Not Having It All

The U.S. public sector is still bleeding jobs--and that's bad news for women. Since the recovery started in 2009, governments have cut almost 650,000 jobs, according to the most recent Labor Department report. Many of those positions--from teachers to local-government staff--are disproportionately held by women. The National Women's Law Center calculated that for every 10 women who have landed a private-sector job in the recovery, four women in the public sector have lost a job. That's compared with a ratio of 10 to 1 for men. Meanwhile, women's education and experience are less likely to match openings in growth areas like technology. One bright spot may lie in the ever expanding health care industry. But as UC Berkeley economist Sylvia Allegretto says, "You can't take someone who works in the public sector and turn her into a nurse overnight."