That's right, a he-cession, not just a recession.
There is an interesting article in the Globe and Mail today that cuts to the heart of underlying changes in the work force, changes that may impact society in broader ways.
In very concise terms - more women keeping their jobs, more men losing theirs. More below....
It is always dangerous to make broad conclusions from limited data. I understand this, but the data that we are seeing is interesting, and hints at some deeper issues.
First here is the Globe story - which provides a Canadian perspective.
Canadian men had better get used to doing more cooking and cleaning, because the women are bringing home the bacon now.
In the past year, men have lost nearly 180,000 jobs across Canada, jacking the adult male unemployment rate to 7.5 per cent – almost two percentage points higher than the unemployment rate for women of the same age, and two points higher than one year ago.
Although women lost 15,000 jobs in March, they are for the most part maintaining their overall presence in the work force – at least for now.
What's going on?
This is how recessions work, hitting male-dominated sectors such as construction, manufacturing and natural resources jobs first. Women often hold jobs in the services sector – nursing and teaching, for instance – which is less vulnerable to the business cycle.
A key difference this time around is that there are more women in the workforce heading into the recession. This means that even though people are losing their jobs at a faster rate than previous downturns, more Canadians are also bringing home salaries than before, making it easier for households to keep at least one wage earner with a paycheque.
So we have two things going on. First, more male dominated jobs are cutting back faster than female dominated jobs. Second, because there are (or at least were) so many double income families, there is an extra safety net there when one person loses their job. Before it would have meant no income coming in. Now it means at least some money is coming in. And because it is mostly males being laid off, the person left at home cooking and cleaning , and looking for a job, is more likely to be male.
Similar data seems to hold for the US. From March 2008 to March 2009 the unemployment rate for males over 20 has increased from 4.6% to 8.8% (an increase of 4.2%), while the rate for women over 20 has increased from 4.5% to 7.0% (an increase of 2.5%). So while in March 2008 male and female unemployment rates were almost the same, there is now a 1.8% gap. In a one year period this is quite a change. For comparison purposes the average unemployment rates for men and women were almost identical for 2006 and 2007.
Education:
I want to add in one more factor, education. A short while ago I had an interesting discussion with a former University head. We were discussing the rise in the number of women going to university and the fact that in many universities now the percentage of women taking programs exceeds 60%, and in some places is now approaching two-thirds of undergraduates. Women now outnumber men in all programs except engineering. The former university head noted that it was not a case of more men not choosing university,m it was more women attending. In fact all of the increase in enrollment over the last 20 years at his school was due to more women attending.
What does this have to do with employment? Well take a look at the increases in unemployment rates by educational attainment over the last 12 months (March 2008 to March 2009).
Not finished high school: from 9.5% to 15.5%
High School, no college: from 5.6% to 10%
Some college: from 4.1% to 7.8%
Bachelor or higher: from 2.0 to 4.3%
Of course the increase in female university attendance is a "relatively" new phenomenon, so its impact is less than complete on the unemployment by education data. However, if we look to the future, it seems to imply that women may, on average, be setting themselves up to do better in the work force than men.
We may be hearing more of this...
"I've already cleaned the house twice this week," says Ryan, who also prepared chicken for his in-laws last night. "I find myself telling my wife when she gets home, ‘Take your shoes off, I just cleaned the floor.' Oh, yeah, it's different."
Note: My wife and I decided long ago that only one of us would work while the kids were in school. So after 5 years of staying at home my wife returned to the work force and I stayed home. It was something that I quickly learned to enjoy, but something that would have been almost unheard of in my parent's generation. Change is inevitable, and sometimes it is good.