SUPA Economics

The burdens of a recession are not spread evenly across demographic groups. As the public and media noticed, from the start of the current recession in December 2007 through June 2009 men accounted for more than three-quarters of net job losses. Other differences have garnered less atten- tion but are just as interesting. During the same period, the employment of single people fell at more than twice the rate that it did for married people and the decline for black workers was one and a half times that for white workers. To provide a more complete understanding of the effect of reces- sions, this paper examines the different effects of this and previous recessions across a range of demographic categories: sex, marital status, race, age, and education level. (JEL E32, J20, R12)

"Current Issues in Economics and Finance
Concise studies of topical economic and financial issues

Editors: Linda Goldberg and Charles Steindel"

"Table A-15. Alternative measures of labor underutilization"

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"In this report, St. Louis Fed Economist Howard Wall takes the different effects of the recession on men and women as a starting point and examines employment experiences across a range of other demographic categories-marital status, race, age and education. The purpose is to understand more about what recessions mean to people. Such information should give us an idea of what needs to be done to address the effects of the current recession and to better prepare for future ones. "

The condition of the U.S. labor market has been deteriorating rapidly during the current recession. Payroll employment declined by close to 7 million and the unemployment rate increased to 9.7%, the highest level since 1983. Interestingly, a breakdown of the employment figures shows that, the current recession has had a more adverse effect on men than women.