About 70% of Jobless Women Over 40 Are Long-Term Unemployed

(Bloomberg) -- For mid-career women currently out of a job in the U.S., most of them have been unemployed for at least six months, pointing to further inequality in the labor market recovery.

Almost 70% of jobless women over 40 are long-term unemployed, according to an AARP study conducted in June and published Wednesday. Those who are off the payroll for that long typically take much longer to find a job and, when they do, make less than they did before, the report showed.

Women in the workforce have generally been hit harder than men during the pandemic as they disproportionately account for caretaker roles. It’s been even harder for those who are later on in their careers and cite ageism as the most common type of discrimination in hiring, AARP said. 

While the latest jobs report showed the share of unemployed workers who had been out of work for at least 27 weeks abated from a March peak, it’s still historically high at 37.4%, more than double the average over the last seven decades. It’s even more acute among Americans 55 and over at 49.3%.

The latest jobs report also showed the national unemployment rate fell to 5.2%, and it’s slightly lower for women overall.

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