As I posted recently, women have been affected less than men in this recession, which given the hit on manufacturing jobs is not surprising. What’s interesting is that women appear poised to become the majority of the workforce, according to this economist’s analysis  in today’s NYTimes:

The terrible bottom line of last Friday’s job report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not surprise many people - there were many fewer jobs in December 2008 than in the previous month.

Much less noticed, however, was Friday’s breakdown by sex of employment declines before December. Is it possible that one legacy of this recession is that women become a majority of the work force for the first time in American history?

Years ago, women were a small percentage of the work force (outside the home). During much of the 20th century - especially the 1970s and 1980s - women’s share of the labor force increased. By 1990, the work force was 47 percent female and 53 percent male, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many view this as one of the most important and desirable social and economic transformations of our lifetimes.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, and until this recession, women remained less than 49 percent of the work force. However, that percentage has now passed 49 percent and may cross the 50 percent threshold for the first time.

 Given the lopsided education outcomes favoring women, this should not come as a surprise. What’s surprising is how soon it’s happening, courtesy of the recession. As for what this means, take a spin through the “social consequences” library on the right.