Where the jobs are: Gender differentials in job flows during the great recession

This paper evaluates the gender differences in job flows during the 2007 recession. The recession has been given the moniker "man-cession" due to the large increase in the male unemployment rates.  The objective of this paper is to evaluate whether male unemployment rose in predominantly male industries, or whether men lost proportionally more jobs than women across all sectors in the economy.   I utilize the Quarterly Workforce Indicators, a dataset which measures the job flows by 4 - digit NAICS industry across nearly every private sector job in the United States to compare job flow rates of women and men by industry. 

A series of t - tests on the gender differences in job flows in the recessionary and expansionary periods reveals clear gender differences in the job flows.  In particular, the Great Recession had a more negative impact on the net employment growth rates for women than for men.  I aim to confirm this result using a panel fixed effects analysis of the industry gender job flow differential on a number of controls, including an indicator for the recession, the lagged job flow, the female share of an industry, and industry gross output.  I expect the results of the t - tests to be confirmed by the regression analysis.  This paper provides the first analysis of gender differences in job flows during the Great Recession.  If women or men are differentially impacted by the recession, then public policies can be appropriately geared to aiding workers that are most impacted by cyclical shocks.