SACRAMENTO AND LOS ANGELES — California's unemployment rate in May hit 11.5% -- its highest level in more than three decades -- but the pain of losing work isn't being shared equally between the sexes.
The state lost 68,900 jobs in May as unemployment rose from a revised 11.1% in April and 6.8% in May 2008. This is the highest rate since the national record-keeping system began in 1976.
Out of every four jobs lost nationwide since the recession began in December 2007, three have been lost by men.
Some experts have dubbed the phenomenon a "mancession."
In California, the gap between the two groups has been widening since the end of August. Back then, the unemployment rate over the preceding 12 months was the same for men and women, 6.3%. By May, the 12-month rate was 9.6% for men and 8.2% for women.
The result: Pressure on households that once had two earners and were relatively comfortable.
"Now there are many families in which the woman is the sole earner" and the man has been laid off or is working part-time, said Lauren Appelbaum, a UCLA researcher. The loss of the man's earnings makes it hard for once-middle-class families to make ends meet because the average female worker earns just 78% of what a man gets in a similar occupation, Appelbaum said.
Men are suffering more in this downturn because they are heavily represented in construction and manufacturing, two of California's most devastated industries. Women have gravitated toward healthcare, education, government and other service fields that have not shed as many jobs as the male-dominated sectors.
Indeed, Friday's jobs report noted that education and health services were the only parts of the economy that added jobs last month.
The loss of a father's income often leads to cancellation of health insurance for a whole family, said Heather Boushey, senior economist at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank in Washington. And with more women serving as breadwinners when their husbands are unemployed and out searching for work, it's essential that women have access to paid sick leave, she added.
Marian Lorimer is one such woman. Last year, the former stay-at-home mom snagged a job as a substitute special education teacher at a school district near her home in Camarillo. Her husband, Matt, has been looking for work for more than a year after being laid off as a warehouse manager.
