Huge College Degree Gap for Class of 2010

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WILX-TV LANSING, MI -- For last year's graduating Class of 2009, women dominated at every level of higher education. Here's the national breakdown: for every 100 men, 142 women graduated with a bachelor's, 159 women completed a master's and 107 women got a doctoral degree. University of Michigan Economics Professor Dr. Mark Perry says similar numbers are in tow this year (see chart above for the Class of 2010).

"What's happening is historic and unprecedented and we're seeing this huge structural change in higher education," says Perry. "When it happens year by year, we just don't pay as close attention." But Perry says attention now must be paid. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in 1971, the percentage of men outnumbered women in degrees conferred 61 to 39, but by 2017, expect a complete reversal.

"It's really this complete domination now by women in higher education and the fact that men have fallen behind and have become the second sex in higher ed," Perry says.

Perry tells us this gender degree gap has translated into what's been coined as "The Great Mancession," which refers to the huge gap in unemployment rates between men and women.

"People with college degrees have the lowest level of unemployment, so as women get an increasing share of college degrees, that's also the most protected and less vulnerable in downturns of the economy," Perry explains.