More women than men in work 'within four years' as 'Full Monty' recession brings jobs revolution



Researchers believe the recession has created a 'Full Monty generation' (Robert Carlyle pictured in the film), who have lost traditional male jobs



More women will be working than men within four years after the number of males with jobs slumped to an all-time low, say researchers.

They believe the recession has created a 'Full Monty generation', who have lost traditional male jobs and moved on to benefits.



An analysis of official figures reveals that the number of men of working age with jobs has slumped from 92 per cent in 1971 to 75 per cent today.

Meanwhile, the number of women who are employed has risen from 56 per cent to 69 per cent as the service sector has flourished.



In 1971, the gap between the number of men and women with jobs was 35 per cent; now it is just 6 per cent.

However, women still have some way to go before they work as many hours and earn as much money, in total, as men.

This is because a higher proportion of women work part-time, or earn a relatively modest wage. In contrast, most men in employment are working full-time.

The centre-right think-tank Policy-Exchange, which carried out the analysis, says that at the current rate the number of women in work will have overtaken the number of men with a job within four years.

This would be a seismic shift in the British jobs market that could see another generation of men accustomed to a life of worklessness.

The number of women in employment has been rising since June, but the numbers for men continue to fall. The trend is even more pronounced among young people - where teenage men have been hit hardest by the recession.

Among 16 and 17-year-olds women already outnumber men in the workplace, with 30 per cent holding down a job, compared with just 23 per cent of men.

Between September 2008 and September 2009 the employment rate for young women fell by 2.8 per cent. But over the same period the number of young men in employment fell by 8.8 per cent.

The employment rate for young men has now halved since 1997 - when it was 46.7 per cent and is at the lowest level since records began.

The Policy Exchange has used the example of the 1997 film The Full Monty to highlight the issue. The British comedy chronicled how with Sheffield gripped by mass male unemployment, a group of jobless men in the city became strippers.

Neil O'Brien, director of Policy Exchange, said: 'We are having a Full Monty-style recession with women faring much better than men.

'As Britain has lost industrial jobs over the last couple of decades, the number of men in work has collapsed, and the numbers on benefits soared. The current recession is accelerating this trend further.

'Britain faces a big problem here. It seems that men are either not getting - or don't want - the kinds of service sector jobs that have been created in recent years. That has to change. Young men are being hit particularly hard by this recession.'

The Tories claimed that Labour's failure to address the skills gap among working-age men has left them ill equipped to take the new kinds of jobs in the growth areas of the economy such as the hi-tech sector.

Tory work and pensions spokesman Theresa May said: 'Unless Labour address the growing skills gap in the economy we risk losing a generation of men to a cycle of worklessness.'

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: 'Government has invested £5billion to help everyone who loses their job get back to work and this is making a real difference. The Government doesn't give up on anyone who is out of work.'

• One million people have died or retired while on Incapacity Benefit under Labour, figures show.

There are currently 2.63million claiming Incapacity Benefits or its new replacement benefit, Employment and Support Allowance.

More than half of those claiming incapacity payments have been on benefits for five years or more.

The Tories claimed the figures are evidence that once people of working age are consigned to a life of worklessness they seldom escape the benefits culture.

Labour said numbers on out-of-work benefits have fallen by 300,000 since it took power.