The economic recovery has been different for women than for men, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Women experienced a later start to job loss during the recession and have recovered at a slower pace. National jobs numbers released in January saw women catching up slightly in the last quarter of 2011, although these data were revised this month.

IWPR’s analysis of the revised jobs numbers for November and December, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on February 3, show that women gained 33 percent (265,000) and men gained 67 percent (544,000) of the 809,000 total jobs gained in the last four months (October-January).  The gap between women’s and men’s employment in January is 1.8 million.

According to IWPR analysis: 

• Overall, women have regained about one out of four (23 percent) of the total jobs they lost in the recession while men have gained more than one out of three (34 percent).

• In the last year, from January 2011 to January 2012, of the 2.1 million jobs added to payrolls, 643,000 or 31 percent were filled by women and 1,438,000 or 69 percent were filled by men.

• Since October of 2009, when men’s and women’s total jobs numbers were virtually equal, women have gained 545,000 jobs, whereas men have gained 2,359,000.