2009: The Year Women Become the Majority of the US Workforce - Building Gender Balanced Business

• With the economic crisis so far costing more men than women their jobs in the US, 2009 looks to be the year when a majority of jobs will be held by women, writes Casey B. Mulligan, a University of Chicago economist.

• After decades of sharp growth, in 1990, the work force was 47% female and 53% male. But there the growth largely stalled, with women never topping 49% — until now.

• In November 2008, more women stopped working in percentage terms than any month since 1964 as the economic crisis hit home. But while perilously high, the number of women who stopped working that month is far smaller than the number of men. Thus the new high in the share of jobs held by women.

• In the 1990-91, 2001 and current recessions, women always lost fewer jobs in percentage terms than men. Thus, the trend in gender presence in the job market looks secure, which makes a majority-women workplace very likely in 2009.

The Economix column in The New York Times