Pandemic economic recovery passing P.E.I. women by

While the P.E.I. labour market as a whole has fared better than the national market in the COVID-19 pandemic, the same cannot be said for Island women.

Statistics Canada released theLabour Force Survey for May on Friday morning.

More women found themselves out of work than men at the height of job losses in April, and fewer were able to get back to work as the economy began to recover in May.

"Women 25-54 have literally seen the unemployment rate triple from last May," said UPEI economist Jim Sentance in an email to CBC News.

"About 3,000 jobs lost compared to last year, mostly full time."

The unemployment rate for women 15 and over was marginally better, rising to 15.8 per cent from 5.9 per cent last May.

By contrast, employment for P.E.I. men last month was not that far off from May of 2019.

There were 38,400 jobs for men inMay, 800 fewer than the previous May. The unemployment rate, 12.1 per cent last month, was just 0.2 percentage points higher, and actually the same as it was last June.

Nationally, women and men in the labour market have suffered roughly equally.

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