following lives from birth and through the adult years December 14 th 2006 Shirley Dex, Heather Joshi and Kelly Ward Institute of Education, University of London Changing occupational careers of men and women

following lives from birth and through the adult years Reminder about our aims To use 4 successive British Birth cohorts data (1946, 1958, 1970 and 2000) to address the following questions: What factors explain women's and men's occupational mobility, upward and downward, during the lifecourse of successive cohorts? How do family responsibilities, organizational policies and other factors relate to mens and womens occupational mobility over the lifecourse? What are the determinants of career success, failure and recovery for men and women? How are gender pay differentials related to the occupational upgrading and downgrading across successive cohorts?

following lives from birth and through the adult years Recent work and progress – overview Working Paper 2 - gender and occupational wage mobility using NCDS (circulated). Will extend next to BCS. Working Paper 3 – measuring occupational mobility – (about to circulate). Background work on cleaning old and new occupational histories. NCDS-ok; BCS-getting there;1946-further off; MCS- ok. Comparisons of mens womens occupation trajectories. Theorising about careers and labour market mechanisms – thinking stages. Linked student: Jenny Neuburger : Pay Differences between men and women over the life course and across cohort

following lives from birth and through the adult years WP2: Occupational wage mobility Gradual understanding of reasons for wage gap in wage levels Not so much on wage growth (but this is important part of the picture of inequalities) Focus on women with best prospects, FT and continuous working, age 33 to 42. Aim to understand gender differences – explaining the gap.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Gender (raw) wage differences GenderAge 33 (1991) Age 42 (1999) Percentage change Male£10.10£ % Female£8.74£ % Female to male ratio change 83.9%79.6%-4.3% Gender wage differences for men and women working full time at age 33 and full time at age 42

following lives from birth and through the adult years Choice of dependent variable Ruled out raw hourly wage ratio Ruled out absolute difference (M-W) hourly wage Opted for log (wage42/wage33) ratio Used linear regression, OLS. Added log age 42 hourly wage level model, controlling for age 33 hourly wage.

following lives from birth and through the adult years Log ratio Log ratio of age 42/age 33 hourly wage by percentile and gender

following lives from birth and through the adult years Independent controls - blocks Occupation dummies Occupational change Human capital measures Family, partner variables Plus Reversed order

following lives from birth and through the adult years Main findings Can explain gender differences in wage growth by: - occupations of men and women at outset and occupational segregation - growth of earnings in top jobs, held more by men - slower growth of earnings for women even when in top jobs

following lives from birth and through the adult years Differences not explained by: Partner, family situation at outset or changes over 33 to 42 (except possibly where women part company with a partner). Human capital effects are not the explanation (disruptions over the period), nor at start (controlled out).

following lives from birth and through the adult years Conclusions If we want to eliminate gender wage inequality: Occupational choice is a central issue in gender wage differences, important to longer term prospects of women. Occupational segregation also vital to tackle. Fat cat pay rises or snout in the trough syndrome also needs tackling.