DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Let's hear about another trend we are seeing. The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States is being felt harder by women. The Labor Department says more than 700,000 jobs were eliminated in the first wave of layoffs last month. NPR's Scott Horsley reports that nearly 60% of those jobs were held by women.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Perla Pimentel was among the first economic casualties of the coronavirus. She worked as an event coordinator in Orlando helping to arrange group meetings in the Florida tourist mecca.
PERLA PIMENTEL: Anything from catering to entertainment to transportation - really, anything under the sun.
HORSLEY: Six weeks ago, groups that were planning meetings in Florida began to cancel as concerns about the coronavirus mounted. By the middle of March, Pimentel was out of a job. Since then, millions of people across the country have been laid off as Americans were ordered to hunker down and wait out the pandemic. Pimentel says Central Florida, where the economy is so dependent on tourism, has been especially hard hit.
PIMENTEL: It feels like everybody you know is either out of a job or is one degree of separation.
HORSLEY: Two weeks after Pimentel was laid off, her father lost his job as a transportation contractor for Disney World. The warehouse where her mom works has also begun to furlough employees. For now, only her brother has a dependable paycheck.
PIMENTEL: My brother actually works as a pizza delivery person. And he's doing pretty well. (Laughter) As you can imagine, a lot of people are ordering out.
HORSLEY: When Americans started staying home in droves last month, restaurants, bars and hotels were among the first to feel the squeeze. Because women make up the bulk of the workforce in those industries, the pink slips so far have been especially pink. Ericka Dobrowski lost her job as a front desk clerk in a big Chicago hotel.
ERICKA DOBROWSKI: The hotel I worked in was 1,200-room hotel. And last I checked, we had three rooms occupied. So it's insanity.
HORSLEY: Dobrowski's sister, who worked for a different hotel, is also out of work now. Dobrowski was able to file for unemployment early, before the much larger wave of layoffs that followed.
DOBROWSKI: I've been relying on that for the last couple of weeks now. It's been enough to get by for me. But it's nothing great, obviously. And especially, the Illinois unemployment benefit office is absolutely overwhelmed right now.
HORSLEY: The fact there are so many women at the front of the unemployment line is a contrast to the last recession. In 2008 and '9, male-dominated industries like construction and finance were the first to feel the slowdown. This time, a lot of high-contact workplaces - like beauty parlors, shoe stores and dentist offices - where women outnumber men, were quick to close their doors.
Men may catch up, though, as layoffs continue to spread. Robby Bissell lost jobs at two different restaurants where he worked in Lexington, Ky. The aspiring actor says unemployment pays only about half what he'd been earning.
ROBBY BISSELL: I was working two jobs because I was saving up to actually move out to Los Angeles. That's kind of all been put on hold, which really stinks because it just not looking like that's going to happen right now.
HORSLEY: University of Michigan economist Betsey Stevenson estimates some 15 million people are now in similar straits, having lost their jobs because the virus, with no clear indication how long stay-at-home orders will remain in effect.
BETSEY STEVENSON: This is not like normal times when people are unemployed and that means that they're pounding the pavement trying to find work. People aren't able to go to work. And we're trying to figure out who is going to be easily recalled and who's going to be able to financially make it until they're recalled.
HORSLEY: For both women and men, Stevenson says, what the future looks like after the pandemic will depend a lot on whether they have a job to go back to.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
