Comparable Worth New Directions for Research (1985) / Chapter Skim
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Prospects for Pay Equity in a Changing Economy
Prospects for Pay Equity in a Changing Economy
Pages 137-166
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From page 137... ...
Despite their increased labor force participation and the passage of legislation to prohibit sex discrimination in employment (the Equal Pay Act in 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in 1964) , the earnings gap between fulltime, year-round male and female workers has decreased only a few percentage points in recent decades (Norwood, 19841.
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From page 138... ...
Finally, against the background of changes in labor supply and demand, I review trends in job segregation and the wage gap to assess women's progress to date and speculate about their prospects for the future. The competing interpretations that I offer highlight what is perhaps the only conclusion to be drawn: that the slow and incremental gains women workers have made cannot be taken for granted, nor can their progress be assumed to proceed as an inevitable corollary of their continued, significant presence in the labor force.
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From page 139... ...
, which take account of women's marital status and childbearing as well as other demographic factors, are compared below with the BLS projections used in this paper: Female Labor Force Participation Rate Projected to 1990 Smith BLS Ages 1~24 67.1 69.1 Ages 25-54 68.6 75.6 Age 55 + 21.2 20.5 Total 54.8 58.3 Smith's projections also agree substantially with those of BLS, which are slightly higher, especially among women ages 25 to 54. These comparisons indicate that in its most recent set of projections, BLS may have taken steps to remedy its perennial underestimation of women's labor force participation.
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From page 140... ...
From 1950 to 1983, the labor force participation rates of married women with husband present and children under age 6 increased fourfold, from 11.9 to 49.9 percent. Those of women with children ages 6 to 17 more than doubled, from 28.3 to 63.8 percent (Waldman, 19X41.
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From page 141... ...
PROSPECTS FOR PAY EQUITY IN A CHANGING ECONOMY TABLE 1 Civilian Labor Force Participation Rates by Sex, Age, and Race, 1982 and Projected to 1995 Percentage Participation Rate Difference Labor Group 1982 1995 1982-1995 Men 76.6 76.1 - 0.5 16-24 72.6 74.5 + 1.9 16-19 56.7 62.9 +6.2 20-24 84.9 84.1 -0.8 25-54 94.0 93.4 -0.6 25-34 94.7 93.1 - 1.6 35~4 95.3 95.3 0.0 45-54 91.2 91.1 -0.1 55 and over 43.8 35.3 - 8.5 55-64 70.2 64.5 -5.7 65+ 17.8 13.3 -4.5 Women 52.6 60.3 +7.7 16-24 62.0 71.6 +9.6 16-19 51.4 58.2 +6.8 20-24 69.8 82.0 + 12.2 25-54 66.3 78.7 + 12.4 25-34 68.0 81.7 +13.7 35-44 68.0 82.8 + 14.8 45-54 61.6 69.5 +7.9 55 + 22.7 19.9 -2.8 55-64 41.8 42.5 +0.7 65 + ~ 7.9 7.0 -0.9 White 64.3 68.1 +3.8 Men 77.4 77.0 -0.4 16-24 74.9 79.1 +4.2 25-54 94.9 94.5 -0.4 55+ 44.2 35.6 -8.6 Women 52.4 60.0 +7.6 16-24 64.7 75.4 + 10.7 25-54 66.1 78.7 + 12.6 55+ 22.4 19.5 -2.9 Black and other 61.6 65.7 +4.1 Men 1.0 70.6 - 0.4 16-24 60.0 52.7 -7.3 25-54 88.0 87.2 -0.8 55 + 40.5 32.6 -7~9 Women 53.9 61.7 +7.8 16-24 48.8 55.3 +6.5 25-54 67.9 78.7 + 10.8 55 + 25.5 22.8 -2.7 Total, age 16+ 64.0 67.8 +3.8 SOURCE: Fullerton and Tschetter (1984:Table 1)
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From page 142... ...
According to Johnson and Waldman, the record numbers of marriages, divorces, and subsequent labor force entry during this period are, like other changes in the labor force, a function of the activities of the baby boom cohort. By the 1980s, "divorcees—who have the highest LFP [labor force participation]
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From page 143... ...
Key features of the labor force of the future can be summarized in light of these trends: · Continued erosion of the prototypical white male worker's share of the labor force; · Maturing (but not graying) of the work force as the baby boom cohort ages and enters the years of prime work life; · A relative shortfall in the supply of younger workers or new labor force entrants;
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From page 144... ...
Department of Labor, 19821. TABLE 3 Part-Time Status and Average Hours of Adults at Work in Nonagricultural Industries, by Sex, 1968-1980 Men Women Average Total Average Total Weekly Hours Weekly Hours Year % Part Time at Work % Part Time at Work 1968 5.2 43.5 23.5 35.6 1970 6.3 42.6 24.5 34.9 1972 6.4 43.0 24.7 35.3 1974 6.7 42.6 25.0 35.1 1976 7.3 42.4 25.2 35.0 1978 6.9 42.8 24.7 35.3 1980 8.0 42.1 24.9 35.3 SOURCE: Computed from Bureau of Labor Statistics (1982a:Table B-22)
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From page 145... ...
Although there was little variation in part-time employment by age of children, mothers of preschool-age children, who are presumably younger then those with order children, were only slightly more likely than mothers of school-age children to work part time, reflecting a general trend toward greater labor force attachment among younger women workers. It should be noted that the large sex differences in part-time and full-time status do not translate into big differences in the number of hours actually worked.
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From page 146... ...
. TABLE 6 Year-Round Work Experience of Men and Women: Percentage Working 50 to 52 Weeks Part Time or Full Time, 1950-1981 Year Men Women 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1981 68.5 71.5 68.4 71.8 70.5 68.2 69.6 69.1 45.0 48.1 46.9 47.9 50.7 53.1 56.6 57.0 SOURCE: Computed from Bureau of Labor Statistics (1982a:Table C-2)
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From page 147... ...
Combining part-time and full-time workers, a similar pattern is seen: women with children, especially preschoolers, have a tendency to work fewer weeks per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1982a:Table C-171. Other Indicators of Labor Force Attachment Changes in women's labor force participation rates and year-round attachment translate into the accumulation of more work experience and longer work lives.
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From page 148... ...
This is especially true with regard to part-time work, where marital and family responsibilities still constrain the ability or desire of married women with children to work full time, while impeding husbands and single heads of household to do so. Women are improving their standing relative to men on various productivity-enhancing characteristics such as work experience and education, progress being greatest among younger cohorts of workers.
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From page 149... ...
In government, a slowdown in job growth reflects budget reductions of the 1970s and declining school enrollments. As the children of the baby boom cohort enter their school years, an increase in the number ofjobs in teaching is expected.
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From page 150... ...
Similarly, small but nonetheless real gains were made in other traditional male occupations, such as truck drivers and warehouse laborers. Projections The current distribution of employment across major occupational groups is compared to the projected distribution in Table 9.
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From page 151... ...
Already BLS projects that during the l9SOs and 1990s office automation will begin to make significant inroads into clerical employment, with the result that these jobs will grow at slower rates than previously, although keeping pace with total job growth. At the level of detailed occupations, Table 10 shows the 20 occupations that will grow most rapidly through 1995.
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From page 152... ...
WOMEN'S STATUS IN THE LABOR MARKET Trends in Job Segregation As is apparent from the foregoing discussion, particular occupations are closely identified with and often performed almost exclusively by workers of one sex or the other. The distribution of women across major occupational
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From page 153... ...
Electrical and electronic technicians Total Average Female: Male Percentage Percentage Weekly Earnings Ratioh Growths Females Earningsh (x 100) 27.5 47.4 29.5 29.6 23.5 48.9 33.8 37.4 26.5 34.8 29.3 40.2 38.3 26.6 35.9 47.3 36.7 30.1 28.6 60.7 25.0 14.6 85.1 99.3 83.5 60.3 95.8 85.2 82.2 2.1 84.3 NA 39.7 .7 10.5 30.5 12.8 85.0 38.2 1.4 9.7 39.5 219 168 230 192 178 332 150 322 314 172 NA 379 285 394 135 232 141 300 325 387 $289 83.6 92.0 60.3 72.0 82.2 82.2 NA 71.2 64.2 90.7 57.0 NOTES: NA = not avai table.
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From page 154... ...
The value of the segregation index is affected by two factors: the number of people employed in different sex-typed occupations (the mix effect) and the sex composition of workers within an occupation (the composition effect)
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From page 155... ...
They also found that the level of segregation remained constant over the 20-year period from 1959 to 1979, during which equal employment opportunity laws were passed and visibly enforced. In summary, although there have been changes in Me sex composition of individual occupations, recent trends and projections for the future reveal only modest change in and persistent high levels of job segregation.
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From page 156... ...
During that decade, decline in traditional, segregated occupations coincided with movement into integrated or sex-neutral ones rather than leading to the creation of new male- or female-dominated bastions. Projected changes in the age and race or ethnic composition of the future labor force also have potential implications for job segregation.
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From page 157... ...
, the rate of movement into and out of occupations could slow as the baby boom cohort settles down to particular jobs or careers, thus slowing changes in the sex composition of jobs. In view ofthese tendencies pointing in opposite directions, it is difficult to predict future changes in the degree of job segregation.
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From page 158... ...
Because there was no direct measure of work experience in Green's data, some amount of the observed gap could be due to unmeasured breaks in women's actual work experience, particularly that of married women. Yet the trends in women's labor force participation reviewed earlier suggest that this cohort had relatively high levels of activity.
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From page 159... ...
of the wage gap is due to discrimination (see Treiman and Hartmann, 1981, for a review)
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From page 160... ...
The increased presence of women in the labor force has led to several developments that, if successful, could hasten a closing of the wage gap. Foremost among these is the push for comparable worth or pay equity.
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From page 161... ...
5. An inquiry into the impact of child care and alternative work arrangements on labor force attachment and job choice, because most of the projected increase in women's labor force participation will come from the mothers of young children.
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From page 162... ...
Pp. 9-21 in Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projectionsfor 1995.
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From page 163... ...
Pp. 1-8 in Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projectionsfor 1995.
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From page 164... ...
: 15-20. Labor force participation rates are not the relevant factor.
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From page 165... ...
1978 Projecting female labor force participation from sex-role attitudes. Social Science Research 7(4)
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