Who's worse off in the recession?

A spokesman for the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers said: "The recession has already resulted in job losses and redundancies in retail, especially non-food retail. Woolworths is the biggest collapse so far - two-thirds of the retail work-force are women so they are more likely to face the brunt of the recession.

"Across the economy women are more likely than men to be in part-time and temporary and jobs these are the first jobs to go."

Source: The Mirror

Men are losing jobs at far greater rates than women as the industries they dominate, such as manufacturing, construction, and investment services, are hardest hit by the downturn. Some 1.1 million fewer men are working in the United States than there were a year ago, according to the Labor Department. By contrast, 12,000 more women are working.

This gender gap is the product of both the nature of the current recession and the long-term shift in the US economy from making goods, traditionally the province of men, to providing services, in which women play much larger roles, economists said.

Source: Boston.com