Job Loss and Demoralization: Do Women Fare Better than Men?

Abstract

The flight of capital to the Sunbelt and overseas has dramatically affected the people and economies of many communities. Investigations of the personal and social costs of this flight have focused largely on the experience of white, middle-aged males: for this group, the various effects of plant shutdowns have been documented-long-term underemployment or unemployment, income loss, loss of family savings, and negative impacts on physical and mental health [1-3]. 1 But we know little about whether, and to what degree, such effects are experienced by other classes of terminated workers. For example, very few of the studies that have been conducted include more than a handful of women workers, and there have been few studies of the effects of unemployment on women in general. In this paper we shall assess the impact on workers of the shutdown of a plant, in a small community, that had employed predominantly women workersthe division of Robertshaw Controls in Indiana, Pennsylvania. We shall argue that the economic and psychological impact of the plant shutdown has not been the same for women as for men, and that the differences need to be taken into account in dealing with problems resulting from unemployment.