Experts predict this will leave another 400,000 women out of work, taking total female unemployment to 1.5 million
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David Cameron’s austerity drive is set to leave 1.5 million women out of work – the highest ever total.
Women’s unemployment has already hit a 25-year high of 1.07 million.
Since the end of the recession in 2010 the number of out of work men has fallen by more than 7%.
Over the same period the women’s jobless total has risen by nearly 12%, from 962,000.
But the Government’s own economic forecasters estimate a further 699,000 public sector jobs will be cut by 2018.
Women account for 65% of public sector workers.
Experts predict this will leave another 400,000 women out of work, taking total female unemployment to 1.5 million – the highest since records began.
The last peak was 1.34 million in 1984.Women’s rights group the Fawcett Society – which is releasing the figures next week – say the Government is leaving women behind in its bid to slash the deficit.
Ministers claim a million private jobs have been created since 2010 but Fawcett Society experts say 60% went to men.
Fawcett Society chief Ceri Goddard said: “The situation for women is bleak. Those women who do find work in this sector are likely to face lower wages.”
Ms Goddard demanded Business Secretary Vince Cable get a grip on the crisis.
She added: “We urgently need to tackle the unacceptably low wages paid to the women who make up two thirds of those on the national minimum wage.”
Labour MP Diane Abbott said women’s equality was “sliding back a generation”.
She said: “David Cameron and George Osborne don’t give a damn.
"They’ve stuck two fingers up at women’s aspiration, because they see this as a price worth paying.
“The Government’s failed economic policies are increasingly casting a very dark shadow over the careers and futures of normal women.”
Jobless women
2010: 962,0002012: 1,076,000 - up 11.85%
2018: 1,476,000 - up 37.17%
Jobless men
2010: 1,525,0002012: 1,413,000 - down 7.34%
