A Romance Recession

Talking the other day to one of my girlfriends, Jo, about the real rarity of eligible men got me thinking. Conversations currently (as in circa 2010!) tend to centre on two issues - jobs and relationships - and there seems to be a common theme running through these dialogues, they are both increasingly difficult to come by.



We all know the world economy has taken a hit over the past two years or so, but are we also in a "romance recession"? As a "smug married" I'll admit, I have not been having first-hand experience of the dating market, however, living vicariously through my single friends (guys and gals) I have been keeping note of the patterns evolving. Pre-recession there seemed to be a great deal more opportunity for two people to meet and fall in love, however with the drop in employment, love's stock also seems to have suffered a crash.

Are the recession and subsequent unemployment mutually exclusive with the state of modern dating? Looking at it stastically, unemployment and frugality hardly encourage grand gestures, hope or the carefree attitude habitually related to finding "the one". How many relationships develop in the office, or via work-engineered events? Without these the adult social scene becomes rather depleted and therefore opportunities for meeting people are minimised.

The negativity that can ensue upon being made redundant or being out of work for a prolonged duration does little for one's emotional well-being and as a result, this state of mind is unlikely to create the right atmosphere geared towards inviting romance in.

So, okay it's not exactly ever easy to find love, but does a bad economy hinder the process even more? Without an occupation of some kind, plus the rejectionary feelings one may be experiencing following a "company restructure" individuals are likely to find their conversational topics dwindle and the signals they're unintentionally sending out repelling potential mates. Although among my friends there is an equal(ish) proportion of couples to singles, the majority of the couples have been together for 4 or more years. So the 'singletons' have been left by the wayside and the next wave of 'hook-ups' has been put on a wait-list as a result of the recession.

Moving onto the subject of dating sites, whose popularity has increased two-fold as digital transcends everything we know, Jo has a theory that some of the men on these sites are using these portals as a way to meet and dump women in order to regain some control having previously been the dumpee. The rest are, according to her, not really worth mentioning on the whole. Finding the right one is like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, and involves weeding out the unmentionables in the process.

Perhaps, as the financial upturn becomes more pronounced, the romance recession will finally start to experience an upturn of its own and the cycle will start again. But it is an interesting idea, and once we realise that the state of our country's finances and its impact on our changing habits and lifestyles, maybe we can overcome the situation and turn it to our advantage and in so doing beat the romance recession...

The saying does go, "love will conquer all".