November 28, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Differences between women’s and men’s unemployment rates over the decades

Since the early 1980s, women’s and men’s unemployment rates have been roughly similar.

Unemployment rates by sex, 1970-2005
[Chart data—TXT]

In 2000, the jobless rates for women and men were 4.1 and 3.9 percent, respectively, and were at 30-year lows. The rates rose from 2000 to 2003, but then declined in the next 2 years. The unemployment rates for women and men were equal in 2005 at 5.1 percent.

These data are annual averages from the Current Population Survey. For a wide variety of information on women and work, see BLS Report 996, Women in the Labor Force: A Databook (2006 Edition).