Women set to outnumber men at work in America

One person's adversity is often another's opportunity. That's certainly proving to be the case in recession-hit North America. A spurt in firing of men and hiring of women has resulted in women now outnumbering men in the Canadian workforce, accounting for 50.9% of the country's 14 million salaried workers. 

    In the US, too, women now hold 49.8% of the country's 132 million jobs and are projected to cross the 50% mark by the first quarter of 2010 when the US will have—according to President Barack Obama—come out of recession. 
    The USA Today has described this as a historic reversal caused by long-term changes in women's roles and job losses for men during recession. "Women are gaining the majority of jobs in the few sectors of the economy that are growing,'' the newspaper said. As a matter of fact, at the current pace, women could even outnumber male workers in the US by November this year. 
    Across the border in Canada, there are 160,000 more women in jobs than men, according to The Toronto Star. "Women's paid employment hit an all-time high in March at 50.9%, when 233,000 more women were employed,'' the newspaper quoted analyst Ted Wannell as saying. Women continue to earn less than men 
    More women than men may be holding jobs in Canada today, but it's not the first time that it has happened. Nobody in Canada really noticed that in 2007 women first tip-toed across this employment threshold for three months from February to April. But women's dominance in paid employment this year clearly marks a turning point. 
    In the US, gender transformation is particularly visible in local governments' 14.6 million work force. Cities, schools, water authorities and other local jurisdictions have cut out 86,000 men from their payrolls during the recession while adding 167,000 women, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. 
    The postal service is cutting tens of thousands of unionised, blue collar jobs dominated by men while recruitments are expanding in teaching and other fields dominated by college-educated women. 
    However, analysts added a caveat—they say the figures could be red herrings and that historic milestones hold little promise for women in their longstanding battle for economic equality. 
    The Toronto Star reported that women still made up about 70% of part-time workers and 60% of minimum wage earners in Canada. "Nearly 40% are employed in precarious jobs that are generally poorly paid with little or no benefits such as pensions,'' the newspaper said. And the average full-time, full-year female worker still earns just 71.4 cents for every dollar earned by a man working similar hours, according to the latest Statistics Canada data from 2007. 
    In the US, the boost has come due to massive job cuts in male-dominated professions such as construction and manufacturing. The only parts of the economy still growing are health care and education where governments have traditionally hired women. 
    Labour economist Heidi Hartmann says the change reflects the growing importance of women as wage earners, but it doesn't show full equality. "On average, women work fewer hours than men, hold more part-time jobs and earn 77% of what men make.'' TNN