The Slump: It's a Guy Thing - Essay Example

The Logic of The Slump: It’s a Guy’s Thing In this article, Peter Coy is discussing the reasons and impact of the growing jobless men in contrast with the increasing number of employed women. This gender difference is not based on the different attributes men and women but rather the different sectors in which each is employed. The recession hit sectors of manufacturing and construction have a high concentration of men while most women are employed in the education and health sector that has escaped the clutches of recession.

The key question that Coy is addressing in the article is the impact of this situation on the living standard of a typical family and whether unemployment benefits should be allowed for another six months. It is distressing to note that in the last year, men have lost 700,000 jobs while women have gained 300,000 but even the increase in jobs for the women, families are still feeling the economic recession because women are employed in lower paid jobs (Coy, 2008). The article comes forward with the view that even though women are getting increasingly employed, the need for unemployment benefits is still felt as women earn comparatively much less than men.

Thus, in order to improve the situation, the government needs to focus on improving the manufacturing and construction sector. To fully grasp the seriousness of the situation, we need to understand that women are still traditionally required to look after the children and with them taking over the financial responsibility; it could lead to increased stress for the women. However, the author is taking the fact for granted that the recession of the manufacturing and construction sector will ultimately affect the education and health sector when through intervention of the government, the opposite could also be true.

If we take this line of reasoning seriously, we will realize that this is a difficult period for the economy as the recession in male jobs will ultimately affect the women job market and recession will ultimately affect both genders. If we fail to take this line of reasoning seriously, we may go on believing that women are getting empowered during the recession by landing with more jobs when in fact they are feeling the burden of taking financial responsibility of their families. The author, in this article, is looking at the big picture by making a distinction between the employment sectors for men and women.

ReferencesCoy, Peter, The Slump: Its a Guy Thing, Bloomberg Business Week, 2008. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_20/b4084028289172.htm