More men are losing jobs in the recession says Georgia's Labor Commssioner

Is it possible more men are hurting than women in the current economy? Georgia's Commissioner of Labor, Michael Thurmond says "our research reveals that Georgia now has historically high levels of unemployment among male workers, because men tend to dominate employment in construction and manufacturing, two of the industries that have been hardest hit by layoffs in our state.”

Thurmond says the number of men drawing unemployment insurance benefits in Georgia between December of 2007, the official beginning of the current recession, and May of 2009 rose 160 percent. He says jobless men now make up 57.6 percent of Georgians receiving unemployment. He says the number of white males on unemployment has increased sam 211 percent, while the number of black males receiving benefits has risen 106 percent in the past two yers.

Prior to the recession, African-American women comprised the largest demographic group receiving state benefits, according to Thurmond. He says by March of 2009 they had become the smallest.

Thurmond says the high level of male unemployment is not just a Georgia phenomenon. He says current economic conditions are having a "devastating impact on males throughout the United States. Almost 80 percent of the more than 6.5 million Americans who have lost jobs since the beginning of the recession have been men."

Thurmond says more needs to be done to encourage unemployment to Immediate steps must be taken to encourage unemployed men to pursue careers in new fields, even non-traditional female-dominated sectors, such as nursing and allied health.

At Savannah Tech, they're finding a large increase in male students pursuing new training. They are men like Steve Main, who until two months ago, had a good paying job as a pilot at Gulfstream. "It was a great job, I flew around the world showing planes to potential customers," he tells me.

Now, Steve is in a 17 week law enforcement course at Savannah Technical College. He's planning on becoming a police officer. "It was a difficult decision for me and my family, because it's quite a substantial pay cut," he tells me."' But the way I look at it, some money is better than no money at all."

Steve is among many men looking to the future. Savannah Tech officials say they are seeing more unemployed (men and women) trying to start new careers. In many cases, the men are still taking classes in fields that are considered more "male oriented" whether it's in computer sciences or welding. However, Thurmond says more men need to be encouraged to move toward careers like nursing, that have traditionally be more female oriented.

Thurmond also says that jobless men are experiencing poorer psychological health than unemployed women. That seems due in part, to the fact that men are often defined by their careers and more often than not are the main bread winner of the family. I asked Steve if it was hard for him to come to grips with the idea that he wouldn't be making so much money and that his life would end up being different that he envisioned? "Very hard," he tells me. "It was difficult to face change."

But for some unemployed men, there may be no choice. Currently, 57 percent of all those out of work in Georgia, are men. White males have replaced Black males as the largest demographic group receivIng unemployment benefits.

Steve says he's always had an interest in police work and "the fact there are 15,000 police officer positions now open in Georgia, is something to hang onto," he says.

At 33, Steve says he feels he's still young enough to make a new life. "I would be very concerned if I was 53," he admits. His advice for men of all ages looking for new opportunities is "get creative, that's what I had to do is think outside the box and be ready to take some chances."