英經濟蕭條致家庭煮夫數量超主婦大綱

The number of stay-at-home fathers reached a record high last year, new figures show, as families saw a rise in female breadwinners.

Men now make up nearly 10 percent of those who care for children while their partner goes out to work, official employment statistics revealed today.

There were 227,000 men staying at home to look after family between September and November last year, a rise of 19,000 compared to the same period in 2011 and the highest increase since figures began in 1993.

Experts suggested that the shift was down to men losing their jobs in the recession and either failing to find new employment or deciding that it did not make financial sense for them to return to work if their partner was a high earner.

Overall more than 2.3m people are classed as “economically inactive” because they are at home looking after children, the Office for National Statistics said.

The number of women staying at home saw a small rise over the period to reach just over 2.1m, but has been higher in the past.

The ONS said the figures reflected a growing trend where it was more common for the man to stay at home while his spouse went out to work.

A recent European Commission report said couples where both the man and woman earn money “lost ground” during the economic downturn in favour of female breadwinners, who increased their share to almost 10 percent.

Jenny Garrett, the author of Rocking Your Role, a guide for women who earn the main salary in their family, welcomed the trend.

“The figures don’t surprise me. I think it’s a lot to do with the sectors that have been hit most by the current economic climate, which in the private sector were quite male dominated,” she said.

“Many men are now having to think about whether to retrain or possibly take a job that is not as highly paid, and asking whether it is worth their while if their partner is in a good job.”

However, she warned that there was still a “taboo” around female breadwinners and stay-at-home fathers.

“It’s something that’s kept quiet or treated as a bit embarrassing. We need to have more conversations about it in order for it to become more acceptable and for people to understand what makes the family unit work,” she said.最新數據顯示，隨着養家的女性增多，去年居家父親的數量又創新高。

根據今天官方公佈的就業統計數據，在照看孩子的父母中，男性佔了近10%，而其配偶則外出工作。

去年9月至11月間，有約22.7萬名男性在家看孩子，較2011年同期增加1.9萬人，達到自1993年開始統計以來的最大增幅。

專家表示，之所以發生這一轉變，只因爲在經濟蕭條期很多男性失去了工作，他們有的要麼沒有再找到新的工作，要麼認爲如果妻子的收入高，自己即使再回工作崗位對家庭財務也起不了什麼作用。

國家統計局稱，共有230多萬人被算在“無經濟能力”之列，因爲他們整日呆在家裏負責看孩子。

居家女性數量同比小幅增加，剛過210萬，但居家女性過去一直多於居家男性。

國家統計局表示，這一數據反映出一種與日俱增的趨勢，即男人料理家務而妻子外出工作的現象變得更普遍。

歐盟委員會近期公佈的一份報告稱，經濟萎靡期，雙收入夫婦“風光不再”，而養家的女性卻處於優勢地位，數量增加近10%。

《撼動你的角色》一書的作者珍妮•加內特對這一趨勢表示歡迎。該書是專門寫給作爲家庭主要收入者的女性的指導書。

她表示，“我對這一數據並不感到驚訝。我倒覺得這與許多遭受當前經濟形勢重創的部門有很大關係，要知道在私營部門還是男性佔據主導。”

“許多男性眼下不得不考慮重新接受培訓或找一份薪水不是很高的工作。他們也想知道，如果妻子找到份好工作，自己出去工作是否值當。”

然而，她警告稱，養家女性和居家父親切忌觸及“禁區”。

她說，“這就像是不能對外言說或有點令人尷尬的事情。爲了讓更多的人接受、讓人理解家庭的運作原理，我們需要針對這一問題展開更多的對話。”