Sink jobs and gender inequalities Shirley Dex Centre for Longitudinal Studies, GeNet Sub-brand to go here 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 mens and womens lives Using the ESRC British Birth Cohorts data resources which offer large-scale, very rich data on mens and womens 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 womens and mens 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

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,

Conclusions - gender differences in employment? Yes, sector and occupational gender differences But No, evidence on inequalities in employment, or job loss Its 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.

Economic downturn effects on entry into the lowest occupations 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

Conditions at entry 1958 cohort Left school at Unemp 16 3% % % 1970 cohort Left school at Unemp % % %

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. Effects on career progression

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

Effects of lowest entry occupations on risk of downward mobility over rest of career WOMEN rd level Bottom level 2nd level 4th level Top level Cohort rd level Bottom level 2nd level 4th level Top level Cohort-1970 MEN rd level Bottom level 2nd level 4th level Top level Cohort rd level Bottom level 2nd level 4th level Top level Cohort-1970

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.

Questions?