WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. labor market since the end of the recession has improved at a faster pace for men than for women, a private research group said.
The Pew Research Center said men have gained 768,000 jobs since the recession ended and the sluggish recovery began.
For women, jobs have been lost since the recovery began.
Losing 218,000 jobs from June 2009 through May 2011 has increased the unemployment rate for women by 0.2 percentage points to 8.5 percent.
For men, the jobs gained have reduced their unemployment rate by 1.1 percentage points to 9.5 percent, the Pew Research Center said.
The Pew Research Center analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the study.
Data shows men have fared better in all but one of 16 major business sectors.
In state government jobs, women added jobs during the study period, while men lost them.
In retail, however, men gained employment, while women have lost ground. In healthcare, education, and professional and business services, men added jobs at a faster pace than women. In construction and local government, men have lost jobs at a slower pace than women.
While the tepid recovery has favored men, the recession was twice as hard for men as it was for women. Men lost 71 percent of the 7.5 million jobs that evaporated from December 2009 through June 2009, the study found.
