EU research body the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) has released research showing that female workers “fared better on the labour market than men during the [2008-9] recession”.

The study notes that in 1987, the ratio of male to female workers in the EU nations was 62:38, narrowing to 55:45 in 2007. By 2010, females outnumbered men in all three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), with the gender gap narrowing across the board.

The report gives reasons for greater job stability for female workers, most notably that “employment lost in construction and manufacturing was largely male-dominated; by contrast, the few sources of – generally high quality – employment growth were in female-dominated jobs in health and education”.

The crisis, defined by the study as “the Great Recession of 2008–2009”, says 5m fewer EU citizens were in employment in 2010 Q2 compared to 2008 Q2.