Recession: Male vs. Female?

I saw this article on the MSN homepage yesterday. The gist is that men, and by extension families with males as sole breadwinners, are feeling the economic slowdown more keenly than are females in general. This is due to the heavy concentration of male workers in the construction and manufacturing industries.

I think there may be something to this. While Manny and I are far from having to stand in the breadline (thanks be to God), he has had a marked reduction in hours this year compared to years past. The company that I work for has had to lay off almost all of its tradesmen this month due to lack of work. Contracts that were once a sure thing are suddenly being canceled due to lack of funding.

I'll let the economists argue over whether or not this is a slowdown or a recession. But regardless of what anyone calls it, the result is the same - belts and pocketbooks will be tightening. Not an entirely bad thing in my estimation. It tends to get the creative juices flowing at least.