SEATTLE, Oct. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The pandemic-led
recession is disproportionately hurting women in the workforce and
is more likely to threaten their housing security. A new Zillow
analysis finds women are more likely than men to be unemployed,
renters and caregivers during the coronavirus pandemic, thereby
increasing their risk of becoming severely cost-burdened by
housing.
The pandemic has been a startling setback for women who had been
narrowing the gender gap in recent years. At the beginning of the
year, more women than ever before were in the workforce, incomes
were rising along with the home values of women-headed households.
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only interrupted this period of
growth, but may have pushed women backward in housing and
employment by impacting their participation in the workforce and
their potential earnings well into the future.
The Female Face of Unemployment
"She-cession" was a term coined1 to describe the
disparate impacts this pandemic's recession is having on women
after the 2008 financial crisis was dubbed the "mancession" for the
ways in which men were more severely impacted by Wall Street's
collapse. However, the similarities end with the
moniker. A new Zillow analysis finds that year-over-year
unemployment claims are 10 times higher for women during this
pandemic than what men experienced in the Great Recession.
Women are more likely to work in service-sector industries,
which are the most affected by the pandemic, and are feeling the
effects of unemployment much more severely. In May,
unemployment claims for women were up 1,368% year over year.
At the peak of the Great Recession in 2009, unemployment claims for
men were up 137% year over year. At the peak of the
COVID-19-driven recession in May, unemployment claims for men were
up 983% year over year, a record high, but still significantly less
than the spike women experienced. Black and Latinx women are
faring even worse, with persistent double-digit unemployment rates
as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Four times as many women as men left the workforce in September
alone. That adds up to nearly 865,000 women or 80% of all workers
who dropped out of the labor force last month.
Unemployment and underemployment have put a strain on the
ability of women-led households to afford housing. A Zillow survey
from the Harris Poll2 found that women were more likely
to say they would not be able to make the current month's housing
payment - rent or mortgage - if their household lost a primary
source of income.
"Direct rental assistance and extending unemployment assistance
could help women cover housing payment obligations and keep women
afloat and in their homes for the time being," said Zillow Senior
Economist Cheryl Young. "However,
these are short-term fixes. Longer term solutions like
creating more affordable housing stock, economic policies that
assist working parents, and increased voucher availability, are
vital to ensuring that housing burdens don't fall
disproportionately on women."
Renters at Risk
Previous Zillow research illustrates how renters have been hit
hardest in this recession, and female householders overall are more
likely to be renters; 37 percent of female householders are
renters, compared to 31 percent for men.
According to Zillow's analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's
American Community Survey data, 45 percent of female renter
households are cost-burdened, spending more than 30 percent of
their income on housing, compared to 36 percent of male renter
households. Nearly a quarter (24%) of female renter households are
severely cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than half their
income on housing, compared to 17 percent of male renter
households.
Women of color are even more likely to be cost-burdened by
housing. More than half (51%) of Latinx female renter households
and 49 percent of Black female renter households are
cost-burdened. More than a quarter (27%) of both Hispanic and
Black female renter households are severely cost-burdened. Any loss
of income, even temporarily, puts cost-burdened renter households
at risk of housing instability.
Child Care Crisis
Mothers of school-age children are reportedly taking longer to
regain their employment, as many child care centers remain closed
and schools turn to virtual or hybrid learning models. A Zillow
analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse
survey3 shows working mothers were three times more
likely than working fathers to cite child care as the main reason
they were out of work (22.1% of mothers, 7.7% of fathers).
Beyond the social and cultural pressures on women to be the
primary caretakers in their households, there are significantly
more female-headed households led by single parents. Female-headed
renter households are more than twice as likely as male-headed
renter households to be single parents -- 70 percent of mothers who
are household heads are single parents, compared to only 32 percent
of fathers.
Reports suggest the double hit of being more likely to work
in industries affected by layoffs, and being the main caretaker of
children will affect women's labor force participation and earnings
trajectories for decades to come.
An Uncertain Outlook
Prior to the current coronavirus outbreak, women-led households
were on an upward trajectory. Home values of female-headed
households have been creeping closer to home values overall.
The ratio of women's home values to home values overall is 95.9
percent as of August 2020, up from
91.9 percent a decade ago, signifying there is progress being made.
In labor, women were making up a larger share of the workforce and
seeing incomes rise, possibly contributing to the increase in home
values. This new analysis from Zillow finds that without
interventions, these slow and steady improvements toward housing
equality may be jeopardized by this unequal recession.
About Zillow
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building an on-demand real estate experience. Whether selling,
buying, renting or financing, customers can turn to Zillow's
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In addition to for-sale and rental listings, Zillow Offers buys
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purchase.
Millions of people visit Zillow Group sites every month to start
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Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z and
ZG).
1 "She-cession" is a term reportedly coined by labor
economist Armine Yalnizyan
2 This survey was conducted online within
the United States by The Harris
Poll on behalf of Zillow from May
4-6, 2020 among 2,065 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. This
online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no
estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For
complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and
subgroup sample sizes, please contact press@zillow.com.
3 The U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse survey
covers 12 weeks of the pandemic from April
23rd through July 21, 2020.
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SOURCE Zillow