Industries Where Women Lost the Most Jobs Last Year

2020 was a rough year for the economy all around due to the pandemic. Shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders significantly crimped many industries, leading to significant job losses. These losses hit women especially hard.

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In order to find the industries where women lost the most jobs in 2020, GOBankingRates looked at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “Table B-5. Employment of women on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted.” This revealed that such industries as leisure and hospitality, information, government and education and health services were heavily hit. Many of those industries are still struggling to recover. All data was collected on and up to date as of March 29, 2021. Read on to see where women lost the most jobs last year.

• Total women employees, January 2020: 990,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 983,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -7,000
• % change in women employees, 2020: -0.71%

Construction sector jobs include building and engineering projects ranging from homes and office buildings to highways and utility systems, among many others.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 5,006,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 4,961,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -45,000
• % change in women employees, 2020: -0.90%

Jobs in this industry refer to finance and insurance positions (helping consumers raise, manage, grow and invest funds), as well as jobs in real estate and leasing, where people earn income through renting, leasing or selling properties and other assets.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 1,508,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 1,452,800
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -55,200
• % change in women employees, 2020: -3.66%

This sector includes jobs that provide transportation of both passengers and cargo, the warehousing and storage of goods and supported activities related to transportation.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 9,830,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 9,451,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -379,000
• % change in women employees, 2020: -3.86%

Professional and business services covers three service areas: professional, scientific and technical services are those that require expertise and significant training, including legal advice, bookkeeping, architectural design, engineering and a variety of consulting services. It also includes jobs in management and enterprise sectors and administrative and waste management and remediation services, such as: office administration, hiring and placing of personnel, document preparation and similar clerical services, solicitation, collection, security and surveillance services, cleaning and waste disposal services.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 1,723,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 1,653,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -70,000
• % change in women employees, 2020: -4.06%

In this industry, people sell nondurable goods to other businesses. Nondurable goods are those that have a life expectancy of fewer than three years, such as paper products, chemicals and chemical products, textiles, apparel, footwear, groceries, farm products, petroleum and tobacco, to name a few.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 7,725,800
• Total women employees, December 2020: 7,325,900
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -399,900
• % change in women employees, 2020: -5.18%

This sector consists of jobs where retailers sell merchandise in small quantities to the general public. These are both in-store and non-store retailers.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 18,970,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 17,978,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -992,000
• % change in women employees, 2020: -5.23%

The educational services sector is composed of jobs providing instruction and training in any number of subjects, through a variety of settings, from educational institutions to distance-learning methods. The healthcare and social assistance sector is composed of jobs where employees provide healthcare and social assistance to individuals.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 1,775,300
• Total women employees, December 2020: 1,678,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -97,300
• % change in women employees, 2020: -5.48%

Wholesalers are an intermediary in the distribution of merchandise. They sell products to retailers for resale to consumers.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 13,162,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 12,332,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -830,000
• % change in women employees, 2020: -6.31%

These are jobs within any level of government, be they city, county, state or federal.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 91,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 84,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -7,000
• % change in women employees, 2020: -7.69%

These jobs are those located within the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector, as well as the mining, quarrying and oil, and gas extraction sector.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 1,152,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 1,062,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -90,000
• % change in women employees, 2020: -7.81%

Jobs in the information section revolve around the production and distribution of information and cultural products and transmitting and distributing these products and data. It includes such industries as publishing, the motion picture and sound recording industries, broadcasting and telecommunications.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 3,170,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 2,898,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -272,000
• % change in women employees, 2020: -8.58%

The other services sector refers to all other industries that don’t fall under an easy classification system. This includes such fields as equipment and machinery repairing, religious activities, grant making, advocacy, providing dry cleaning and laundry services, personal care services, death care services and many more.

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• Total women employees, January 2020: 8,979,000
• Total women employees, December 2020: 6,972,000
• Total change in women employees, 2020: -2,007,000
• % change in women employees, 2020: -22.35%

Leisure and hospitality comprise of two sectors. The first is the arts, entertainment and recreation sector, which includes establishments that operate facilities or provide services that provide entertainment, recreation or culture to patrons, such as museums, amusement parks, nightclubs and related facilities.

Additionally, it includes the accommodation and food services sector, which comprises those establishments that provide lodging and/or meals, snacks and beverages.

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Methodology: In order to find the industries where women lost the most jobs in 2020, GOBankingRates looked at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “Table B-5. Employment of women on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted.” With this data in hand, GOBankingRates then found for each industry: (1) January 2020 total women employees in that industry; (2) December 2020 total women employees in that industry; (3) total change in women employees for each industry in 2020; and (4) the percent change in women employees for each industry. All data was collected on and up to date as of March 29, 2021.