A survey of working women finds most in Minnesota and nationwide say good-paying jobs with benefits aren't easy to find.
Many women in Minnesota and around the country report problems finding steady jobs that offer a living wage and basic benefits, according to a new nationwide survey by the AFL-CIO. Almost half say they, or a family member or close friend, were jobless sometime during the past year, said Karen Nussbaum, assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
The results show strong concern about job security in Minnesota, she said.
"Unemployment is 30 percent higher than it was just a few years ago," she noted. "And the health care crisis is one that's hitting Minnesota hard. Average working families pay close to $2,000 in health care premiums a year. And their prescription drug costs have gone up 10 percent in the last year."
Nussbaum said there's also distress among Minnesota women about jobs that don't offer sick leave or retirement benefits, or don't pay the same wages that men get. She said the survey also finds anxiety about moves to eliminate overtime pay and the exporting of American jobs overseas.
"These working women are telling us that they are in a panic about good jobs," she said. "If they have a job, they're afraid to lose it. If they look to the future, they're convinced that their new jobs won't have benefits. A quarter to a third of the women told us that they don't have basic benefits anymore, and worry that it's only going to get worse for their own children."
The telephone survey, conducted in March, involved 1,450 working women nationally. The margin of error is 3.5 percent.
For more information
Visit the national AFL-CIO's special website section on working women, www.aflcio.org
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A survey of working women finds most in Minnesota and nationwide say good-paying jobs with benefits aren’t easy to find.
Many women in Minnesota and around the country report problems finding steady jobs that offer a living wage and basic benefits, according to a new nationwide survey by the AFL-CIO. Almost half say they, or a family member or close friend, were jobless sometime during the past year, said Karen Nussbaum, assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
The results show strong concern about job security in Minnesota, she said.
“Unemployment is 30 percent higher than it was just a few years ago,” she noted. “And the health care crisis is one that’s hitting Minnesota hard. Average working families pay close to $2,000 in health care premiums a year. And their prescription drug costs have gone up 10 percent in the last year.”
Nussbaum said there’s also distress among Minnesota women about jobs that don’t offer sick leave or retirement benefits, or don’t pay the same wages that men get. She said the survey also finds anxiety about moves to eliminate overtime pay and the exporting of American jobs overseas.
“These working women are telling us that they are in a panic about good jobs,” she said. “If they have a job, they’re afraid to lose it. If they look to the future, they’re convinced that their new jobs won’t have benefits. A quarter to a third of the women told us that they don’t have basic benefits anymore, and worry that it’s only going to get worse for their own children.”
The telephone survey, conducted in March, involved 1,450 working women nationally. The margin of error is 3.5 percent.
For more information
Visit the national AFL-CIO’s special website section on working women, www.aflcio.org