In the last five years, many a laid off worker has sought that elusive creature: a recession proof job. In the early years of the recession, women did better than men in the labor market, leading to calls of a "mancession." Then, men started to catch up as female-dominated industries like local government and education were hit by budget cuts.
The bottom line is that it's hard to guarantee you will never be laid off in a recession. However, you can boost your chances of finding another job during tough economic times by picking a field that is projected to grow for several decades, keeping your training current and being flexible enough to adapt as unexpected events occur.
It's certainly far from easy street for most women in the job market. According to the Women's Institute for Public Policy Research, the wage gap has stagnated for the last decade, meaning women have earned about 77 cents for every dollar a comparable man earns. That means progress has stalled, since in the previous decade the wage gap closed by almost four percentage points, and by over ten percentage points between 1980 and 1991.
Photo credit: Getty Images
More: