Women regain jobs faster than men

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

U.S. women have recovered all the jobs they lost to the Great Recession. The same can’t be said for men, who remain 2.1 million jobs short.

The biggest factor is that men dominate construction and manufacturing — industries that have not recovered millions of jobs lost during the downturn. By contrast, womemake up a disproportionate share of workers in those that have been hiring — retail, education, health care, restaurants and hotels.

In August, 6.8 percent of women were unemployed; 7.7 percent of men were jobless.

All told, 68 million women said they were employed last month. That topped the 67.97 million who had jobs when the recession began in December 2007, the government says.

Among men, 76.2 million were employed last month. That was down from 78.3 million in December 2007.

Since the recession officially ended in June 2009, education and health services have helped drive job growth: That sector added nearly 1.6 million jobs, the second-most of any category. And women gained nearly 1.1 million of them.