The gender differences in unemployment rates during the “Great Mancession” tell a similar story of disproportionate economic hardship for men.

In the chart below, the monthly differences in jobless rates by gender are displayed back to 1948, and illustrate the unprecedented adverse effects on men in recent years.

During the last three recessions (1981-82, 1990-91 and 2001), the male jobless rate also exceeded the female jobless rate, but only by about 1% on average at the peaks.

In contrast, during the most recent recession, the “jobless rate gender gap” reached an historically unprecedented high (in either direction) of 2.7% in favor of women in August 2009 (11% male jobless rate vs. 8.3% female), and has decreased over the last year to 1.9 percent last month (10.5% for men vs. 8.6% for women).

Even at 1.9%, the current jobless rate gap in favor of women is still about twice the maximum jobless rate gaps favoring female workers during the last three recessions, and indicates that the Great Mancession continues.