While losing your job may be a devastating blow to your career aspirations, it may be an even bigger blow to your personal life, according to new research conducted by a dating service. A significant majority of women said they would not date a man who was unemployed. Just one-third of men said they would date an unemployed woman.
Overall, 75 percent of women said they would be unlikely to date an unemployed man, with 33 percent saying no outright. Another 42 percent of women answered maybe when asked about the possibility of dating an unemployed man. That answer, however, came with the stipulation that those women would not want to spend a lot of time in the relationship if the man did not have a plan in place. Just 21 percent of women said they would date an unemployed man.
Women, however, insist their feelings are not solely based on money. Rather, respondents said they were interested in dating someone who is engaged in an activity. Respondents felt that work was a beneficial activity for men to participate in.
"Not having a job will definitely make it harder for men to date someone they don't already know," said Irene LaCota, spokesperson for It's Just Lunch, a dating service for professionals that conducted the research. "This is the rare area, compared to other topics we've done surveys on, where women's old-fashioned beliefs about sex roles seem to apply."
On the other hand, the prospect of dating an unemployed woman was not a problem for nearly two-thirds of men. In fact, 19 percent of men said they had no reservations and 46 percent of men said they were positive they would date an unemployed woman.
The research was based on 925 responses.