Recession can hit hard in families headed by women
USA TODAY
By Barbara Hagenbaugh
August 21, 2009
Single mom Linda Qualls of Philadelphia has been struggling to make ends meet for her and her three daughters since she was laid off from her job as a payroll clerk for the city of Philadelphia in January.
Qualls, 39, had to apply for food stamps and government medical assistance, experiences that she said were "a little hurtful as far as my pride."
But Qualls is trying to stay optimistic.
She will complete a nursing certificate program in August and plans to continue on to become a registered nurse while working at night. She is collecting unemployment benefits and receives child support.
"I am doing the best that I can," says Qualls, mom to Aliyah, 14, Autumn, 5, and Adia, 3. "They encourage me, 'Mom, you can do it, you can be a nurse.' They are my inspiration."
Recession worsens problem
Even in good times, women who are heads of household are far more likely to be unemployed than women who are married. But the recession has amplified the gap: The unemployment rate for women who head households was 10.8% in March, vs. 5.4% for women who are married and live with their spouses. The overall unemployment rate was 8.5% in March, the highest in a quarter-century.
"Married people tend to fare better than unmarried people," says Donna Ginther, associate professor of economics and director of the Center for Economic and Business Analysis at the University of Kansas.
Behind the gap:
Women who are married and lose their jobs may be able to drop out of the labor force and wait for the economy to improve, living on their husbands' income. In that case, a woman is not considered unemployed.
A single woman likely cannot wait to look for a new job.
"If you're a single wage earner, there is nothing to fall back on," says Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank.
Married women tend to have higher levels of education than women who are single. In 2007, 32% of married women had bachelor's degrees or greater compared with 18% of women who were separated, widowed or divorced. Adding in women who have never married, 23% of all single women had at least a bachelor's degree, according to the Census Bureau based on data for women who are 25 and older.
Women and men with higher levels of education are more likely to hold a job. In March, the unemployment rate for those with at least a college degree was 4.3% compared with 13.3% for those without a high school diploma and 9% for those who graduated from high school but did not go to college.
"Economic cycles hit lower-skilled populations far more than higher-skilled populations," Brookings Institution senior fellow Rebecca Blank says.
Jessica Hernandez of Avondale, Ariz., has been looking for work since December and recently completed a community college program in medical billing and coding. But she hasn't gotten a single job interview.
With her savings running out, Hernandez, 34, is worried about the impact on her 10-year-old son, Christian.
"He's been very brave; I'm very proud of him," says Hernandez, who is volunteering in the medical billing department at a hospital to get experience while also widening her job search to outside the field.
"He knows that he doesn't get certain things," says Hernandez, who says her ex-husband does not pay child support. "His birthday is coming up next month; he knows he probably won't be able to have a birthday party."
Help from friends
Peggy Garberick, 55, was laid off from her job as a computer programmer at a manufacturing company in December. She has been able to find some contract work to support herself and her 17-year-old daughter, Stephanie, but money is getting tight. When her stove died recently, members of her synagogue pooled money to help buy a new one.
"I have tried to keep my bills paid off, but it's going to be tough" this month, says Garberick of Long Lake, Minn., who has a bachelor's degree. Her ex-husband is disabled and does not pay child support. Stephanie is graduating from high school in June and is going to the University of Minnesota in Duluth next year.
"I'm trying to figure out how to bring some extra income in, but it's tough," she says.
Ginther and Blank said this recession will be a test for the welfare-to-work programs designed more than a decade ago to steer people off welfare into jobs. Many of the people who were part of that program are likely finding themselves unemployed now, without as broad of a safety net as they had before welfare reform, they said.
"In the 1990s, we took a lot of women who were on welfare and sent them to work," Ginther says. "Things went better than expected for these people during the 2001 recession. My guess is they are getting hit pretty hard right now."
A9JC-08-21-01Reproduced with permission from USA Today Online via Copyright Clearance Center (27760140)
