Over the past 40 years there has been a rise in the percentage of women aged 16 to 64 in employment and a fall in the percentage of men — that is one of the key findings of the Women in the labour market study.

In April to June 2013, around 67% of women aged 16 to 64 were in work, an increase from 53% in 1971. For men the percentage fell to 76% in 2013 from 92% in 1971.

Most of the shift in more women and fewer men working happened between 1971 and 1991, according to the Office for National Statistics study.

Several factors may account for this. One possible factor is the rise of the service sector and decline of the manufacturing sector beginning in the 1960s.

Traditionally a higher proportion of women than men have worked in services, with a higher proportion of men working in manufacturing. The growing demand to employ people within the service sector and falling demand within the manufacturing sector may have resulted in more women and fewer men working.

Since 1991, increases in the percentage of women in work continued but at a slower rate than before.

More recently, during the 2008-09 recession the employment rates for men fell more than for women and have since levelled off in the last four years with men’s employment rates remaining between 75% and 77% and women’s at 65% to 67%.

Employment rates for young women aged 16 to 23 were higher two decades ago in 1993 compared with the same period in 2013, mainly due to greater numbers remaining in full-time education.

For most ages above 25 the employment rate for women was higher in 2013 than two decades ago, coinciding with a fall in the percentage of women remaining out of the labour force to look after the family and an increase in the percentage of mothers in employment.

The difference in women’s employment rates widens for older women aged 50 and above. The increase in the percentage of older women in work in 2013 compared with 1993 may be partially attributable to the rising state pension age Men are more likely to be employed in higher skilled jobs than women, the study found. Between April and June 2013 37% of men were employed in upper middle skilled roles, such as skilled trade jobs and associate professional and technical occupations, compared with 18% of women.

The study also found that 46% of women were employed in lower middle skilled roles, such as teaching assistants, care workers and administrative roles, compared with 24% of men.
This trend was also the same for female graduates, the study found. In 2013, 27% of female graduates compared to 13% of male graduates worked in lower middle skilled jobs. A slightly higher percentage of men (53%) were in high skilled jobs than women (49%).

At the other end of the skill scale, there were very few graduates in low skill jobs, just 4% of men and 3% of women.

Full report here: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_328352.pdf