East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
8. Improving the Participation of Women in the Labour
Market
Key Findings
Although economic activity rates are above the national rate for both men and
women in the East of England, the gap between male and female economic activity
rates is actually wider in the East of England than in the country as a whole.
Females are considerably less likely to go into work when leaving unemployment
than males.
Over half of all unemployed women in the East of England are looking for work in just
three occupational areas: clerical occupations, other sales occupations and personal
service occupations.
The pay gap between male and female earnings is narrowest in Bedfordshire, where
women earn 78.3% of male earnings and widest in Essex, where they earn just
70.9% of male earnings.
Despite progress over the past thirty years, there are still striking differences between
the labour market performance of men and women.
8.1 Economic Activity by Gender
Chart 96: Economic activity rates by gender
(Spring 2001)
Great Britain
England
Eastern
Suffolk
Females
Norfolk
Males
Hertfordshire
Essex
Cambridgeshire
Bedfordshire
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%
Source: LFS, Nomis
EKOS Economic Consultants 114
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Table 77: Economic activity rates by gender, Spring 2001
Males Females
Area Name Number % Number %
Bedfordshire 169,000 86.2 125,000 75.3
Cambridgeshire 214,000 89.9 182,000 78.8
Essex 443,000 87.5 348,000 75.7
Hertfordshire 297,000 87.9 243,000 76.9
Norfolk 220,000 88.7 168,000 76.0
Suffolk 193,000 89.8 193,000 78.2
Eastern 1,536,000 88.2 1,213,000 76.7
England 13,555,000 84.4 10,616,000 73.0
Great Britain 15,624,000 83.9 12,286,000 72.7
Source: LFS, Nomis
In Great Britain as a whole, the economic activity rate for men is 11.2% higher than is
the case for women. In the East of England, economic activity rates for both men
and women are higher than is the case across Great Britain, but the difference
between the rates for men and women is even wider; 11.5%. The county in which
economic activity amongst women is highest is Cambridgeshire, with the lowest
levels in Bedfordshire and locally in Peterborough and Luton.
8.2 Economic Inactivity by Gender
People are economically inactive for a variety of reasons. Table 78 and chart 97
show the reasons people in the East of England gave as to why they are
economically inactive. The reasons given by males and females differ greatly as
49.1% of female responses stated to look after family/the home compared to only
6.5% of males. The primary reason provided by males was long-term
sickness/disabled which received 36.1% of responses compared to 17.2% for
females.
Table 78: Reasons for economic inactivity as a % of the working age
economically inactive total, East of England, Spring 2001
Reasons for inactivity All persons Male Female
Student 20.5 26.2 17.4
Looking after family/home 33.8 6.5 49.1
Temporarily sick/injured 1.5 1.9 1.3
Long term sick/disabled 24.0 36.1 17.2
Waiting results of job application 0.4 0.6 0.3
Believes no job available 0.5 1.2 0.1
Does not want or need a job 3.3 2.5 3.7
Retired 8.5 15.3 4.8
Other reasons 7.4 9.7 6.1
Source: ONS, Labour Force Survey
EKOS Economic Consultants 115
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Chart 97: Reasons for economic inactivity as a % of
the working age economically inactive total, Spring
2001
60
50
40 All persons
Male
%
30
20 Female
10
0
t
d
s
e
d
b
d
e
n
am den
on
ire
om
le
jo
re
t/n labl
io
ab
at
ju
as
et
a
u
/h
ai
/in
no plic
St
R
is
d
re
ily
av
ee
/d
ck
p
er
ck
no job
si
ve b a
th
si
rf
an
ly
O
jo
te
rm
Lo rari
tw
of
af
te
s
po
lts
g
ng
in
m
lie
su
s
ok
Te
oe
Be
re
Lo
D
g
tin
ai
W
Source: ONS, Labour Force Survey
8.3 Employment
Chart 98 illustrates the distribution of employment between men and women and
between part- and full-time employment. The pattern of male employment in the
East of England matches exactly the pattern in Great Britain as a whole. A greater
proportion of female employment in the East of England is in part-time employment
than in the country as a whole. Overall at the county level the percentage of male
and female full and part-time working is very similar across the counties. The largest
difference exists in the percentage of males working full-time is between
Bedfordshire and Essex where the figures are 47.0% and 42.7% respectively.
EKOS Economic Consultants 116
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Chart 98: Full and part time employment in the East of
England by gender
Great Britain
England
Male Full-
Eastern time
Suffolk Male Part-
time
Norfolk
Female
Hertfordshire Full-time
Essex Female
Part-time
Cambridgeshire
Bedfordshire
0 20 40 60 80 100
% of total employment
Source: Annual Business Inquiry,1999, Nomis
Table 79 and chart 99 detail the reasons why people in the East of England work
part-time. The majority of females (83.1%) did not want a full-time job compared to
42.6% of males. The second most common reason provided by males was that they
were a student or at school which received 37.7% of the responses. Only 4.8% of
females said that the reason they worked part-time was that they could not find a full-
time job.
Table 79: Reasons for working part-time (%), East of England,
Spring 2001
Reasons All Male Female
Student or at school 14.7 37.7 10.1
Ill or disabled 1.5 1.6 1.5
Could not find full-time job 6.9 17.1 4.8
Did not want full-time job 76.3 42.6 83.1
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
EKOS Economic Consultants 117
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Chart 99: Reasons for working part-time (%),
Spring 2001
90
80
70
60
All
50
%
Male
40
Female
30
20
10
0
Student/at Ill/disabled Could not find Did not want
school full-time job full-time job
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
Chart 100 shows the female employment structure. All counties follow broadly the
same pattern and this matches England’s female employment structure. The most
common sector in which women work in all counties is public
administration/education which accounts for more than 30% of total female
employment in each county. The sector with the least female employment is energy
and water which consistently accounts for less than 1% of total female employment.
Chart 100: Female employment structure, 1999
es
ic
England
rv
se
er
c
Eastern
du
th
/e
O
in
Suffolk
m
r
ad
su
in
b
Norfolk
Pu
n/
/fi
nk
m
Hertfordshire
om
Ba
t/c
Essex
or
t
sp
es
an
Cambridgeshire
l/r
te
Tr
ho
Bedfordshire
n
n/
io
b'
ct
tri
ru
is
st
D
on
g
rin
C
tu
ac
uf
er
an
at
M
/w
0 10 20 30 40
gy
er
%
En
Source: Annual Business Inquiry, 1999, Nomis
EKOS Economic Consultants 118
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
8.4 Unemployment by Gender
Chart 101: Female claimant unemployment as a
percentage of male in the East of England
(May 2001)
Great Britain
England
Eastern
Suffolk
Norfolk
Hertfordshire
Essex
Cambridgeshire
Bedfordshire
20 25 30 35 40 45
female rate as % of male
Source: Claimant Count, Nomis
Table 80: Claimant unemployment by gender, May 2001
Female
rate as %
Male Female of male
Area Number Rate Number Rate %
Bedfordshire 5,200 3.4 1721 1.5 44.1
Cambridgeshire 4,782 2.4 1596 0.9 37.5
Essex 12,542 3.3 4479 1.4 42.4
Hertfordshire 4,978 1.6 1785 0.7 43.8
Norfolk 7,921 3.8 2675 1.6 42.1
Suffolk 5,727 3.2 1946 1.4 43.8
Eastern 41,150 2.9 14202 1.2 41.4
England 598,491 4.3 185480 1.6 37.2
Great Britain 721,385 4.5 220742 1.6 35.6
Source: Claimant Count, Nomis
The claimant count generally underestimates the level of unemployment amongst
women. Despite this, claimant unemployment data can provide some useful insights.
Table 80, above, shows female unemployment as a percentage of male
unemployment. The highest ratio is in Bedfordshire, where female unemployment is
44.1% of male unemployment. The lowest ratio is in Cambridgeshire, where female
unemployment is only 37.5% of male unemployment.
Another measurement of unemployment is the ILO unemployment rate. Table 81 and
chart 102 below show the female ILO unemployment rate by region. The Eastern
region has a favourable rate of 3.7% when compared to the other regions as only two
other regions have rates below this. Those regions are South East with a rate of
3.1% and the South West with 3.5%.
EKOS Economic Consultants 119
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Table 81: Female ILO unemployment rate by region, Spring 2001
Region ILO unemployment rate
East Midlands 4.8
Eastern 3.7
London 5.6
North East 6.1
North West 3.9
Scotland 4.3
South East 3.1
South West 3.5
Wales 5.2
West Midlands 4.4
Yorkshire and the Humber 4.2
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
Chart 102: Regional female ILO unemployment
rates, Spring 2001
7
6
5
4
%
3
2
1
0
id s
or on
Lo n
st
t
d
t
Sc est
s
Ea s
r
or as
es
be
e
nd
nd
So tlan
er
So Ea
al
nd
W
W
E
st
um
la
la
W
o
h
th
id
h
th
ut
H
ut
M
M
e
N
N
st
st
th
rk We
Ea
&
i re
sh
Yo
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
Unemployment in the East of England varies by duration between males and
females, as is shown in table 82 and chart 103. Women tend to face shorter periods
of unemployment than men as 64.1% of females were unemployed for less than six
months compared to 55.8% of males. At the other end of the duration of
unemployment scale, only 5.9% of females were unemployed for more than two
years compared to 17.2% of males.
EKOS Economic Consultants 120
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Table 82: Unemployment by duration and gender (% of total ILO
unemployment), Spring 2001
All ILO
Duration unemployed Males Females
Less than 3 months 43.7 38.3 50.3
3 months but less than 6 months 15.8 17.5 13.8
6 months but less than 12 months 17.4 18.5 16.0
1 year but less than 2 years 10.5 7.7 13.9
2 years but less than 3 years 4.9 7.3 2.0
3 years but less than 4 years 1.6 2.1 1.0
4 years but less than 5 years 1.3 1.5 1.0
5 years or more 4.4 6.3 1.9
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
Chart 103: Unemployment by duration and gender, Spring
2001
60
50
40 All ILO
unemployment
%
30 Males
20 Females
10
0
s
s
s
e
s
s
s
s
th
th
ar
ar
ar
ar
th
or
on
on
on
ye
ye
ye
ye
m
m
m
m
or
2
3
4
5
1-
2-
3-
4-
6
12
3
s
3-
ar
an
6-
ye
th
5
ss
Le
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
Table 83 shows unemployment in the East of England split by gender and
qualification levels. For both males and females the most common qualification level
of the unemployed is NVQ Level 2 or equivalent, accounting for 34.2% of
unemployed females and 29.4% of unemployed males. One noticeable difference
between males and females is that the percentage of unemployed females with a
NVQ Level 5 qualification or equivalent is more than treble the male figure.
EKOS Economic Consultants 121
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Table 83: Unemployment by gender and highest qualification (%), Spring
2001
All ILO
Qualification level unemployed Male Female
NVQ Level 5 or equivalent 7.3 3.7 11.8
NVQ Level 4 or equivalent 6.4 8.0 4.6
NVQ Level 3 or equivalent 14.9 18.1 10.9
NVQ Level 2 or equivalent 31.6 29.4 34.2
NVQ Level 1 or equivalent 17.3 18.1 16.2
No qualifications 22.2 22.1 22.2
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
Chart 104: Unemployment by gender & highest
qualification (%), Spring 2001
40
35
30 All ILO
25 unemployed
Male
%
20
15 Female
10
5
0
ns
t
t
t
t
t
en
en
en
en
en
tio
l
l
l
l
l
va
va
va
va
va
ca
ui
ui
ui
ui
ui
ifi
eq
eq
eq
eq
eq
al
qu
or
or
or
or
or
5
4
3
2
1
o
N
VQ
VQ
VQ
VQ
VQ
N
N
N
N
N
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
8.5 Movement out of Unemployment by Gender
When females leave the unemployment register they do so for a number of reasons
as chart 105 illustrates. The reasons provided by those in the East of England can be
seen to closely follow the pattern present throughout England. The major reason for
leaving the register was that people had found work as more than 60% of females in
each county provided this response. The second most popular reason given was
moving abroad.
EKOS Economic Consultants 122
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Chart 105: The Top 10 Reasons for Females Leaving the
Unemployment Register, May 2001
80 Found work
70 Gone abroad
60 Increased work to 16+
50 hours
Claimed Incapacity Benefit
40
%
Claimed Income Support
30
20 Ceased claiming
10 Claimed another benefit
0 Transfer to Government-
supported training
re
re
d
ire
k
rn
lk
x
Defective claim
l
se
an
ffo
fo
hi
i
e
sh
sh
st
Es
or
gl
s
Su
ge
rd
rd
Ea
En
N
o
tfo
id
Gone onto approved
df
br
er
Be
training
am
H
C
Source: Claimant Flows, Nomis
Table 84: % of those leaving the register going into work by duration of unemployment, May
2001
Under 6 months 6 - 12 months 1 -2 years 2 years +
Area Male Female Males Females Males Females Males Females
Bedfordshire 75.8 75.1 65.2 64.3 55.9 33.3 33.3 50.0
Cambridgeshire 80.2 69.0 59.8 40.0 67.5 46.2 56.0 25.0
Essex 77.6 71.1 66.8 52.1 52.9 58.6 41.1 31.2
Hertfordshire 76.3 70.4 73.9 59.1 48.4 54.5 42.9 40.0
Norfolk 82.7 73.9 67.2 61.1 60.3 41.2 55.3 41.7
Suffolk 82.5 74.1 67.3 52.6 60.6 40.0 56.7 20.0
Eastern 79.5 72.1 66.6 54.3 57.1 47.5 48.1 34.8
England 77.7 71.1 61.9 52.0 56.7 44.9 52.1 39
Great Britain 77.8 71.2 61.2 51.3 56.0 45.0 50.3 38.6
United Kingdom 77.6 71.1 61.2 51.4 55.5 44.8 49.7 38.3
Source: Claimant Count, Nomis
Table 84, above, shows the proportion of people leaving the unemployment register
each month who go into employment. As would be expected, people leaving the
register after shorter periods of unemployment are more likely to go into work than
those who have been unemployed for over six months. It is also clear that men
leaving the unemployment register are more likely to go into work than women.
Chart 106, below, shows unemployment in the East of England by gender and last
occupation. This chart shows that a higher proportion of female unemployed than
male unemployed previously worked in professional, associate professional and
technical, admin and secretarial, personal service and sales and customer service
occupations. Almost one quarter of the female unemployed previously worked in
sales and customer service occupations.
EKOS Economic Consultants 123
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Chart 106: Unemployment by gender and last occupation
(%), Spring 2001
30
25
20
15 All ILO
%
unemployed
10 Male
5 Female
0
Pr st l se es
u als
l
cu ine
Sk cre l
m & te ions
ns
se es
ta t/m es
le Pe ille aria
se ica
cu na rad
tio
ic
en lan rvic
i
oc ch
so l o ffic
& chn
rv
t
t
of pa
pa
a
t
o
d
on ior
cc
El ess er
en
oc om
o
ry
em /p
of & s
in
a
rs
pr
c
Ad
si
Pr rs
es
&
ge
As
s
a
an
Sa
M
Source: ONS Labour Force Survey
8.6 Sought Occupations by Gender
Chart 107 shows the occupations sought by those unemployed in the East of
England. In some occupations, a clear gender split is apparent. Women are much
more likely to be looking for work in other sales occupations, personal service
occupations and clerical occupations than men. Other sales occupations are
expected to be the fastest growing occupational area over the next ten years. Men
are much more likely to be looking for work in the skilled trades and as drivers and
mobile machine operators.
EKOS Economic Consultants 124
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Chart 107: Occupations sought by the unemployed in the East
of England by gender
No Previous/Unknown Occs
Other Elementary
Other Agric/Forestry/Fishing
Drivers/Mobile Machine Ops
Ind Plant/Machine Ops
Other Sales
Buyers, Brokers/Sales Reps
Personal Service
Protective Service
Other Skilled Trades
Skilled Engineering
Skilled Construction
Secretarial
Clerical
Other Assoc Prof
Health Assoc Profs
Science/Eng Assoc Profs
Other Professional
Teaching Professionals
Health Professionals
Science/Eng Profess
Managers/Proprieters:Agric/Serv
Managers/Admin
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
% seeking each occupation
Male Female
Source: Claimant Count, Nomis, October 2000
Footnotes: The sought occupations dataset was suspended from October 2000, pending the release of data based
on the revised SOC classification system.
8.7 Earnings by Gender
As table 85 shows, the wages earned by women are still well below those earned by
men. In England as a whole, female wages are just less than three-quarters of those
earned by men. In the East of England the gap is slightly bigger, with women
earning just 73.3% of the male average. In Bedfordshire, women earn 76.4% of the
average male wage, whilst in Essex, women earn only 71.4% of the male average.
EKOS Economic Consultants 125
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Table 85: Full-time earnings in the East of England by gender, 2000
Average gross weekly wage, £s
Female wage as %
Total Males Females of male wage
Bedfordshire 411.92 450.00 343.67 76.4
Cambridgeshire 409.89 451.34 332.26 73.6
Essex 420.07 466.77 333.34 71.4
Hertfordshire 461.55 512.88 374.78 73.1
Norfolk 377.15 417.67 300.35 71.9
Suffolk 366.82 401.85 296.41 73.8
East of England 412.69 455.52 333.82 73.3
England 416.25 459.18 341.50 74.4
Great Britain 410.62 453.34 337.58 74.5
Source: NES 2000, Nomis
Footnotes: The New Earnings Survey data accessed via Nomis differs from that published due to the different
geographical bases used to construct the totals.
Female earnings as a percentage of male earnings by occupation are illustrated in
chart 108. Of the eight occupational classifications for which data is available, in only
two are female earnings more than 80% of male earnings. These two classifications
are clerical and secretarial occupations and professional occupations.
Chart 108: Female earnings as a % of male by occupation in
the East of England (2000)
All occupations
All manual occupations
All non-manual occupations
Other occupations
Plant and machine operatives
Sales occupations
Personal and protective service occupations
Craft and related occupations*
Clerical and secretarial occupations
Assoc professional & technical occupations
Professional occupations
Managers and administrators
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Female earnings as a % of male
Source: NES 2000 (published version)
Footnotes: * indicates no data available
EKOS Economic Consultants 126
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
8.8 Training and Learning
According to the latest figures from the Labour Force Survey, female employees in
the East of England are more likely to have received job-related training in the last 13
weeks than their male counterparts.
Chart 109: % of the East of England's employed
population who received job-related training,
Spring 2001
35
30
25
20
%
15
10
5
0
Female Male All persons
Source: LFS, Spring 2001
This is somewhat surprising given that female workers are much more likely to be
employed part-time than males, and only 24% of part-time workers received training
compared to 30.2% of full-time employees. However, it may reflect the concentration
of female workers in some of the sectors which are most likely to provide training for
their employees, such as public administration, education and health.
The National Adult Learning Survey looks at obstacles to learning. There are clear
differences between men and women in terms of barriers to learning. Women are
nearly twice as likely to state that family pressures are an obstacle to learning as
men.
EKOS Economic Consultants 127
East of England Objective 3 Labour Market Assessment
Chart 110: Main obstacles to learning
45
40
35
30
Wome
25 n
%
20 Men
15
10
5
0
I prefer to I haven't It is hard I'm so busy It is hard to
sepnd my got time for me to with work I get time off
free time because of pay the don't have work to do
doing other my family fees they time to any
things than charge for spend learning for
learning courses learning my job
Source: National Adult Learning Survey, 1997
EKOS Economic Consultants 128