Mancession Continues: Male-Female Jobless Rate at Historic Levels, Higher Than Last Two Recessions

According to Table A-1 of today's Employment Situation report, male unemployment increased in September from 10.9% to 11% and female unemployment increased from 8.2% to 8.4%, and the male-female jobless rate gap fell from 2.7% in September from the all-time record gap of 2.7% in August. The current male-female jobless rate gap of 2.6% is three times higher than the maximum gap during the last recession and more than two times higher than the peak gap of 1.1% following the 1990-1991 recession. These facts about the male-female jobless rate gap are not only incontrovertible, they are truly unprecedented and historic.

And yet a new St. Louis Fed research report released today claims to: "debunk the popular notion that the current recession is predominantly a “man-cession”—a recession hurting American males proportionately more than women and other demographic groups.

The “man-cession” catchphrase is misleading and fails to reveal the full consequences of the recession across different demographic groups, according to author Howard J. Wall, a St. Louis Fed vice president and economist. “While it is true men are affected more than women during recessions, this recession is nothing out of the ordinary,” Wall said. “By some measures, the difference between men and women is smaller than in past recessions.”

A quick search of the full report shows that the term "unemployment rate" appears only once, but only in reference to the overall rate and not in reference to either men or women, and the terms "male unemployment" and "female unemployment" never appear. I'll read through more carefully later and make some additional comments, but I'm skeptical on first impression.