Men vs. Women: Financial Planning

Statistics show that men and women handle money differently. While there are exceptions to every rule, men generally are better prepared for retirement, are more willing to put money into savings, pay off credit card balances in full and are more educated about investing. Men are also more prepared for unemployment, which is fortunate because there are more unemployed men than women in the U.S. and the growth of the unemployment rate for men is currently outpacing the unemployment rate for women.

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Income and Employment Disparity in the Workplace

Here’s a brief look at the role gender is playing in the workplace today, showing the states with the greatest disparity between male and female incomes, as well as unemployment rate changes year to year according to sex and occupation. In most cases, women seem to be bearing the brunt of job cuts in the past few years. This is plausibly due to the fact that women are statistically more likely to hold part time or temporary positions. These are typically the first types of jobs lost during a recession, or when businesses need to reduce their workforce.

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Mapping Unemployment: Out of Work in America

Some of America’s largest cities have experienced a rapid decline in employment in the past year with the collapse of the finance, real estate and automotive industries. To put each metropolitan area’s situation in perspective, we have put together a map showing the comparative rates of unemployment along with the year over year change from May 2008 to May 2009. It is apparent that some of the sharpest increases in unemployment have occurred in the largest markets for each of these failing industries.

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The Pros and Cons of Unemployment in a Recession

The current recession has been called the worst since the Great Depression. As a nation, the U.S. had a national unemployment rate of 8.9% by April 2009. This figure constitutes 13.7 Million of workers (labor force of 154.7M), and is up from 8.5% just a month earlier. Of course, this is a sign that things have yet hit an all time low.

Because this issue has affected so many people, the implications of unemployment have  constituted a regular discussion, in media and on the individual level. And while it’s better to remain employed in most cases, there are often marked benefits from not working. Let’s take a look at some of the most important pros and cons of being unemployed in this economy:

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