The Next Workplace Revolution
Starting in the 1960s, women started entering the workplace in large numbers. Since the 60’s, the female workforce participation rate has steadily increased while the participation rate for men has remained steady or even declined. While participation rates (or wages for that matter) are not at parity with men, the gap has steadily closed.
The trend is supported in looking at gender staffing of occupational groups. From 1970 to the present, women have made huge inroads into occupational groups such as management, business/financial operations and professional and technical occupations. Indeed, around half of these positions are now held by women- though it should be noted that healthcare and education jobs often get lumped into some of these categories- areas that have been “traditionally” dominated by women. Despite this progress, areas such as engineering/sciences and precision manufacturing remain male-dominated. Likewise, office and administrative jobs are still heavily staffed by women. The gender diversification of occupations is seemingly a one-way street where women are taking over a greater role in many jobs but men are not reciprocating. Nursing may be the exception to that rule.
The following NY Times article offers a new insight: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/education/09college.html In a nutshell, this article shows (and data support) that women are more likely to go to college than men, they are more likely to finish college than men and they are more likely to excel at college than men. Now, take into account that our economy/labor market is changing. We are increasingly a knowledge economy. That knowledge economy is creating a 2-tier labor market of high-skill, high wage jobs and low-skill, low wage jobs. Basically, the employment opportunities that we (or our children) are likely to have depend on us having access to quality advanced education and the ability to complete that education. Groups that cannot (or will not) access higher education face a future that is even more uncertain than those of us who have lived through corporate white/blue-collar downsizing, the IT Bubble burst or job offshoring.
So, who is best positioning themselves for success in the knowledge economy? Well, apparently young women are getting the message and are flocking to higher education. Indeed, the latest Department of Labor statistics show that the labor force participation for women is going down for the first time in years. Is it because more young women are staying at home? Probably not- it is likely due to a double whammy of retirements of those earlier waves of women entering the labor force and young women going to school full-time.
The implications of this trend are many and I’m not going to get into all the ramifications. But, I will point out one interesting note. In a report in the Harvard Business Review (http://www.hbr.com/) (Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success, March, 2005) a survey of employed women with advanced degrees who are in professional and managerial positions showed that 37% of women take time off from work (24% for men). Of this group, about 74% went back to work though most indicated that their future wages and growth opportunities suffered significantly because of taking time off. Startlingly, 0% of them wanted to go back to their original private sector place of work- the public and nonprofit sectors had somewhat higher rates. As an economist, I am fairly skeptical of any 0% figure but it does show something about how poorly many employers are addressing the sensitivities of a huge and powerful part of its workforce (Incidentally, the rate for men was not disclosed. It could also be 0% for all I know- perish the thought…maybe none of us want to go back to our original employer after taking time off!) Regardless, by investing in education, women are increasing their bargaining power in the future job market. Employers take note.
-Kyle
Starting in the 1960s, women started entering the workplace in large numbers. Since the 60’s, the female workforce participation rate has steadily increased while the participation rate for men has remained steady or even declined. While participation rates (or wages for that matter) are not at parity with men, the gap has steadily closed.
The trend is supported in looking at gender staffing of occupational groups. From 1970 to the present, women have made huge inroads into occupational groups such as management, business/financial operations and professional and technical occupations. Indeed, around half of these positions are now held by women- though it should be noted that healthcare and education jobs often get lumped into some of these categories- areas that have been “traditionally” dominated by women. Despite this progress, areas such as engineering/sciences and precision manufacturing remain male-dominated. Likewise, office and administrative jobs are still heavily staffed by women. The gender diversification of occupations is seemingly a one-way street where women are taking over a greater role in many jobs but men are not reciprocating. Nursing may be the exception to that rule.
The following NY Times article offers a new insight: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/education/09college.html In a nutshell, this article shows (and data support) that women are more likely to go to college than men, they are more likely to finish college than men and they are more likely to excel at college than men. Now, take into account that our economy/labor market is changing. We are increasingly a knowledge economy. That knowledge economy is creating a 2-tier labor market of high-skill, high wage jobs and low-skill, low wage jobs. Basically, the employment opportunities that we (or our children) are likely to have depend on us having access to quality advanced education and the ability to complete that education. Groups that cannot (or will not) access higher education face a future that is even more uncertain than those of us who have lived through corporate white/blue-collar downsizing, the IT Bubble burst or job offshoring.
So, who is best positioning themselves for success in the knowledge economy? Well, apparently young women are getting the message and are flocking to higher education. Indeed, the latest Department of Labor statistics show that the labor force participation for women is going down for the first time in years. Is it because more young women are staying at home? Probably not- it is likely due to a double whammy of retirements of those earlier waves of women entering the labor force and young women going to school full-time.
The implications of this trend are many and I’m not going to get into all the ramifications. But, I will point out one interesting note. In a report in the Harvard Business Review (http://www.hbr.com/) (Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success, March, 2005) a survey of employed women with advanced degrees who are in professional and managerial positions showed that 37% of women take time off from work (24% for men). Of this group, about 74% went back to work though most indicated that their future wages and growth opportunities suffered significantly because of taking time off. Startlingly, 0% of them wanted to go back to their original private sector place of work- the public and nonprofit sectors had somewhat higher rates. As an economist, I am fairly skeptical of any 0% figure but it does show something about how poorly many employers are addressing the sensitivities of a huge and powerful part of its workforce (Incidentally, the rate for men was not disclosed. It could also be 0% for all I know- perish the thought…maybe none of us want to go back to our original employer after taking time off!) Regardless, by investing in education, women are increasing their bargaining power in the future job market. Employers take note.
-Kyle
posted by LMI1 at 8:06 PM
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