As the recession drags on and layoffs continue, men now outnumber women on the unemployment line, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The national unemployment rate for men is 9.8 percent; for women, it's 8.0 percent.
The reasons for the shift are clear. Men represent the majority of workers in the construction and manufacturing industries that have been hit hardest during the recession. Conversely, women dominate the health care and education sectors, which expanded nearly 3 percent in 2008.
Fewer Women Invest in Life Insurance
While women may be gaining ground in the labor force, they remain a distant second when it comes to protecting their loved ones with life insurance coverage.
Studies show that approximately one-third of women have no life insurance policy, and two-thirds of insured women from two-income households feel the life insurance coverage they do carry is inadequate.
Some Women Don't Realize the Value of Their Contributions
Even as some women serve as the primary breadwinner, most women feel they don't need coverage. Instead, they rely on the male's insurance policy, failing to realize that most two-income households rely on both incomes to make ends meet.
"Today, the traditional family model of husband as breadwinner and wife as homemaker holds only for a very small proportion of couples," said Mahshid Jalilvand, a professor of economics for the University of Wisconsin, in a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Dual-earner families are a major and growing segment of the labor force."
According to data from the Insurance Information Institute, a non-smoking 40-year-old female with a $500,000, 20-year term life insurance policy can expect to pay between $25 and $50 per month for coverage--a small price to pay to secure a family's economic future.
When dealing in dollars and cents, gender is irrelevant. Male or female, full-time employee or stay-at-home parent, if someone relies on you financially, life insurance is a must-have.
For a Life Insurance Quote Please Call Jason Shroot at 714-988-3325
