A recent study of EU and non-EU economies, representing over a third of the global workforce, reveals significant advancements for women in both the quantity and quality of employment over the past few decades.
This indicates that although women continue to face lower employment rates and are often concentrated in low-paying jobs, their labour market situation is rapidly improving.
Nairametrics learns that these findings offer a global perspective on employment shifts by gender and economic sector.
What the study indicates
- The report analyzes employment trends in 17 countries, which includes EU and non-EU countries, as well as broader labour market dynamics in the 21st century.
- It indicates that globally, job upgrading, characterized by increased employment in higher-paid occupations, is more prevalent than job polarization, where both the best and worst-paid jobs increase while mid-pay jobs decline.
- It also suggests that while private services contribute to job polarization, employment growth in public services tends to foster job upgrading.
- Data from the EU-Labour Force Survey and the Structure of Earnings Survey from 1997 to 2019 show that the workforce in eight EU countries expanded by over 21 million individuals, with female workers accounting for 68% of new employment created.
Moreover, while nearly 22% of new job positions for males were in high-paid roles, the figure rose to 31% for women. Similar trends are observed in most non-EU countries covered.
The study highlights a global trend of feminization of employment, with women transitioning from informal and unpaid work to formal employment, driven partly by increased participation in formal education.
It also examines how employment growth and occupational upgrading differ between genders across economic cycles.
In many countries globally, there has been a relatively larger increase in employment for women, with women experiencing more occupational upgrading than men.
Despite this progress, gender disparities continue to persist, necessitating policy attention to ensure equitable employment opportunities and address ongoing challenges faced by working women.
The paper highlights the significance of taking gender dynamics into account when making changes to work and advocates for taking action to address aspects such as trade dynamics, technology improvements, and educational engagement that influence the composition of employment.
