Publication
In the year since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Hampshire, hardships facing Granite Staters have been caused by both public health risks as well as the economic crisis spurred by sudden shifts in the labor market and available jobs. While many of the most severe effects of the COVID-19 crisis have subsided, levels and the composition of employment have not yet returned to the pre-pandemic status. Additionally, many of those most impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 crisis may have been among the least prepared to weather the economic shock due to the uneven nature of the recovery from the last recession.
Impact
- March 30, 2021
- Kristin Schumacher
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many Californians and Americans to unprecedented economic instability, but many women in California were already struggling to pay the bills prior to the onset of the economic crisis. According to the California Women’s Well-Being Index, in a five-year period leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, many women across the state were experiencing economic hardship — and this was happening during the longest period of economic growth on record. California women faced a significant wage gap, and women were more likely than men to earn low wages and to live in poverty. Pre-pandemic hardship and lack of economic security was particularly acute for American Indian, Black, Latinx, and Pacific Islander women in California.
Publication
The COVID-19 pandemic has uprooted much of life as we know it and it also has preyed upon the worst of our pre-existing conditions. A year of COVID and its negative effects have not been evenly felt, both in health and economic terms. The cracks in Colorado’s public funding and economic system were fully exposed and the workers who make our communities function were pushed beyond their limits.
Publication
Overall, the pandemic economy has not been kind to women, particularly women of color. Since March 2020, women have lost 5.4 million net jobs, nearly 1 million more than men. Service industries that tend to have higher concentrations of women workers, including women of color, were the hardest hit by the virus. Pre-pandemic, those jobs often paid less and offered fewer benefits—like health care or paid leave—that might have helped women better weather this particular crisis. Frankly, the pre-pandemic economy wasn’t particularly kind to women either, especially women of color and immigrant women who were more likely to work in these industries.