Shifting Home Balance

The Home Balance is Shifting – Men are being hit harder by the recession than women

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, men reported a higher unemployment rate than women for the Month of June with a 2.3 percentage-point difference. According to published statistics, men experienced a 10.6% unemployment rate and women a slightly less rate of 8.3%. Both numbers reflect the highest rates ever recorded since record keeping began in the 1940’s.

Much of this is due to the fact that industries typically dominated by men have been hit harder – construction, manufacturing, and auto.

Industries that appear to be showing some sign of gain are private sector – healthcare and education and those have a high concentration of women, typically more than 51%. The healthcare industry gained more than a half a million jobs and education more than 100,000 since the recession began in December 2007. Both sexes have been impacted by the recession and both nearly doubled since the beginning, in Jan 2008 women’s unemployment was 4.7% and men’s were just over 5%.

Has this affected your home balance?