Layoffs of public sector and school support-staff employees in New York City in October had a disparately severe impact on black women, Women’s eNews reported last month. Women of color held the majority of the 642 jobs the city laid off that month, many of which have now been outsourced to private contractors. This fits with a national trend toward eliminating public sector jobs and turning to contractors to provide the same services. Women have accounted for 66 percent of the public sector job losses; black women are 22 percent more likely to work in the public sector than are non-black women and so have been doubly affected. Additionally, the contract employees hired to fill positions vacated by layoffs are often paid less and have more limited access to benefits such as paid sick leave than did the public sector workers.