The recession was once labelled a “mancession” after male-dominated areas such as manufacturing and finance bore the brunt of global job losses. But in the United States, since the economic recovery officially began in July 2009, the majority of new jobs have gone to men, the country’s labour department reveals.

It appears that women are no longer resistant to the pangs of recession. Since the summer of 2009, men in the United States have gained 438,000 jobs, while women have lost some 366,000. Out of the 984,000 new non-agricultural job positions added from January 2010 to January of this year, a paltry 47,000 new openings went to women, U.S. Labor Department sources say. That works out to be less than five per cent of new jobs taken by women.

In the United Kingdom, women appear to suffer the most under economic hardship, too. The number of men claiming unemployment benefit dropped by 5,400 between December 2010 and January 2011, but the number of women claimants rose by 7,800, the Office for National Statistics said.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of Britain’s national trade union center TUC, has blamed job losses in the country’s government employment and public sector.

“Female unemployment has been rising, with women having been hit by falling employment in public administration and health,” he said.

Despite this, women’s happiness across the globe can indeed be recession-proof.

The Nielsen Happiness Study, found that women are happier than men in 48 of 51 countries surveyed in April 2008, and only in Brazil, South Africa and Vietnam were men found to be happier than women.

Women find happiness in relationships with friends and co-workers, while men are happier with money, the study revealed