Men experienced greater setbacks in the recession than women, losing twice as many jobs in the period between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the same quarter of 2009. In the next two years, however, men gained four times as many jobs as women. Employment for men increased from 72.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 75.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, a gain of 2.6 million jobs.

The jobs recovery was strong enough to push the unemployment rate for men down from 10.7% in 2009 to 8.6% in 2011. But because men lost 5.2 million jobs during the recession, their employment level remains 2.6 million below what it was before the recession.

Women experienced a much smaller increase in employment—from 65.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 66.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. Their unemployment rate improved less significantly s than that of men, sliding down from 8.3% in 2009 to 8.0% in 2011. Employment for women in the fourth quarter of 2011 remained 2 million less than the pre-recession level of 68.1 million. Read More