THE global recession has caused more men than women to lose their jobs around the world, following a pattern already well established in the US, according to research released last week.

Men held more of the jobs lost in nearly all the nations where executives were surveyed by Accenture, a management consulting firm.

In India, 95% of their layoffs were men; in France, men accounted for 71% of job losses. The survey, conducted between November 2009 and mid-February 2010, asked executives how many men and women had been fired or laid off in the preceding year.

More men than women were fired in Australia, Canada, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. In the US, men held 54% of jobs lost to women’s 46%.

“In some cases, the majority of the work force was men,” said Nellie Borrero, of Accenture. “It could also mean that companies were more vigilant in insuring that a lot of women would not be impacted.”

However, in the Netherlands, women accounted for 51% of jobs losses, Accenture said. In China the losses were split evenly between the genders.
Reuters