Recession Hits Male Unemployment Harder Than Female Unemployment

As citizens of a nation whose economy is in recession, Americans know first-hand that unemployment levels are unusually high. Certain states, particularly Michigan, have higher unemployment levels than others. In addition to the uneven spread of unemployment in different states, unemployment is not spread evenly among males and females in the United States.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States currently has an unemployment rate of 9.5 percent. As for state level unemployment, Michigan ranks highest in the country at a rate of 14.8 percent (not seasonally adjusted). But what about the difference between genders?

As of October 2009, the unemployment of males over the age of 16 in the United States is at 11.4 percent. On the other hand, female unemployment in the same age range is at 8.8 percent. That is a 2.6 percent difference in the unemployment rate between genders.

This gap is historically larger than the most recent and notable gender gaps in unemployment. The 2009 gap more than doubles the difference in the genders’ unemployment in 1991, where the difference was 1.1 percent and in 2003, where the gap was 0.9 percent. According to Newsweek, the current male unemployment is at a post-war high, whereas female unemployment is still below the post-war record high.

The nature of American unemployment in relation to gender can be further understood through the types of jobs lost over the past few years. According to Reuters, about 80 percent of jobs lost in the past few years belonged to men. The most significant losses came in the construction, manufacturing, and wholesale trade, all of which are male dominated industries. Men lost three million jobs in the construction industry alone.

While the gender-unemployment gap favors women, there is still a significant wage gap that seems unaffected by the recession. Women, on average, still earn approximately 78 cents to every one-dollar a man makes. According to the Department of Labor statistics, the gap in weekly earnings between the genders actually increased between 2007 and 2008, despite the higher levels of male unemployment. Median weekly earnings for men increased from $357 to $358 (adjusted for inflation to 1982 dollars), while the median weekly earnings for women decreased from $289.30 to $286.30. The difference in weekly earnings between males and females increased from $67.70 to $71.70.

The notion that males have had worse economic conditions throughout can be somewhat offset through the ongoing economic disparity women have faced compared to men. Given these findings, the recession is not particularly discriminatory to either gender, and both have been affected negatively.

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