More women will be working than men within four years: UK think tank

London, Jan. 2 (ANI): More women will be working than men within four years due to recession, creating a "Full Monty" effect, a British think-tank has predicted.

"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," The Telegraph quoted Neil O'Brien, director of Policy Exchange, as saying.

Official figures show that the number of men of working age with jobs has fallen from 92 per cent in 1971 to 75 per cent, while the number of women who are employed has risen from 56 per cent to 69 per cent, narrowing the gap between women and men to 6 per cent.

The recession has had a disproportionate effect on men, with the number of women in employment increasing since June, while the number of men has continued to fall.

The 1997 film 'Full Monty' is a story of a group of unemployed steel workers in Sheffield who became strippers.

Because men have traditionally been employed in the manufacturing industry, while women worked in service industries, men have been worse affected by the lengthy decline in British manufacturing.

The Conservative 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."

According to Mind, the mental health charity, the recession is causing an increase in mental health problems among men because of fears over redundancy and lack of money.

More than a third are feeling worried or low and middle-aged males are seven times more likely than women to have suicidal thoughts. (ANI)