Employment of women and demand-side forces

Abstract

Using the 1964–1995 March Current Population Surveys and the 1940–1990 Census, this paper examines the relationship between female employment growth and changes in labor demand. Specifically, we examine whether industrial change and changes in labor demand can account for both the acceleration and deceleration of female employment growth across the decades as well as the pattern of biased growth in favor of more skilled women. We find that labor demand proxies are successful in accounting for the pattern of biased growth but are less successful in accounting for the overall acceleration of female employment, particularly in the 1970s.

Citation

Ginther, D.K. and Juhn, C. (2001), "Employment of women and demand-side forces", Polachek, S. (Ed.) Worker Wellbeing in a Changing Labor Market (Research in Labor Economics, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 289-309. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-9121(01)20046-6