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An article by the Washington Post on MSNBC.com suggests that even though the economy is showing signs of a recovery unemployment will continue to rise well into next year. Meanwhile, studies indicate that 80% of the unemployed are men, a statistic significant enough for many economists to dub the recession a "man-cession".

An article in The Weekly Standard diagnoses this gender inequity as a result of the industries effected by the recession. Most of the jobs lost have been in manufacturing and construction--male-heavy fields. Meanwhile fields such as health care and education--female-heavy fields--have gained nearly half a million jobs during the past year.

The article also points out that the Obama Stimulus Bill originally targeted the industries hardest hit by creating infrastructure projects to stimulate construction and manufacturing. Women's groups, however, protested against the "Macho Stimulus Plan" and successfully lobbied (during a time when all other stimulus lobbying was curtailed by the White House) to rebalance the job creation targets. The new plan, according to administration analysts, would create 42% of the new jobs in women-centric industries.

On the other hand, critics of the Stimulus Bill point out that much of the promised spending won't even begin until later this year and, even by the administration's own targets, will replace not even 10% of the jobs lost. Though the charges of gender inequity are serious, any effect of this Stimulus imbalance is small in the wider perspective. With unemployment among women at 8%, and at 10.5% for men, both genders have lost ground and need help.

However, the Washington Post predictions reinforce trends already identified in the workplace. As businesses tighten their belts and cut costs, they are increasingly looking to stay competitive by making any cost reductions permanent. If the trend is general, it is likely that employment will significantly lag the economy for some time until businesses become convinced that the recovery is real and expansion is truly necessary. Some industries may never completely recover, as many businesses may use this opportunity to increase automation and permanently eliminate some jobs.

It's not good news for the economy, and especially for men.