Explaining Trends in Occupational Segregation: The Measurement, Causes, and Consequences of the Sexual Division of Labour

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Abstract
Occupational segregation is important and difficult to measure. Summary measures are used to track change in the sexual division of labour across decades, but no single index can capture all dimensions of interest, in particular vertical segregation, which explains much of the sex differential in earnings. The choice of index is not crucial; research results are determined primarily by other methodological choices in the formatting of the base data-set. Britain provides a strategic case for assessing the impact of recession and work-force restructuring in the 1980s, in analyses based on Census and Labour Force Survey data for 1979–90 for 550 occupational groups. Surprisingly, the 1980s display a larger fall in occupational segregation than previous decades. Women's labour-force participation is examined more closely; the explanation is identified as a rise in women's work commitment, and in women's full-time employment, which occurred for the first time in the l980s. On this basis, a substantial decline in occupational segregation is predicted for the 1990s, with a consequential impact on the male-female earnings gap. The growth of integrated occupations and the changing pattern of vertical segregation will provide a better basis for monitoring trends in future years than any summary index.

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