By Prof. Jay Zagorsky
What do Questrom students (and alumni) worry about? As someone who has taught in Questrom for over a quarter of a century the answer is clear to me — jobs! For years students have sat in my office, talked to me via zoom and sent email messages. Their number one concern is not grades, nor finances, nor relationships. Instead, the biggest worry I hear about is getting a job. These worries increase every time the news media starts talking about a recession.
A recession is when a country enters an economic downturn. Downturns reduce the number of people working, shrink business sales and cut how much a country produces. The last recession in the US was caused by the Covid pandemic. This recession started in February 2020 and ended in April, three months later. Unemployment soared during this period of time.
The unemployment rate for men and women age 20 to 24, roughly the ages of many Questrom students, is easy to find online. In January 2020, just before Covid struck the US, the unemployment rate for this age group was 7%. By April the rate had jumped to over 23% for men in their early twenties and almost 28% for women. The higher unemployment rate for women led pundits to call this a “she-cession” because Covid impacted women much more than men.
Recently, Bloomberg News ran a story suggesting the US might be entering a “he-cession” for men age 20 to 24. A “he-cession” is when male unemployment rates are higher than female. The latest figures for July 2025 show the unemployment rate for men in their early 20s was 8.3%, while the rate for females was 7.4%. Women’s rates in the latest month of data are about one percentage point lower than men’s.
Does this mean Questrom men should be worried about a “he-cession?” My answer is a resounding NO. Men should not be worried because the news media loves to hype problems. Bad news sells. Good news doesn’t attract much attention. Worrying young men with stories of “he-cessions” is a great way for the media to reach a key advertising demographic.
Beyond the hype, the main reason I am not worried is because the long-term view shows the “he-cession” is not a problem. What happens when we compare the monthly unemployment rates for men and women age 20 to 24 over the past quarter of a century? The data show women’s unemployment rates in the typical month are about two percentage points lower than men’s.
In simple terms for the past 25 years women have experienced less unemployment than men. That means the most recent gap is not an aberration. Since the most recent gap in July was about one percentage point, men should actually be happier. A one point gap is much better than the long term average. Compared to the last quarter century men in July are only trailing women by half-as-much.
This news should make Questrom men feel better, but what about the bigger question — Is a general recession coming for both men and women? Good news comes from Polymarket. Polymarket is like the stock market, except instead of betting a stock will go up or down, participants can bet on the outcome of world events. Polymarket allows people to wager if a recession will happen in 2025.
Back in April and May the bets showed participants thought there was a 60% chance of a recession during this year. The chance of a recession as I write this in mid-August is now down to 12%. Twelve percent is not zero, but the trend is in the right direction.
So if you are searching for work right now, don’t accept the current angst over labor market conditions. The job market, especially for men, is not as bad as the media wants you to believe.
Prof. Jay Zagorsky has been teaching at Questrom since 1999 in the Markets Public Policy and Law department. He is one of BU’s most prolific teachers and has taught over 12,000 students. His latest book is “The Power of Cash: Why Using Paper Money is Good For You and Society.” A summary of the book is found online at ThePowerOfCash.Com.
