Like a gale-force wind, COVID-19 has swept throughout the country, state by state. The human toll, whether it met predictions or not, has been catastrophic. Looking at the economic impact, businesses are temporarily closing or going out of business. That leaves millions of hard-working men and women throughout the United States suddenly found themselves losing the seemingly most stable of jobs.
Currently, the unemployment rate has skyrocketed from historically low numbers. Job losses now rival Great Depression-era numbers. Some are hit harder than others. Among that ever-growing group of layoffs, women are paying a higher price when it comes to companies shedding workers.
A Quantum Shift in Job Losses
As businesses shutter operations to contain the coronavirus, female employees are accounting for a majority of the initial 700,000 job losses. Currently, that segment of the workforce is accounting for 60 percent of those left unemployed.
Reasons behind it may be the result of the horrific impact suffered by the hospitality industry, specifically the closing of restaurants, bars, and hotels where females account for a significant part of the workforce. The shuttering of non-social-distance-friendly hair salons, shoe stores, and dentist offices has also wreaked havoc on employment where women dominate staff positions.
The tumultuous turnaround flies in the face of pre-pandemic times three months ago when women held a majority of jobs, outnumbering men, according to company payrolls throughout the United States.
In any other era of mass layoffs, the natural step is to revise a resume or fill out applications. Yet, “pounding the payment” is difficult, if not impossible, in the midst of countless “closed” signs.
