Employment and the Labour Market for women from minority ethnic groups

Angela Dale, University of Manchester

Collaborators:

Jo Lindley, Shirley Dex.

Funders: ESRC and Leverhulme Foundation

2

Percentage of women economically

active, 2001 Census, 20-59, excluding FT students

0102030405060708090

100

White Black CaribbeanIndian Pakistani Bangladeshi Chinese

3

Ethnic minorities in UK- 8% of population in 2001

- differences  in reasons for settling in UK reflected in timing of arrival and age-structure

- Black Caribbean population – economic migrants, mainly post-war labour shortage, 1950s and 1960s

- followed by Indian, then Pakistani and Bangladeshi males led migration with women following as dependants

- different timing reflected in different age-structures- Unemployment rates higher in minorities, even women

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Research questions

• How do can we explain ethnic differences in women’s economic activity – Why is economic activity so low for Pakistani

and Bangladeshi women?– Is this changing between generations?– Will well qualified women with children

behave like other highly qualified?– Will children take priority over working?– What is the influence of a partner?

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Explanatory framework

• human capital – qualifications, language• social capital – networks/ role models • domestic division of labour

– child-case, housework, family support

• cultural norms and traditions concerning paid work and work at home

• religion• local labour market, incl. discrimination

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Quarterly Labour Force Survey

• Surveys entire GB using simple random sampling – no clustering

• Large sample • Asks ethnic group, lots of questions on

employment and education• information on other family members• Combined data for 1992-2003

• over 1,000 Bangladeshi women 19-60• 3,500 Pakistani women 19-60

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Logistic regression models:women 19-60; excl. FT students

Outcome variable: economic activity=1

Explanatory variables:

life-stages (set of categories constructed)

qualifications

whether UK born/brought upyear (1992-2003)

separate models for each ethnic group

extracted predicted probabilities

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Percentage of women economically active,(predicted)19-34, single, no children, 1992-2003

0

20

40

60

80

100

White Black CaribbeanIndian Pakistani & Bangladeshi

degree no quals

9

Percentage of women economically active,19-34, partnered, no children, 1992-2003

0

20

40

60

80

100

White Black CaribbeanIndian Pakistani & Bangladeshi

degree no quals

10

Percentage of women economically active,partnered, children under 5, 1992-2003

0

20

40

60

80

100

White Black CaribbeanIndian Pakistani & Bangladeshi

degree no quals

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What does this tell us?• Big differences between minority groups

– Black Caribbean women • Good motherhood involves doing paid work

– Pakistani and Bangladeshi women• Good motherhood involves being at home and

providing child-care

– Qualifications has big positive effect for all groups

• but least for Black Caribbean women and most for Pakistani and Bangladeshi women

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What does the future hold?• Would culturally sensitive child care

help more women to do paid work?• Need to earn enough to afford it

• Pakistani and Bangladeshis tend to live in areas with few jobs for women with higher qualifications – Transport may be poorer in these areas– Car ownership lower than for white groups