These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Why are more women working in Britain?
    Author: Joshi HE, Layard R, Owen SJ.
    Journal: J Labor Econ; 1985 Jan; 3(1 Pt 2):S147-76. PubMed ID: 12267646.
    Abstract:
    Using a pooled time series, cross section supply function for single year age groups of Britain women, it is determined that female labor force participation rose steadily from World War II to 1977. Until the 1970s, the main increase was among married women aged 35 and over. Possible explanations for the post World War II rise in female labor participation are: 1) part time jobs were more available to women, 2) the drop in real prices of domestic appliances, processed foods, and easy care fabrics reduced the time required to take care of a family, and 3) the effect of long term changes in the roles women see for themselves in life. Women's wages rose sharply between 1973 and 1975, by around 15%; this was due to the Equal Pay Act of 1970. In addition, the educational attainment of women relative to men was constant or declining for cohorts entering the labor force up to the 1960s. Age specific employment rates are explained by 3 kinds of variables: 1) those whose values change from year to year and are age specific--life cycle variables, 2) those whose values change from year to year but affect all ages equally--calendar time variables, and 3) those that differ between cohorts but do not change over the life cycle--cohort variables. Results show that: 1) each preschool child lowers participation by 35% each primary school child by 14% and each secondary school child by 7%; 2) the relative earnings of women are highest early in life, 3) age leads to a decline in participation at an increasing rate, and 4) vacancies registered at employment exchanges are more or less untrended between 1950 and 1974. Completed family size, education, and early unemployment and wartime work experience do not explain the strong trend in the coefficients on the cohort dummies; however, real wages do. In time series, men's wages and women's wages are highly correlated, and each is nearly as highly correlated with time. During the 1970s, the female/male ratio index in each industry rose by 4.5 percentage points, reflecting the vast expansion of service industries. There were also sharp increases in the proportion of women workers within each industry, in spite of the sharp rises in women's pay.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]