Jim Platts
Structure and trends of women’s employment in the UK
代写英国论文University of Cambridge
Manufacturing
EngineeringDepartment of Engineering
Mill Lane
UK - Cambridge CB2 1RX
Structure and trends of women´s employment in the UK
M. J. Platts
AbstractWomen form 44% of the working population in the UK, and the proportion is rising, with
lower unemployment for women than for men. Manufacturing only represents 14% of the
labour market and already contains a high proportion of women in many industry sectors, and
their entry is welcomed at all levels. These are no barriers to entry: general communication,
interpersonal group working and problem solving skills are increasingly seen as the key skills
of the future, not technical skills.
Sources
The primary sources for employment data in the UK are the UK National Accounts1, which
present a ten year historic record, Social Trends2 , which augments this with some longer term
statistics and projections, and which gives a more thorough analysis of gender and ethnic differences,
and the Britain’s Flexible Labour Market: What Next?3, a 1997 Department of
Educationand Employment Study analysing current trends and in particular analysing future skill
needs.
Statistics
In the decade 1985-1995 manufacturing employment has declined from 5 million to 3.9 million
and is continuing to decline, whilst all other major employment sectors have increased:
wholesale and retail, repairs, hotels and restaurants - 4.4 million to 4.9 million; financial intermediation,
real estate, renting and business activities - 2.8 million to 3.6 million, and education,
health and social work - 3.7 million to 4.4 million. For a working population of 28
million people, manufacturing now only represent 14% of employment, and more than half of
that is in the offices, not employment on the factory floor. Equally striking are the figures for
agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing which together at 314 thousand represent just over
1% of the working population and declining. Mining of coal and nuclear fuel, which from
1985 to 1995 has dropped from 216 thousand to 15 thousand - i.e. has almost disappeared -
and is still falling. These figures simply emphasise the extent to which Britain is now a service
economy.
Looking at gender differences, women now constitute 44% of the labour market and this is
increasing. 1.3 million of the probable 1.5 million new entrants into the labour market between
1993 and 2006 are expected to be women, but already 83% of the women employed are
employed in the service industries (figure 1). Also in the 25 - 54 age group in mid 1997 fe-
1 HUMPHRIES, S. (ed.) United Kingdom National Accounts. (HMSO,1996)
2 CHURCH, J. (ed.) Social Trends 27. (HSMO,1997)
3 RATAJAN,A., VAN EUPEN, P. & JASPERS, A., Britain’s Flexible Labour Market: What next?
(CREATE,1997)
male unemployment was only 3.3% as against 8.5% male unemployment. To further put this
in perspective, while in 1995 white unemployment was approximately 8%, unemployment
amongst black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani members of the labour market was over 25%.
Figure 1
Women in the Labour Force: Key Trends
1) Increased proportion of the workforce - From 37% in 1971 to 44% in 1994. Expected to be
46% of the labour force in 2006.
2) High proportion of new entrant - Women
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