Recession is hitting men the hardest.

[TWiley]

There's a gender gap in this recession, and this time men are on the losing side of it.

The unemployment rate for men is nearly 2 full percentage points higher, at 8.8%, than the rate for women. Before the recession, the jobless rate was virtually the same for both genders: 4.5% for men and 4.6% for women in November 2007.

But now, more than two-thirds of those looking for full-time work are men, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Nearly 70% of the extended layoffs in the final quarter of 2008 affected men.

Men have borne the brunt of job reductions because male-dominated industries are facing the severest contractions, according to the Labor Department.

Construction: One in five workers in this field is unemployed, and more than 95% of those out of work are men, according to the department's March employment report.

Manufacturing: That same data show that manufacturing jobs -- of which nearly 80% are held by men -- declined 4.5% from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of this year.

Finance: The largely male financial industry cut 260,110 jobs in 2008, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Story:http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/recession-hitting-men-harder.aspx