The man-cession is finally over

Public sector employment held up pretty well in the recession and into 2010. One reason was the Obama Democrats’ February 2009 stimulus package, one-third of which was aid to state and local governments — where most jobs are held by women.

This was an attempt to maintain employment among public-sector union members. Such unions account for most union members, and unions channeled $400 million to Democratic campaigns in the 2008 campaign cycle.

But now the stimulus funds have run out, and public sector payrolls are falling.

This helps to account for the fact, highlighted in a recent Pew Research report and a Washington Post news story, that from June 2009 to May 2011, the number of men with jobs has risen by 768,000 while the number of women with jobs has fallen by 218,000.

The man-cession has become a (not large) man-covery.