Women less unemployed than men: And here's the good news...

Those 5.7 million jobs lost since December 2007 have been almost overwhelmingly lost by men (about 80 percent of them). So while the overall unemployment rate in April was 8.9 percent, it broke down between adult men and women decidedly in the favor of the fairer sex; men had a jobless rate of 9.4 percent, versus women at 7.1 percent.

For both men and women, that's the bad news. And here's more: because the jobs lost by men tended to be unionized jobs with good health benefits, the jobs left held by women tended to be jobs without health benefits so many families who had been making two incomes and been insured are now having to get by on one, generally less well-paid income (women still make about 77 cents on a man's dollar), without health insurance or other benefits. It's paradoxical, because women tend to hold more of the jobs in the health care field, and that sector is growing despite the recession.

Sadly, working mothers are picking up the slack for their families by getting a second job or working longer hours.