There's an interesting demographic shift coming to America as a result of the current economic crises. And this shift represents a milestone in the way families earn the majority of their income.
More and more manufacturing jobs are disappearing, along with the substantially higher wages and medical and pension benefits that these jobs provided. The majority of these jobs were held by men. And for the first time in US history, women may overtake men as a percentage of total people employed.
It's not that the proportion of women who earn a living outside the home is increasing. That number has actually remained quite steady and even dipped a bit during the financial hay days of the late 90's and early 2000's. But as 82% of those who have become unemployed since the economic crunch began are men, it stands to reason that the percentage of women in the work force increases.
Women tend to be employed in fields that are less affected by the economy such as health care and education. They fill a large part of service jobs because the part time nature of these jobs allows them to earn money while still providing care to their children and their home. The Bureau of Labor's November 2008 statistics show that women held 49.1% of the nation's jobs. If farm workers and self employment is taken into account, this figure drops to 47.1%.
If current layoff and unemployment conditions continue, women will become the majority percentage of family breadwinners.
But just because women's jobs may be safer than men's in the short term, the undeniable fact is that these jobs do not pay nearly as well as the jobs that the men have lost. When female full time employment is measured against male full time employment, women earn 80 cents for every dollar earned by men. Factor into that the number of women who work part time, the lack of benefits such as health care and pensions associated with these jobs and it becomes very clear that even though women may be assuming the role of breadwinner in more and more families, they'll be lucky to bring home a full loaf.
Not only will this affect families' financial health, it will also take a toll on a families' emotional health. Even families in which both partners worked full time, the majority of childcare and housework still fell to the women. Whether it be walking the dog, scheduling appointments, or picking up the kids from school and shuttling them after school sporting activities, women simply do more of it than men.
It's anyone's guess how this changing demographic will affect the nation as a whole. There are plenty of men who will pick up where their partners left off, but there will also be plenty more who will have a difficult time doing so as they deal with stained financial circumstances and a spouse who works while they pound the pavement in search of employment.
Author Resource:-
This article was written by Shawn Wilson, a member of the customer support team at Datepad, where internet dating is always free. Datepad has a massive directory of informative dating articles along with a great list of dating site reviews on their dating blog.
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