The Gender Jobs Split How young men and women experience the labour market

1. The Gender Jobs SplitHow young men and women experience the labour market Katy Jones and Ian Brinkley Congress House, 1st November 2013

2. Young people in employment 2 key areas: • Occupational segmentation – which occupations do young men and women work in? has this changed over time? • Underemployment – how has underemployment impacted on young men and women?

3. Young people in employment: gendered occupational segmentation Source: Labour Force Survey, average of four quarters, 2011, weighted Note: occupations shown on the left are those dominated by young women, those on the left are dominated by young men

4. Young people in employment: gendered occupational segmentation Main job major group, 16-24 year olds, % Source: Labour Force Survey, average of four quarters in 1993 and 2011, weighted

5. Young workers: dependence on private sector employment Public and private sector employment, 2011 (%) Source: Labour Force Survey, 4-quarterly average for 2011. NB: Public sector figures in the LFS are based on self-reporting and so deviate from the ONS estimates of public sector employment. The public sector figures in the LFS are known to over-estimate the size of the public sector because they can include university staff and agency workers. The data presented in the chart/table are adjusted down to reflect this using the method suggested in Millard, B. and Machin, A. (2007) ‘Characteristics of public sector workers’ Economic and Labour Market Review 1:5, pp 46-54.

6. Underemployment: young men most affected Underemployment: reason for part-time job, % Source: Labour Force Survey, average of four quarters, 2011, weighted

7. Young people in education • How do young people’s qualifications vary by gender? • How do young people’s experiences of apprenticeships differ by gender?

8. Young people in education: qualifications Highest qualification levels of 16-24 year olds, % Source: Labour Force Survey, average of four quarters, 2011, weighted

9. Young people in education: apprenticeships

10. Young people not in education, employment or training • Economic activity • Flows from unemployment • Youth claimant counts

11. Young people not in education, employment or training Economic activity of 16-24 year olds, excluding full-time students Source: Labour Force Survey, average of four quarters, 2007 and 2011, weighted

12. Young people not in education, employment or training Destinations of young men and women from unemployment Source: Labour Force Survey, 2 quarter datasets, Jan 05-June12, weighted

13. Key findings and implications • Hiring paradox – private sector employers have created over 1.3 million jobs in just three years but has had little impact on number of young people in work; • Glacial progress towards reducing gender segmentation, particularly in vocational choices such as apprenticeships – very hard to address once young people are in the labour market; • Growth of unskilled work, especially for young women, and continued importance of skilled trades for young men; • Significant problem of under-employment for young men and women, but especially for young men;

14. Key findings and implications • Few OECD economies have successfully addressed high unemployment among under 25s, and none have succeeded without a strong employer based vocational training system; • Transition from school to work is critical – what happens in schools as important as first contacts with the labour market; • Labour market connections through private and public sector “intermediaries” matter to increase the willingness of employers to take on non-graduate young people; • Wider policy levers to reduce the share of unskilled work and increase access to higher skill work for under 25s – for example, higher priority for quality of work in public employment services, public procurement, industrial policies to ensure strong manufacturing and construction base and expansion of technical skills in high value add services; • Implications for social mobility and generational gap in numeracy and literacy skills.