Employment and the Labour Market for women from minority ethnic groups Angela Dale, University of Manchester Collaborators: Jo Lindley, Shirley Dex. Funders: ESRC and Leverhulme Foundation

2 Percentage of women economically active, 2001 Census, 20-59, excluding FT students

3 Ethnic minorities in UK - 8% of population in differences in reasons for settling in UK reflected in timing of arrival and age-structure - Black Caribbean population – economic migrants, mainly post-war labour shortage, 1950s and 1960s - followed by Indian, then Pakistani and Bangladeshi males led migration with women following as dependants -different timing reflected in different age-structures -Unemployment rates higher in minorities, even women

4 Research questions How do can we explain ethnic differences in womens economic activity –Why is economic activity so low for Pakistani and Bangladeshi women? –Is this changing between generations? –Will well qualified women with children behave like other highly qualified? –Will children take priority over working? –What is the influence of a partner?

5 Explanatory framework human capital – qualifications, language social capital – networks/ role models domestic division of labour –child-case, housework, family support cultural norms and traditions concerning paid work and work at home religion local labour market, incl. discrimination

6 Quarterly Labour Force Survey Surveys entire GB using simple random sampling – no clustering Large sample Asks ethnic group, lots of questions on employment and education information on other family members Combined data for over 1,000 Bangladeshi women ,500 Pakistani women 19-60

7 Logistic regression models: women 19-60; excl. FT students Outcome variable: economic activity=1 Explanatory variables: life-stages (set of categories constructed) qualifications whether UK born/brought up year ( ) separate models for each ethnic group extracted predicted probabilities

8 Percentage of women economically active, (predicted) 19-34, single, no children,

9 Percentage of women economically active, 19-34, partnered, no children,

10 Percentage of women economically active, partnered, children under 5,

11 What does this tell us? Big differences between minority groups –Black Caribbean women Good motherhood involves doing paid work –Pakistani and Bangladeshi women Good motherhood involves being at home and providing child-care –Qualifications has big positive effect for all groups but least for Black Caribbean women and most for Pakistani and Bangladeshi women

12 What does the future hold? Would culturally sensitive child care help more women to do paid work? Need to earn enough to afford it Pakistani and Bangladeshis tend to live in areas with few jobs for women with higher qualifications –Transport may be poorer in these areas –Car ownership lower than for white groups