In Douglas County, women continue to file more claims for unemployment benefits than men. At the same time, some minority residents in the county continue filing more unemployment claims for their share of the population.
At the end of December, 34 out every 1,000 Black Douglas County residents were asking the state for help after losing their jobs. Seventy five of every 1,000 Native American, Native Alaskan and Pacific Islanders did the same. (sociobits.org)
Meanwhile Asian, white and Hispanic people saw relatively low numbers of insurance claims filed, claiming about six people per 1,000 residents.
While the gap between men and women filing unemployment claims is starting to shrink, women were far more likely to lose their jobs than men in 2020. During the highest spike in unemployment, women in Douglas County filed nearly 8,000 more claims than men. At the end of 2020, they were still filing several hundred more claims than men.
The trends aren’t isolated to Nebraska’s largest county. In December, Americans lost a net 140,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and women, particularly women of color, accounted for the entirety of the decline.