The Monkey Shack

In an effort to stay ahead and be able to predict economic downturns before they happen, economists and financial analysts have looked to number of different indices for help. The most popular may be the "misery index," which calculates the unemployment rate plus the inflation rate. Other more obscure gauges include the "lipstick index," which keeps an eye on cosmetics purchases (they rise during a recession), and even the so-called "Mormon index," tied to food assistance and stockpiling.

But now there might be another gauge economists can look at to evaluate the health of the economy: the length of men's beards. Esquire grooming editor and New York salon owner Rodney Cutler, who was also recently retained by Philips' Norelco as brand spokesman, says "recession beards" are on the rise as more men are letting it all grow out as an act of "playful rebellion," a sign of defiance and of not being a "corporate slave."

Not to mention a sign of not being employed. Hundreds of thousands of layoffs monthly are reducing the number of men who feel the need to shave daily. Some purport that facial hair is a visible, outward sign of one's masculinity, and that by growing beards, unemployed workers suggest that they have not been "unmanned" by their recent job troubles.

Observing the wave of layoffs across the country, workers at one financial services company decided that facial hair might be a great way to show solidarity with their unemployed friends. The trend has even spawned a handful of Facebook groups. And the 2009 NYC Beard & Mustache Championships unveiled a new category this year, the Recession Beard.