The Gender Jobs SplitHow young men and women experience the labour market

Katy Jones and Ian BrinkleyCongress House, 1st November 2013

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?

Young people in employment: gendered occupational segmentation

Source: Labour Force Survey, average of four quarters, 2011, weightedNote: occupations shown on the left are those dominated by young women, those on the left are dominated by young men

Personal

servic

es

Administrati

ve an

d secre

tarial

Sales

and cu

stomer

servic

e

Associa

te pro

fessio

nal an

d tech

nical

Profes

sional

Manag

ers an

d senior o

fficials

Unskille

d

Proces

s, plan

t and m

achine o

perative

s

Skille

d trad

es

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

Occupations of young men and women, ages 16-24 (% points difference)

  1993 2011 % point change 1993- 2011

Men Women Men Women Men Women

Managers and senior officials 6 6 6 40 -2

Professional occupations 5 3 5 40 1

Associate professional and technical 7 7 10 103 3

Administrative and secretarial 13 31 6 13-7 -18

Skilled trades occupations 23 3 20 1-3 -2

Personal service occupations 9 19 5 21-4 2

Sales and customer service occupations 11 19 17 246 5

Process, plant and machine operatives 12 5 6 1-6 -4

Elementary occupations 14 7 25 21 11 14

Main job major group, 16-24 year olds, %

Source: Labour Force Survey, average of four quarters in 1993 and 2011, weighted

Young people in employment: gendered occupational segmentation

Young workers: dependence on private sector employment

Men Women

Private sector employment 92 87

Public sector employment 8 13

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.

Public and private sector employment, 2011 (%)

Underemployment: young men most affected

Age group 16 – 24 year olds

25 + year olds

Reason for part-time job Men Women Men WomenStudent or at school 62 61 6 2Ill or disabled 1 1 5 2Could not find full-time job

30 21 29 11

Did not want full-time job

7 18 61 85

Source: Labour Force Survey, average of four quarters, 2011, weighted

Underemployment: reason for part-time job, %

• How do young people’s qualifications vary by gender?

• How do young people’s experiences of apprenticeships differ by gender?

Young people in education

Men Women

Degree or equivalent 10 12

Higher education 4 4

GCE A Level or equivalent 33 36

GCSE grades A-C or equivalent 33 32

Other qualifications 9 7

No qualification 10 9

Highest qualification levels of 16-24 year olds, %

Source: Labour Force Survey, average of four quarters, 2011, weighted

Young people in education: qualifications

Young people in education: apprenticeships

Rail Tr

ansp

ort En

ginee

ring

Constructi

on

Glass In

dustry

Vehicle

Main

tenan

ce an

d Repair

MES Plumbing

Public Se

rvices

Horticu

lture

Driving G

oods Veh

icles

Engin

eerin

g

Provid

ing Secu

rity S

ervice

s

Ware

housing &

Storag

e

Road Pass

enge

r Tran

sport

- Bus a

nd Coach

Industrial

Applications

IT an

d Telec

oms Pro

fessio

nals (i

nc ICT)

Active

Leisu

re an

d Learn

ing

Food M

anufac

ture

Sales

and Te

lesale

s

Cleaning a

nd Support

Servi

ce Industr

y

IT User

Hospita

lity an

d Caterin

g

Manag

emen

t

Customer

Servi

ce

Accountan

cy

Retail

Business

Administrati

on

Equine I

ndustry

Health

and So

cial C

are

Hairdres

sing

Children

's Care

Learn

ing and Dev

elopmen

t

Beauty

Thera

py 0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

Level 2 Apprenticeship programme starts by sector framework (all ages)

MaleFemale

Source: The Data Service, 2011/12

Young people not in education, employment or training

• Economic activity

• Flows from unemployment

• Youth claimant counts

Young people not in education, employment or training

  2007 2011

Economic activity Men Women Men Women

Employed74 67 68 63

Unemployed15 10 21 14

Inactive11 23 11 23

Of which:       

- Inactive but seeking 1 1 1 1

- Inactive, not seeking but would like 3 6 3 6

- Inactive, not seeking and would not like 7 16 8 16

- Inactive, looking after family/home 0 13 1 14

Economic activity of 16-24 year olds, excluding full-time students

Source: Labour Force Survey, average of four quarters, 2007 and 2011, weighted

Young people not in education, employment or training

Men Women

In employment 26 28

ILO unemployed 58 48

Inactive 16 24

Destinations of young men and women from unemployment

Source: Labour Force Survey, 2 quarter datasets, Jan 05-June12, weighted

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;

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.