Survey Highlights Working Womens
Concerns About Jobs, Health Care
July/August 2004 IBEW Journal
Working women are concerned about
the job situation in America todayand a recent AFL-CIO survey
of working women confirms they have every reason to be.
"This survey dramatically demonstrates
that the jobs crisis deeply affects Americas working families,"
said Linda Chavez-Thompson, AFL-CIO executive vice president.
"New jobs being created offer 20 percent lower wages,
on average, than those that have been lost, and many dont
offer basic benefits. Women from all backgrounds and from
across the country fear for their future because they find
it harder and harder to find good jobs."
The results of the "Ask a Working
Woman" nationwide poll shows that nearly half of working
women say they have been out of work in the past year or have
a family member or close friend who is out of work. For most
women, a job with decent wages and good employer-sponsored
benefits is more of an ideal than a reality.
Key findings include:
- 95 percent say secure, affordable health
care is an important job benefit but 31 percent say they
lack it.
- 93 percent say prescription drug coverage
is an important benefit but 36 percent say they dont have
it.
- 93 percent say equal pay and sick leave
are important but 25 percent say they do not have equal
pay and 31 percent do not have paid sick leave.
Rising health costs are the biggest worry
for working women, leading to an increase in support for laws
to make health care more affordable since the 2000 survey.
Job loss and economic security deeply concerned respondents.
Ninety percent say they know how tough it is to find a job
that pays well and provides benefits in todays job market.
Women of color have the greatest personal
experience with job loss. Sixty-one percent of African-American
women, 56 percent of Latinas and 52 percent of Asian Pacific-American
women have or know someone who has been out of work in the
last year.
For more on the survey, visit www.aflcio.com.
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