following lives from birth and through the adult years Shirley Dex, Erzsébet Bukodi, Heather Joshi Institute of Education GeNet Seminar London, 8 December 2009 The ups and downs of mens and womens careers

following lives from birth and through the adult years Against the background of aggregate changes 40 years of rises in womens participation in paid employment. A large rise in women employed in the public sector. A rise in women in professional and associate profession occupations. Gradual falls in mens employment rates. Improvements in hourly pay ratio of women to men.

following lives from birth and through the adult years This project was about: Examining successive cohorts of womens and mens career trajectories (across individuals life stages and across birth cohort/generations) We set out to see whether things that hindered gender equality in earlier generations have gradually disappeared; And how far mens and womens career trajectories have moved towards equality by 21 st century Has it been a case of onwards and upwards for women?

following lives from birth and through the adult years

Ratio of womens median hourly earnings to those of male full-time employees , by hours worked

following lives from birth and through the adult years Using large-scale nationally representative data from British Birth Cohort Studies MRC National Survey of Health and Development, born The National Child Development Study, born 1958 The British Cohort Study, born 1970 The Millennium Birth Cohort childrens mothers.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Elements of career trajectories to examine First occupations, entries into paid work Overall progression from first occupation, up to age 40 Upward and downward moves Focus on key juncture for women - childbirth: Part-time work after childbirth and occupational downgrading.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Story 1. Not simply onwards and upwards Highly educated women born in 1946 who made careers entered better jobs than men, and than subsequent generations of women. [SLIDE] Labour market conditions have influenced some generations more than others and left their mark, for example on: Entry jobs of 1970 cohort – very high unemployment at outset. early career of men born 1958, double digit U rates.

following lives from birth and through the adult years

Occupational attainment over age, (ranking by pay) MENWOMEN

following lives from birth and through the adult years 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. [SLIDE] 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

following lives from birth and through the adult years Lowest paid occupations after leaving school

following lives from birth and through the adult years Story 2. First jobs still in different sectors Women continuing, after leaving FT education, to enter occupations that have lower wages than men. [SLIDE] However, the social status of occupations women have been entering has been rising across cohorts. Women have better chances than men of upward moves on the social status scale, especially from its lower ranks, but not on occupations ranked by pay.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Highest paid jobs after leaving FT education

following lives from birth and through the adult years Occupational attainment by age: social status rank MENWOMEN

following lives from birth and through the adult years The probabilities are calculated under a random-effects logistic regression model, including the following explanatory variables: job duration, age, duration of time spent out of LM, duration of time spent in PT jobs, occupational history, educational qualifications, occupational earnings level in current job, partnership status, fathers social class. The probabilities are calculated for a hypothetical person aged 30 having continuous work and occupational history, no PT employment experience; other variables evaluated at their means

following lives from birth and through the adult years Story 3. Some parallel and converging experiences Used to be thought that women were the only ones to experience occupational downgrading. This is not the case although the reasons differ by gender. [SLIDE] Education is a big help to upward career mobility for women and men, although stronger for women. Higher fathers social class also helps upward career mobility (less strong than education for women) higher for men born 1958, when labour market conditions worse.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Occupational mobility up to mid 30s

following lives from birth and through the adult years Gender differences (after controls) in career patterns Career patterns women < men women > men Steadily up Unstable up Unstable down Steadily down

following lives from birth and through the adult years Story 4. Snakes and ladders. Men and women who enter lowest paid occupations have approximately equal chances of upward career mobility in their early careers. For men, these lowest paid jobs were like a stepping stone to a better position But women tend to fall back much more than men after early upward moves.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Work-life occupational mobility

following lives from birth and through the adult years Story 5. What about the role of childbirth? Used to be womens Achilles heel. Leave the labour market to have first child, spend time out and lose wage-enhancing human capital; return to part time job in low-paid part-time sector; Experience occupational downgrading if work PT. Maternity leave (and successive extensions) has narrowed the time out of employment for most mothers. Also secured their occupational position for many. Extent of occupational down grading has gone down [SLIDE]

following lives from birth and through the adult years Occupations either side of first childbirth Percent of mothers downwardly mobile at this point. Mother born 1958 = 31 % Mother born 1970 = 14 % (First children born to Millennium mothers = 11%)

following lives from birth and through the adult years Story 6. Part-time jobs after childbirth Key point for women, is time over childbirth, known for some time. Has it been changing? Percent of mothers returning to PT hours after child1. Mother born 1958 = 66 % Mother born 1970 = 57 % (First children born to Millennium mothers = 68%)

following lives from birth and through the adult years Story 7. The higher you rise, the further to fall? Women have reached professional and associate professional occupations in large numbers. Estimates of the probability of experiencing occupational downgrading are highest for 1958-born women in such occupations, if they move from full to part-time jobs over childbirth. Probability of downgrading on moving from FT to PT job over childbirth = 50% for 58 women as whole, 70% for 58 women in top occupations; worse for high flying women employed in male dominated or integrated occupations, and if no PT opportunities.

following lives from birth and through the adult years The association between mothers occupational earnings before and after child-birth is, overall, stronger in the 1970 than the 1958 cohort (ie less mobility, more stability in 1970 born) Compared with those born in 1958, mothers born in 1970 staying in part-time / full-time employment around childbirth (in many cases in the same job), experienced much less downward occupational mobility. Working part time in female dominated jobs protected from experiencing any further occupational downgrading.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Story 8. Part-time hourly pay penalty changed Traditionally, has been a gap in the hourly pay of full- time compared with part-time employed women. eg. 9% in cross-section women in 1980, with controls legislation prohibits treating FT and PT workers differently; 2003 Right to Request flexible working analysis showed 10% PT penalty reduces to 3- 4% with controls added, including occupations.

following lives from birth and through the adult years PT pay Our analysis of MCS mothers and PT pay reduces PT pay gap across childbirth to zero if occupations included; ie occupations of PT jobs are still the biggest reason for pay gap. Even without occupation being controlled: Staying with employer and working part time has no pay penalty. Working part time when child aged 9 months has no PT pay penalty, but carrying on PT at age 3, or 5 has bigger pay penalty.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Analysis of FT hourly wage rate growth in 30s Showed an hourly (FT) wage penalty for 58 men and women if they had a downward move, and an hourly wage advantage for upward moves. Comparison between 58 women most like 58 men, working full time and mainly in work through 20s and 30s found: Women still fell behind by being in more feminised occupations, and less in top occupations where wage growth faster.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Conclusions 1. Declining gender differences across cohorts. Occupational careers of women and men appear to be more similar by 1970 born cohort. There is a lot of instability in mens career paths, and more downward occupational mobility than might be expected. Women and men are more similar in occupational careers if women remain childless and do not take part-time work, but they still have less wage growth.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Conclusions 2. Comparing cohorts also means comparing careers formed in different labour market conditions. This creates a complex story of movements towards equality. Women who take part-time jobs have less stable careers, largely because of the occupations of PT jobs. Staying with the same employer over childbirth now protects from loss of pay and occupational rank. But even in higher occupations women still lose hourly pay if they continue to work part time for a few years after birth.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Policy implications – to reach gender equality Gains made by women in the public sector will not realise gender equality or equal pay overall; it needs changes in womens occupations towards mens or change in mens occupations towards womens. Should women prefer more pay to better status? Coincident with legislation about treatment of PT and FT, and right to request flexible working over childbirth, PT pay penalty has declined immediately after childbirth, but prolonged PT after childbirth brings the pay penalty back. Maybe this is only fair, since it represents less work experience? More part-time jobs in higher occupations would still help to remove the remaining PT pay penalty.

following lives from birth and through the adult years References Dex,S. Ward,K. and Joshi,H. (2008) Gender differences in occupational wage mobility in the 1958 cohort Work Employment and Society, Vol.22 No.2, pp Dex,S. Ward,K. and Joshi,H. (2008) Changes in Womens Occupations and Occupational Mobility over 25 years, in Scott,J. Dex,S. and Joshi,H. (eds.) Changing patterns of womens employment over 25 years, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp Bukodi,E. and Dex,S. (2009) Bad Start: Is There a Way Up? Gender Differences in the Effect of Initial Occupation on Early Career Mobility in Britain in European Sociological Review 2009; doi: /esr/jcp030 Bukodi,E. Goldthorpe,J. and Dex,S. (2010 forthcoming). The Conceptualisation and Measurement of Occupational Hierarchies: a review, a proposal and some illustrative analyses, in Quantity and Quality.

following lives from birth and through the adult years References Dex,S Ward, Lindley (2007) Measuring vertical occupational mobility GeNet Working Paper, Dex,S. and Bukodi,E. (2009) The effects of part-time work on womens occupational mobility in Britain: Evidence from the 1958 birth cohort study, forthcoming GeNet Working Paper. Bukodi, E. (2009) Education, first occupation and later occupational attainment: cross-cohort changes among men and women in Britain. Forthcoming GeNet Working Paper. Bukodi,E. (2009) Mens occupational mobility across cohorts, forthcoming GeNet Working Paper.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Appendix: Lowest paid quintile 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

following lives from birth and through the adult years Appendix: Highest paid quintile occupations Professionals in health Professionals in education Lawyers Business professionals Financial professionals Technologists Engineers Industrial chemists Production managers Construction managers

following lives from birth and through the adult years Appendix: Lowest status quintile occupations Assemblers/ line workers Food drink and tobacco processing operatives Packers bottlers, canners, fillers Catering assistants Farm workers livestock handling Labourers in making and processing industries Cleaners Postal workers, mail sorters Textile processing operatives

following lives from birth and through the adult years Appendix: Highest status quintile occupations Medical practitioner University teaching professionals Solicitors Social worker Welfare, community, youth workers Journalists Designers Probation officers

following lives from birth and through the adult years Predicted proportions of career types by education Ranking by pay Predicted proportions are calculated under the multinomial logit model including the following covariates: education, first occupational status, fathers social class: managerial & professional

following lives from birth and through the adult years Predicted proportions of career types by first occupation Predicted proportions are calculated under the multinomial logit model including the following covariates: education, first occupational status, fathers social class: managerial & professional