Occupational Status and Mobility of Men and Women.

Working paper

Although there exists a wealth of data relating to the British labour market, there are a number of important issues for which reliance has previously had to be placed on small surveys or case studies in order to form an option. Thus it has been known for some time that men and women cluster in different industries and occupations and that there are relatively few women in some jobs and rather a lot in others. Even so, no clear idea has been available of the extent to which men and women achieve different average levels of occupational status, when occupations are ranked in some way that enables us to compare the various jobs done by men and women. The average amount of formal schooling has risen over the period in which the present adult labour force was entering the labour market, but there has been no clear view as to whether or not the structure of occupations has changed accordingly, nor as to whether the relative position of women has improved, deteriorated, or stayed the same. The rapid increase in labour force participation and the rise of part-time working by married women in the post-war period have been well documented, but there is little evidence on whether or not this has had a detrimental effect on the labour market position of men.

Authors: Greenhalgh, C; Stewart, M

• Publisher: Department of Economics (University of Warwick)
• Series: The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS)
• Publication date: 1982-01-01
• Language: English