A greater proportion of men than women of working age in the UK were in employment in 2008. In the second quarter of 2008 the employment rate was 79 per cent for men and 70 per cent for women, unchanged since 1999. The employment rates for men have been rising since the second quarter of 1971, levelling off in more recent years. Over the same period the female employment rates have generally increased, although almost half are part time jobs.
Employment rates for both men and women were highest among those aged 25 to 34 and 35 to 49. However, the rates for men in both age groups were higher than those for women – 89 per cent for men compared with 73 and 77 per cent respectively for women. For women, the presence of a dependent child has a substantial impact on employment (see related links: Work and family).
Over the last three decades there has been a marked increase in the number of employee jobs performed by women in the UK. In 1985 men filled 2.0 million more jobs than women. In March 2008 the numbers were similar, with each of the sexes performing around 13.6 million jobs. However, almost half the women’s jobs were part time compared with around one in six of the men’s.
In June 1985, 28 per cent of employee jobs held by men were in manufacturing. By March 2008 this had fallen to 16 per cent. The proportion of manufacturing jobs held by women also dropped, from 15 per cent to 5 per cent. In contrast, there was a substantial rise in jobs in the services sector for both men and women over the same period. The services sector accounted for 74 per cent of male employee jobs and 92 per cent of female employee jobs in March 2008.
All in employment: by sex and occupation, 2008
But men and women still follow very different career paths. Men are ten times more likely than women to be employed in skilled trades (19 per cent compared with 2 per cent) and are also more likely to be managers and senior officials. A fifth of women in employment do administrative or secretarial work compared with 4 per cent of men. Women are also more likely than men to be employed in the personal services and in sales and customer services. Similar proportions of men and women work in professional, associate professional and elementary occupations, such as labourers and catering assistants.
Men are more likely to be self-employed than women. Nearly three quarters of the 3.8 million self-employed people in Q2 2008 were men, a proportion that has remained the same since early 1997. The type of industry self-employed men and women choose to work in also differs. In Q2 2008 in the UK almost a third of men who were self-employed worked in the construction industry. Almost a quarter of women, 24 per cent, worked in either public administration, education and health or in other services, such as the community, social and personal services. For both self-employed men and women around a fifth worked in the banking, finance and insurance industry.
Source: Labour Force Survey (LFS), April-June 2008, Office for National Statistics
Notes: The main employment rate is the proportion of the population of working age (16 to 64 for men, 16 to 59 for women) who are in employment. Employment rates can be presented for any population group as the proportion of that group who are in employment.
The LFS definition of employment is anyone who does at least one hour's paid work in the week before their LFS interview, or has a job from which they are temporarily away. Also included are people who do unpaid work in a family business and people on Government-supported training schemes.
Data are at spring and are seasonally adjusted. Data for all in employment by occupation are Quarter 2 2008 and are not seasonally adjusted. People aged 16 and over.
printer-friendly
Focus on Gender home