In 2009 Trish Hennessy and Armine Yalnizyan coined the term “he-cession” in Canada. Men were clearly bearing the brunt of the recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis, they noted in a paper for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The downturn had hit the manufacturing sector hard, especially in Ontario, with more than 70 per cent of the unemployed made up of male workers, they noted.
That’s the way recessions have historically worked in Canada, says Yalnizyan, now a fellow with the Atkinson Foundation. Whether it’s a financial crisis, trade disruption or natural disaster to throw the economy into a funk, the first industries to feel the impact of the contraction are typically the goods-producing sectors — manufacturing,