Sink jobs and gender inequalities

1. Sub-brand to go here Sink jobs and gender inequalities Shirley Dex Centre for Longitudinal Studies, GeNet CLS is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institute of Education

2. Introduction • This topic important for gender inequality • Topic is part of a larger research project on career mobility over men’s and women’s lives • Using the ESRC British Birth Cohorts data resources which offer large-scale, very rich data on men’s and women’s employment and career histories Edit footer detail manually

3. Plan of the Talk • What are the potential gender equality issues an economic downturn raises? • What is happening to women’s and men’s jobs in the credit crunch set against what has been happening earlier? • What do we know from the past about the effects of economic downturns? • On entry into the labour market • On career development over time • Conclusions Edit footer detail manually

4. Potential gender equality issues • Are women disproportionately affected compared with men in • Losing jobs/redundancy? • Getting their first jobs at entry to the labour market ? • Getting promotions within jobs? • Is there a difference in what happens at the top and bottom ends of the occupational hierarchy? • Are there different experiences between sub-groups of women/men – some more vulnerable than others?

9. Unemployment rates, Employment millions,1971-2008 9

12. Conclusions - gender differences in employment? • Yes, sector and occupational gender differences • But ‘No’, evidence on inequalities in employment, or job loss • It’s too early to say whether there are or will be disproportionate job losses by gender • Part-time jobs, mainly held by women, mainly at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy, have been unaffected by economic cycles in the past.

13. Child care Domestic staff & related occupations Hairdressers, beauticians Other occs in agriculture Catering Sales assistants Other occs in sales & services Receptionists Road transport operatives Other occupations in mining Personal & protective services Textile, garment & related Food preparation Economic downturn effects on entry into the lowest occupations

14. 1958 cohort Left school at Unemp 16 3% 18 5.2% 21 4.8% 1970 cohort Left school at Unemp 16 11.8% 18 8.6% 21 10.4% Conditions at entry

16. Effects on career progression • Men and women who enter lowest ranking occupations have approximately equal chances of upward career mobility in their early careers. • For men, the lowest level jobs were like a stepping stone to a better position • But women tend to fall back much more than men. For women low level occupations are more of a trap.

17. Changes between cohorts - women • The effects of entering at the lowest levels was worse for women in the 1970 cohort compared with the 1958 cohort • Women born in 1970 entering in labour market had compared with women born in 1958 • Higher proportions in the lowest jobs • Lower chances of mobility out of these jobs • Higher chances of downward mobility once they got out of the bottom occupations

18. Effects of lowest entry occupations on risk of downward mobility over rest of career WOMEN 3rd level Top level Bottom level 4th level Cohort-1958 -0.25 2nd level 0.25 -0.5 0 0.5 2nd level Bottom level Top level 3rd level 4th level Cohort-1970 -0.25 0 0.25 -0.5 0.5 MEN Top level 3rd level 2nd level 4th level Cohort-1958 0.25 -0.25 0 Bottom level -0.5 0.5 3rd level Top level 2nd level Cohort-1970 4th level Bottom level -0.25 0.25 0.5 -0.5 0

19. Implications • There are some pointers from previous recessions about what might happen. In the current recession: • Young women may enter the labour market with lower occupational status than young men, on average. • Young women entering the labour market at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy may do worse than young women from an earlier birth cohort, entering in better labour market conditions in earlier periods. • Young women who enter at the bottom of the occupational hierarchy may do worse in their subsequent career chances than an earlier cohorts who entered under better conditions.

20. Questions?