn, and has continued to decline even until the second quarter of 2009, when most analysts expect the downturn to end. As a result, the recession’s effects should be quantified beginning in the second quarter of 2007 using the most recent statistics available.
Typically, the impacts of a recession on employment are viewed as the difference in employment levels at the beginning and end of a recessionary period.
However, this assumes that if the recession had not occurred, there would have been no job growth. The recession, on the other hand, not only causes a decline in employment from pre-crisis levels, but it also limits employment growth that would otherwise occur. In calculating the total effects of the recession on employment, this “foregone” employment must be taken into account. Because average employment growth varies greatly among demographic groupings, this factor is especially important for current purposes.
Medical professional
Within the medical field, there are numerous vocations and specialties. This group includes Registered Nurses (RNs), pharmacists, physicians, surgeons, paramedics, dentists, dental assistants, and even veterinarians. People and animals become ill regardless of the economy, thus they will always require the assistance of trained professionals.
Specialized care, therapy, and counseling
Consider elder care, physical therapists, occupational therapy, substance-abuse counseling, chiropractic treatment, home health aides, mental health specialists, social workers, and other professionals who operate in this field. People place a high importance on their health. They will spend money on services that will help them to be productive while also being pain-free. Some of these services are covered by insurance, encouraging consumers to use them even when they are short on cash.
Law enforcement officers
The specific link between crime and economic cycles is difficult to pin down. Some crimes predict a downturn, while others coincide with it, and still others show no link at all. Communities prefer to invest in physical safety for local companies and citizens in any economic scenario, which means that police officers and the professionals who support them are in high demand even during a downturn.
Public utility services
During economic downturns, electric, water, sewage, waste, trash, and recycling services all continue to operate. Utility personnel, after all, are essential to ensuring public order and health. Surprisingly, consultants that serve those utilities appear to get the same benefit. Many cities, for example, are obligated to undertake annual audits of their trash-collection companies. Even in a down economy, consulting businesses that undertake such audits will have work to do.
Financial services
The importance of money mobility explains why financial specialists are always in demand. Accountants, auditors, actuaries, claims adjusters, tax preparers, and insurance underwriters are just a few of the employment available in the financial services industry. Many jobs necessitate professional certificates such as Enrolled Agent (EA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), or Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) (Chartered Financial Analyst).
Education services
Economic booms come and go, but putting money for the future is always a good idea. Regardless of the economy, jobs in primary education, secondary school, higher education, special education, and adult education are in high demand. Those interested in following this path should be aware that the method education is given is changing. New types of distant and on-demand education are becoming more relevant in addition to traditional classroom educators. As a result, a teaching career might be flexible in terms of both location and delivery manner.
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During a recession, who suffers the most?
The groups who lost the most jobs during the Great Recession were the same ones that lost jobs throughout the 1980s recessions.
Hoynes, Miller, and Schaller use demographic survey and national time-series data to conclude that the Great Recession has harmed males more than women in terms of job losses. However, their research reveals that men have faced more cyclical labor market outcomes in earlier recessions and recoveries. This is partly due to the fact that men are more likely to work in industries that are very cyclical, such as construction and manufacturing. Women are more likely to work in industries that are less cyclical, such as services and government administration. While the pattern of labor market effects across subgroups in the 2007-9 recession appears to be comparable to that of the two early 1980s recessions, it did have a little bigger impact on women’s employment, while the effects on women were smaller in this recession than in previous recessions. The effects of the recent recession were felt most acutely by the youngest and oldest workers. Hoynes, Miller, and Schaller also discover that, in comparison to the 1980s recovery, the current recovery is affecting males more than women, owing to a decrease in the cyclicality of women’s employment during this period.
The researchers find that the general image of demographic patterns of responsiveness to the business cycle through time is one of stability. Which groups suffered the most job losses during the Great Recession? The same groups that suffered losses during the 1980s recessions, and who continue to have poor labor market outcomes even in good times. As a result, the authors conclude that the Great Recession’s labor market consequences were distinct in size and length from those of past business cycles, but not in type.
How many individuals were laid off in 2008?
In 2008, President Bush’s final year in office, the country lost 3.55 million people. President Barack Obama’s first year in office resulted in a loss of $5.05 million. 8.6 million dollars were lost in all.
Is the Great Depression considered an epoch?
The Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 to 1939, was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. It all started after the October 1929 stock market crash, which plunged Wall Street into a frenzy and wiped out millions of investors.
Is a recession expected in 2023?
Rising oil prices and other consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Goldman Sachs, will cut US GDP this year, and the probability of a recession in 2023 has increased to 20% to 30%.
How long does the average recession last?
Since 1857, the average length of a recession has been less than 17.5 months. Since the days of the Buchanan administration, recessions have been shorter and less severe. The long-term average includes the 1873 recession, a 65-month kidney stone of a dip. The Great Depression, which lasted 43 months, is also included.
Recessions have gotten less severe in the years since World War II, lasting an average of 11.1 months. Part of this is because, owing to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, bank failures no longer result in the loss of your life savings, and the Federal Reserve has gotten (somewhat) better at managing the country’s money supply.
The Great Recession, which lasted 18 months from December 2007 to June 2009, was the longest post-World War II recession. The two-month Pandemic Recession, on the other hand, contributed to a reduction in the average length of recession.