Job losses hitting men harder than women

To read about this go to Job losses hitting men harder than women. Here are some key exerpts:

"The economic crisis is hitting men much harder than women in the workplace, largely because male-dominated industries like construction and transportation are bearing the brunt of job losses, figures show.

Women, meanwhile, dominate sectors that are still growing, like government and healthcare, experts said.

Four-fifths of the 2.74 million people who lost their jobs between November 2007 and November 2008 were men, Sum said.

The biggest losses came in construction, where men comprise 87 percent of the work force, he said. Large losses also came in manufacturing and wholesale trade, where men make up more than two-thirds of the work force, he said.

"Males were dominant in sectors that were taking a bad hit," he said. "It's men and the blue-collar jobs. It's overwhelming."

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, men's employment as a ratio of the population dropped by 2.7 percent, while the ratio among women's dropped 0.8 percent from December 2007 to December 2008. The unemployment rate among men rose to 7.9 percent from 5.0, while among women, it rose to 6.4 percent from 4.8 percent, the agency said."

I am curious if any of my students have gotten laid off and whether you are male or female. Also, what about friends, relatives, co-workers, etc? Does it seem like more men or women are getting laid off? Of course, San Antonio has not been doing as badly as the rest of the country. In November, the national unemployment rate was 6.8% while it was 5.4% in San Antonio. The national rate went up to 7.2% in January.