Graph for the Day, October 27, 2010

By Janice Shaw Crouse

Call it a "hecession." Job losses fell disproportionately on the shoulders of Massachusetts men for the past few years, underscoring the shift in the economy favoring knowledge workers. ... "Over the last 10 or 15 years, more and more of our college graduates are women, and the gaps are huge," said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern, who co-authored Northeastern's research on the "Massachusetts economy and the vanishing male worker," along with Paul Harrington, associate director of the center. "So as a result, women under 35 are better educated than men. If the labor market is staying stronger for college graduates, women will benefit."

- Boston Business Journal (June 21, 2010)

A number of industries in New York state, including financial services, terminated at least five percent of their workers in the current recession, which has fallen harder on men, minorities, and those without college degrees, a report said on Tuesday. The financial services sector, which powers New York's economy, shed 44,200 jobs, a 6.1 percent decline in the work force, according to the report by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Almost 60 percent of the losses were at securities companies, which sent out 26,000 pink slips, decreasing the work force by 12.5 percent. On a percentage basis, Wall Street's decline was the biggest. - Reuters (February 16, 2010)

Index of Changes in Employment - December 2007 to September 2010

Decrease in Total Employment: 6.78 million

Decrease in Male Employment: 4.66 million

Decrease in Female Employment: 2.12 million

Data source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Calculations by author.

Janice Shaw Crouse, author of Children at Risk (Transaction, 2010), heads the Beverly LaHaye Institute, the think tank for Concerned Women for America.