VARIATION IN FEMALE ACTIVITY AND EMPLOYMENT...

VARIATION IN FEMALE ACTIVITY

AND EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS

The ca se of Sweden

by

Åsa Löfström

Department of Economics Umeå University S-901 87 Umeå

March 1996

The report is written for the EU-network on the Situation of Women in the Labour Market.

UmU Tryckeri Umeå 1996

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1 CONTRIBUTION OF WOMEN TO CHANGING EMPLOYMENT RATES1.1 Participation rates

- Participation and children- Participation and working hours- Participation and employers- Participation and branches of industry

1.2 Participation rates in different regions1.3 Self-employed women and men

2 UNEMPLOYMENT AND NON-EMPLOYMENT2.1 Unemployment rates

- Unemployed mothers andfathers- Reasons for unemployment- Duration of unemployment- Hidden unemployment

2.2 Non-employment among women and men

3 EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION- Education and employment- Education and unemployment- Education and non-employment

4 WAGES AND INCOMES4.1 Wages

- Solidaristic wage policy- Children, positions and wages- The value ofwork

4.2 Incomes

5 STATE POLICIES AND WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT- Family policy- Tax and social security policy- Labour market policy- Trade unions

6 SUMMARY

List of tables and figuresComments to the statisiics used in the reportReferences

1

INTRODUCTION

The European problem with low employment rates and high unemployment rates, as described in the Commision’s white paper, has not been manifest in Sweden until now. Typical for Sweden has, instead, been very high employment rates and low unemployment rates, both among men and among women. The trend in the Swedish labour market has been that more and more people have become engaged in paid work.

The normal situation today is that both men and women are working outside the home and only leave the labour market temporarily, primarily because of child birth and/or education. The gradual transformation of family and equal opportunities policy from women’s right to work to working women’s right to marry, have children and have time to spend with their children has played a very important role. Further, this policy has obviously been quite successful as women have entered the labour market en masse.

This transformation has, of course, meant many important adjustments. One example is the introduction of jobs on a part time basis and, most important, that part time workers were quickly granted the same legal and social rights as full-time workers. The various institutional changes such as the introduction of a modern type of family policy and the creation of a care system of high quality, which were extremely important for women constitute another example. It took time and the struggle was sometimes unequal, but by the 1980s one could say that both the quantity and the quality level of child care in Sweden was satisfactory. A third example is the demand for female labour. Resistance to female labour in many, but far from all, male-dominated areas was gradually broken and the expansion of the public sector brought about an increased demand for labour, and in particular women.

In the beginning of the 1990s, the situation on the labour market altered quite dramatically in Sweden due to changes within the economy. The level of unemployment rose from 1.5 per cent in 1990 to about 8 per cent in 1994 and the labour force participation rates decreased from about 80 to 75 per cent during the same period. These changes have suddenly turned everything upside down and the forecasts for the future have become unreliable.

Furthermore, Sweden’s membership of the European Union is raising new questions concerning women’s (and men’s) position in the labour market. For example, what will be the consequences for women of the requirements for Sweden to fullfill the convergence criteria for entrance into the Monetary Union. Accordingly, specific feature

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of the situation today is that, from the point of view of women, that the questions concerning their future on the labour market are many but the answers are very few or missing totally.

This report does not deal with the current situation in detail since we do not know yet what its short and long-term consequences will be. The aim is, instead, to make a descriptive analysis of the developments taking place up to the present. My intention has been to extract some of the determining factors which have contributed to the high level of participation in paid work by Swedish women. It is important to have knowledge and understanding of these factors particularly in periods when we do not know what is likely to happen in the future concerning women’s position in the labour market.

Perc

ent

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1CONTRIBUTION OF WOMEN TO CHANGING EMPLOYMENT RATES

In three decades, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, almost one million women entered the Swedish labour market. The labour force participation rate for women aged 16-64 years rose from about 50 percent in 1960 to just above 80 percent in 1990. This development also meant that in 1990 almost half of the labour force was female.

During the same period of time the labour force participation rate for Swedish men decreased. Not, of course, as much as the women’s had increased. Figure 1 shows that the decline has been steady. There are essentially two reasons why the men have left the labour force: Prolonged education and earlier retirement ages.

As is shown verv clearly in Figure 1 the female participation rate seems to have reached its peak. From the beginning of the 1990s, the participation råtes are falling both for men and women. It is too early to say whether this will continue or if it is just a temporar break. However, in retrospect, there may be reasons to worry about this trend.

Figure 1: Labour force participation råtes 1963-1994. Women and men aged 16-64.

100

1963 1973 1983 1987 1992 1993 1994Year

iliÉlfl WomenMen

4

The explanations for the three decades of increasing employment among Swedish women are many. Without going into details here, I will here just give a brief historical background.

As early as the end of the 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s, there were some worries among employers about a future lack of labour. They soon realised that the reserve of labour consisted of women and, in particular, married women. They discussed very seriously how to make these women more active in the labour market. The proposals the employers and the unions discussed were, among other things, higher wages for women, part-time work and care facilities for children. These were, of course, demands women had long expressed. However, because of differences in opinions concerning these proposals none of them were implemented. Instead the solution became to 'import’ male labour from other countries which continued until the end of the 1960s.

The positive economic growth during the 1960s, the increasing need for labour and the extensive structural changes within the economy meant that the early discussions concerning the conditions necessary for getting women into the labour market started to be realized. The increasing mobility due to structural changes, leading primarily to migration from northern to Southern Sweden, during the 1960s, made both men and women available for participation in the labour market.

Parallel to this, the expansion of the public sector started. The education system was reformed and labour market policy was introduced. Facilities were build for elderly people but there were still very poor arrangemants for children. During whole of the 1970s families adopted a great variety of Solutions to handle this problem. First from the beginning of the 1980s one can say that the conditions for children with working parents were satisfactory.

It is obvious that some of the changes have acted as pull factors and others as push factors on women in their relationship with the labour market. However, it is also clear that the push effects seems to have been much stronger than the pull effects since women’s participation in the labour force grew so fast.

Two important push factors for the rising female participation rate were the employers’ acceptance of providing work on a part-time basis and the changes in the tax system. In 1971 joint taxation of married couples was replaced by separate taxation. While the former offer the wife the opportunity to leave home for part of the day, the latter provided economic incentive for her to do so.

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The resistance against part-time work has a long history and it has always been questioned both by women, by the unions and by employers. One argument was that these jobs were poorly paid and no one could ever earn a living from part-time work. Another was that female labour was exploited. A third argument coming from the employers was about labour costs. According to the employers it was as expensive to employ a part-time worker as a full-time worker since the costs for social benefits, investments etc was equal, irrespective of working hours. In retrospect one can see that some of these apprehensions were correct.

Most part-time jobs were, and still are, poorly paid and, in order to have a reasonable standard of living, the woman was and is dependant on someone else, primarly a husband. The exploitation argument relätes to the difficulties to get a full-time job once you have accepted part-time working. The cost-argument for some of the employers were less strong and some of them increased their supply of part-time work, especially for jobs where irregular working hours were common.

1.1 Participation rates

The changes occurring during the 1980s and the 1990s are shown in more detail in Figure 2. The level of employment participation rose for both men and women until 1990 and the gap between the groups was gradually reduced. In 1990, 86 percent of all men and 82 percent of all women (16-64 years) were employed or selfemployed. After 1990, the gap has continued to decrease but the reduction in employment participation rates for both groups are remarkable.

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Figure 2: Employment participation rate 1981-1994. Women and men aged 16-64.

c

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Figure 3: Employment participation rate 1981-1994. Women and men aged 16-64 and 25-54 years.

1981 1983 19891985 1987 19931991Year

Men ------- Women ------- Men ............ Women25-54 25-54 16-64 16-64

- Participation and children

A specific feature of Swedish labour market is the very high participation rate among mothers and especially mothers with young children. In Figure 4, the participation råtes for those with children under 7 years are shown. Around 80 percent of the mothers and more than 95 percent of the fathers are in employment. For mothers this is, in intemational comparision, an extremly high participation rate.

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Figure 4: Employment participation rate for women and men with children < 7 Years.

1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994

Year

Hl Men Mlll Women

There are several explanations for this. One is the generous system for parental leave with up to 12 months almost full payment, another is the supply of different types of subsidized day care systems, a third explanation may be the growing role for active fathers in the family and a fourth may be the mothers themselves. The majority want to take up their job again after their parental leave is over. Parents have also the right to work 75 percent of a full-time job until the child is eight if they wish and they are also allowed to take days off when the child is sick.

The question is whether this employment rate remains high when women have more than one child. From the table presented below, it seems that there is practically no difference between having one or two children under the age of 17. With three children there is no differences for men. For women the participation rate is still very high even if the drop is quite substantial.

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Table 1: Labour force participation for women and men with children < 17 years.

One child Two children Three children

1988:Women 90.6 91.3 80.9Men 965 97.8 973

1989:Women 91.6 91.5 833Men 96.7 97.9 96.9

1990:Women 91.3 91.5 84.9Men 96.7 98.1 96.2

1991:Women 89.5 90.3 83.7Men 96.0 97.4 95.8

1992:Women 88.5 89.9 82.2Men 94.7 96.4 95.0

1993:Women 86.0 88.0 79.9Men 93.0 94.9 93.9

1994:Women 84.2 85.6 78.6Men 92.1 93.9 92.6

Source: Labour Force Survey (AKU) Statistics Sweden

- Participation and working hours

I have already mentioned the need for part time work to encourage and make it possible for women to enter the labour market in the 1960s and 1970s. Nowadays, when the conditions are much better for working parents/mothers and there have been both general and separate agreements on the reduction of working hours, the question remains: Is there any need for part time work today? It is obvious that the answer is yes. When you look at the statistics you find that there has certainly been a reduction from the beginning of the 1980s, nevertheless 35-40 percent of the female labour force still works on a part time basis. Among men, on the other hand, part-time work continues to be very rare.

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Figure 5: Full-time employment 1982-1994. Women and men aged 16-64.

Men iSH Women

Even if part time jobs are very common among women, it is obvious that they work long hours. Table 2 shows the average working hours for men and women within different age groups.

Table 2: Average working hours per week for women and men in different age groups.

1987 1992 1994Men Women Men Women Men Wome

16-24 37.7 33.1 36.2 32.3 34.7 30

25-54 41.8 33.6 41.8 34.8 41.9 34.9

55-64 39.8 30.1 38.5 31.6 38.1 31.9

16-64 40.9 33.1 40.7 34.1 40.6 34


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Part time work of less than 20 hours a week has never been particularly populär, not even among mothers. In the case of mothers with children under 17, only five percent were working less than 20 hours a week in 1994. The share among mothers with three children under 17 was seven percent.

The reasons for working on a part time basis differ. Many employers have, for example refused and are still refusing to offer full time work. Irregular working hours (evenings, nights, weekends) have meant that it is often regarded as more convenient and many times also cheaper to recruit on a part time instead of a full time basis. Another reason is the current labour market situation. However part time work may also be a voluntaiy choice related to, for example family preferences or students’ wishes to work while studying.

Because of the frequency of part time work among Swedish women, women obviously do not have as many working hours as men per year. In 1982 men worked almost 80 million working hours while women worked close to 50 million. In 1990, the peak year, the number were slightly higher for the respective groups, but in 1994 the hours were fewer, at least among men, 71 respective 51 million. The difference in total working hours between men and women is therefore, smaller in 1994 than in 1990 mainly due to higher unemployment for men and a somewhat higher proportion of women working on a full-time basis.

Figure 6: Working hours for women and men 1982-1994. (lOOOOs)

-10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

1982 1987 1990 1994Year

Men lÉÉill Women

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The information about working honrs has initiated a discussion on whether the labor force participation rates for women are measured correctly, especially when used in international comparisions. In these comparisions, some argiie that as long as part timers are not as frequent in other countries as it is in Sweden, it would be more appropriate to just compare full time workers. I do not think this is a particularly strong point, since I consider it is more important to have a labour market contract, irrespective of working hours, than not to have one. This does not mean that I neglect the problem. Experience suggests that part-time work whilst providing some economic independence for women can also be a trap for them.

- Participation and employers

The growth of the public sector in Sweden has implied both more employment opportunities and a better supply of services all over the country. Services such as day care for children, care for the elderly and the sick, functioning public transport systems, lunches for the school children and so on are necessary for most women before they can accept a labour contract, irrespective of whether it is private or public. This means that the public sector plays a twofold role for women.

Figures 7 and 8 below show the differences between men and women. More than 70 percent of the men have a private employer while the rest are employed by the State or the local authorities. Women have, on the other hand, two equally important employers. A little more than 40 percent have a private employer and close to 50 percent are employed by the municipalities. The reduction in government activities in certain areas has meant that employment, local and national, has been reduced for both men and women during the period 1982-1994.

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Figure 7: Public and private male employees 1981-1994. Aged 16-64. Per cent.

1982

State

1987 1992Year

Municap.

1994

Private

Figure 8: Public and private female employees 1981-1994. Aged 16-64. Per cent.

cQ)O

14

It is, of course, no coincidence that more women than men work in the municapalities. First of all this sector grew particularly fast during the 1970s and its demand for labour was, therefore, substantial. Since the type of jobs the municapalities offered attracted many women, it became natural that female labour in particular was demanded. This does not mean that all women employed within the public sector are working with what one may call 'former house work’ i.e. caring for children and old people, social work and nursing in the hospitals. In 1992, about 30 per cent of all women in the labour market were found within these three categories and about 50 per cent of those in the public sector. The rest were engaged in other types of occupations in the public or private sectors.

- Participation and branches of industry

The previous section showed that more than 50 per cent of working women are employed by the public sector. When looking at different branches of industry, this means that women dominate Public administration and services’ (G in Figure 9), 70 percent women and 30 percent men. The changes since 1983 are minor. In absolute numbers this means 1.1 million women and about 0.5 million men in 1994. Within the public sector and in addition to caring and social work services women are working in administration, education, cultural and amusement activities, cleaning, repairing and other types of services.

The next most important industry for women is ’Wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotélsXD). In 1994, around 0.5 million were employed in this branch, of which 50 percent were women. Pinance, insurance, real estate and business services’ (F) grew very fast during the 80s and was, in fact, the only industry to make a substantial contribution to employment. From 1990 and onwards, there has been a certain reduction and in 1994 there were 0.35 million employees within this industry, of which almost 50 percent were women. In ’Mining, manufacturing, electricity and water services’ (B) the female share is around 25-30 percent. In absolute numbers this means about 0.2 million women in 1994.

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Figure 9: Proportion of women employed by branch of industry 1982-1994. Aged 16-64. Percent.

A: Agriculture B: Mining, manufacturing, electricity and water service C: Construction D: Wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels E: Transport and Communications F: Finance, insurance, real estate and business services G: Public administration and services

The female pattem which is shown in the figure above does not differ much from what you find in other industrialised countries. The sex-segregation is obvious. There have been several attempts to make the labour market more integrated but the results are, as far as we can see today, quite modest. The segregation becomes even more visible when one looks at employment areas. Figures 10 and 11 show the ranking of the most populär employment areas for men and women in 1983 and the changes after this date.

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Figure 10: The ten most common employment areas for women 1983-1994.

5000

C* D-* E F* G* Employment areas

1983 1987 1992 1994

A: Health & nursing B: Social work C: Education D: Public administration E: Retail trade F: trade G: Leasing & Consulting H: Durable goods I: Post & telephone J: Banking

Among women the most common areas was 'health and nursing' in 1983, followed by 'social work’. What is obvious from the figure is that there has been a kind of transposition between the two. The decrease in the number of women employed in the health services is almost of the same size as the increase in the number in the social services. The reason to this change is primarly a re-organisation. The third most populär area among women is education and after that comes public administration. The rest of the categories attracted almost the same number and the changes are minor between the years in question. In 1983, 68 percent of all female employees were in these ten areas and, in 1994, the figure was even higher, 71 percent.

When comparing women’s distribution with men’s it is obvious that men are less concentrated in certain categories than women. Men are both more equally spread over the different areas and of all male employees in 1983 57 percent were in these ten areas and in 1994 this figure was reduced to 51 percent.

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Figure 11: The ten most common employment areas for men 1983-1994.

2000

M-* N-* O P* Q Employment areas

1983 1987 1992 1994

K: Transport & Communication L: Construction M: Wholesale trade N: Public administration O: Engmeering industry P: Education Q: Motor industry R: Metal industry S: Building trade T: Leasing & Consulting

The ranking from 1983 is not valid in 1994, even if the employment areas are the same. In 1994 the most common were 'transport’, 'wholesale trade’, 'public administration’ and 'construction’.

However men’s and women’s respective areas are not totally segregated. Among the ten most common employment areas we find that education, Wholesale trade, public administration and leasing and Consulting are on both lists (marked with * in the figure). Of course this does not necessarily mean that they are doing the same type of work. We know that a high degree of sex segregation also exists within an area.

One important question, still looking for an answer, is whether there are barriers, visible or invisible, which prevent women from broadening their employment opportunities or if the figures reflect men’s and women’s preferences. Despite the fact that the question has been on the agenda for a long time a satisfactory answer is still missing.

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12 Participation rates in different regions

Sweden is a large country where the distance between north and south is more than 2000 kilometers. The differences between the regions are many, including the labour markets. Industries based on mines and minerals, forestry and timber, hydro electricity dominated for a long time the more sparsley populated northern part of Sweden. This meant that the demand for female labour was somewhat limited. The more densely populated regions in the middle and south of Sweden offered more opportunities for women since the labour markets were both bigger and more diversified there.

The changes taking place during the 1960s and 1970s went in two directions. On the one hand, structural changes in the economy increased mobility. Many men and women moved from the northern region to the central or Southern regions of Sweden, primarily because of the men/husbands had lost their jobs. On the other hand, the regional policy introduced in the 1960s was meant to encourage firms and entrepreneurs, financially and morally, to move and start businesses in those regions where there was a lack of employment opportunites but a surplus of labour. Furthermore, the labour market policy introduced in its modern form in the 1960s, gave both economic assistance to those who could move and underlined the importance of labour market education and relief work for those who were not able to move or to find a suitable job whether they moved or not.

The regional and labour market policies contributed actively to decreased differentials between regions as well as between men and women and the expansion of the public sector created employment opportunities and offered services to those, women and men, who needed them.

Looking at the figures presented in the Tables 3 and 4 below, they confirm that the policies have been successful. The differences in the participation rates are relativly small between the regions and if we exclude the Stockholm area, the differences become even smaller.

The map below shows how the different regions are situated.

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Table 3: Labour force participation rates within different regions (NUTS II). Men 16-64 years.

Region 1983 1987 1992 1994

A:Stockholm area 87.4 88.4 86.1 81.8BrEast Sweden 85.8 85.2 83.8 78.8QSmåland incl. 86.5 85.6 85.4 81.0the islandsD:South Götaland 85.6 84.5 83.3 79.1E:West Götaland 86.3 86.1 84.3 78.8FtNorra mellansverige 85.1 84.9 82.1 78.0G:Mellersta Norrland 83.6 83.2 82.9 78.7H:Övre Norrland 83.4 82.2 80.1 77.0

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Table 4: Labour force participation rates within different regions (NUTS II). Women 16-64 years.

Region 1983 1987 1992 1994

A:Stockholm area 83.2 86.7 83.8 79.1BzEast Sweden 76.3 80.1 79.5 74.8C:Småland incl.the islands

76.1 80.7 803 75.7

DzSouth Götaland 76.5 78.9 843 152E:West Götaland 77.2 81.0 79.8 74.9F:Norra mellansverige 73.8 783 76.8 73.8G:Mellersta Norrland 75.4 79.5 79.8 76.1H:Övre Norrland 75.6 77.3 77.8 73.9

Source: Swedish Labour force surveys (AKU) Statistics Sweden

The development is the same for the regions as for the country as a whole. For men in all regions the decline in labor force participation (LFP) has been observed since the 1960s, while there has been an increase in LFP for women in all the regions. Since the beginning of the 1990s, however the negative trend also includes women and, for men the reduction in LFP is much stronger than earlier. (See Tables 5 and 6.)

Table 5: Changes in labour force participation rates within different regions (NUTS II). Men 16-64 years.

Region 83-87 87-92 92-94 83-94

Stockholm area + 1.0 -2.3 -4.3 -5.6East Sweden -0.6 -1.4 -5.0 -7.0Småland incl. -0.9 -0.2 -4.4 -53the islandsSouth Götaland -1.1 -1.2 -4.2 -6.5West Götaland -0.2 -1.8 -5.5 -73Norra mellansverige -0.2 -2.8 -4.1 -7.1Mellersta Norrland -0.4 -03 -4.2 -4.9Övre Norrland -1.2 -2.1 -3.1 -6.4


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Table 6: Changes in labour force participation rates within different regions (NUTS II). Women 16-64 years.

Region 83-87 87-92 92-94 83-94

Stockholm area +3.5 -2.9 -4.7 -4.1East Sweden +3.8 -0.6 -4.7 -1.4Småland incl.the islands

+4.6 -0.4 -4.6 -4.0

South Götaland + 2.4 -5.4 -9.1 -13West Götaland + 3.8 -1.2 -4.9 -23Norra mellansverige + 4.5 -1.5 -3.0 0.0Mellersta Norrland +4.1 +0.3 -3.7 +0.7Övre Norrland + 1.7 +0.5 -3.9 -1.7


The tables shows that whilst the changes for men have been almost the same size in all regions, they have not been uniform for women. This means that the differentials between the regions with the highest and the lowest LFP amongst men in 1983 respective 1994 are almost the same.

For women, on the other hand, the differentials decreased which means that the regions, in this respect, have become more equal. If one conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the differences in LFP between the regions are small and that the decrease during the 1990s has affected all the regions’ LFP rates equally hard, the next question is: Do the labour markets at the regional level look the same?

To answer this question, I have compared employment in five industries in three different regions in 1987 and 1994. The results are shown in Table 7.

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Table 7: Male and female employment within different branches of industry and regions 1987 and 1994. Percent. (16-64 years).

Reg A Reg B Reg CMW MW MW

Public administration & services1994 16 64 16 56 16 601987 21 60 21 55 19 56

Manufacturing31994 30 9 21 9 33 131987 35 12 26 11 38 17

Banking & insurance1994 8 6 15 12 8 71987 6 5 11 11 6 6

Trade, restaurants & hotels1994 10 14 11 15 8 141987 10 16 17 16 11 14

Agriculture1994 7 2 2 1 7 21987 8 3 2 1 7 3

Others01994 29 5 35 7 28 41987 20 4 23 6 19 4

aManufacturing and mines.bothers are: construction and transport and Communications.

Reg A: Forest counties (skogslänen)Reg B: Metropolitan areas (Storstadsområdena)Reg C: Remaining Southern and central Sweden (Övriga Syd- och mellan sverige) Source: Labour Force Survey (AKU) Statistics Sweden.

The employment structure is almost the same for men and women in the three regions. Women are mostly found in the area of public adminstration and services no matter where they live. The differences are, however, that women in the big cities (region B) are less concentrated in public administration and are more frequently employed in the banking and the insurance sector instead.

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The proportion working in agriculture is, of course, greater in areas outside the cities, but this is not a dominant industry neither for women nor for men. Manufacturing industry is the most important source of employment for men but its importance has been reduced and for example in region B ’others’ have become more important.

Without the expansion of the public sector women’s prospects of getting a job or being able to accept a job in the different regions would probably have been very poor. The expansion was a necessity to keep the labour, both men and women, in the regions. The increasing demand for female labour and the women’s own wishes to join the labour force underlined the need for the production of different kinds of welfare services. The organisation of these services differs, but almost everywhere it is a public and not a private obligation.

The expansion of the public sector services in the different regions is largely due to the principle of equality. A significant aspect of the Swedish welfare system is that every person has the right to a particular service irrespective of where he or she lives. This is probably also the single most important explanation of why the State or the local authorities are the prime producer of this kind of service.

1.3 Self-employed women and men

During the 1980s and 1990s, the number of self-employed increased. Special attention has been paid to female self-employment during this period. According to the figure presented below, the increase in male self employment between 1983 and 1994 was more than 100 000 while the self employment among women was around 30 000. The percentaged increases were substantial for both groups, 49 percent for men and 38 percent for women.

Num

bers

25

Figure 13: Self-employed women and men without employees. Aged 16-64. Percent.

100

The aim and direction of recent policy has been to actively support small entrepreneurship. Due to high and rising unemployment, this policy will probably continue and new incentives are being created to encourage more men and women to start a business of their own. In order to increase female entrepreneursship in particular, extra resources have been put into helping women start their own business since the middle of the 1980s.

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2 UNEMPLOYMENT AND NON-EMPLOYMENT

2.1 Unemployment rates

Sweden is well known for its low unemployment rates. The rate for both men and women hardly ever exceeded three (3) percent during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The beginning of the 1990s saw a dramatic change. The drastic increase in unemployment, primarly due to structural changes within the economy and reduction in consumption demands, resulted in almost half a million activly looking for a new job in 1994. Of those, 40 percent were women and 60 were men. People in different labour market programs are of almost equal size. How pronounced this increase has been both since the beginning of the 1960s and during the 1980s and 1990s are shown in the two figures below.

Figure 14: Unemployment rates 1963-1994. Women and men aged 16-64.

15 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

12 -

1963 1973 1983 1987 1992 1993 1994Year

Men Women

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Figure 15: Unemployment rates 1979-1994. Women and men aged 16-64.

1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993

Year

Men Women

The difference between men and women was marginal until the beginning of the 1990s. From then on, men were harder hit because the reduction in the female-dominated public sector was not as big as in the male-dominated sectors. However because of the planned reduction within the public sector, the trend at the moment is that female unemployment will continue to rise while male unemployment will decline.

Even if the unemployment rate in general has been very low in Sweden there have always been groups that have been hit harder than others. This is particularly evident during periods with relativly high unemployment. Young and older people, those living in certain regions and men and women in different ethnic groups are often more vulnerable than others. Tables 8 and 9 below show the differences in unemployment according to regions, age and sex.

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Table 8: Unemployment rates for men and women within different regions (NUTS II). 16-64 years.

Region 1983 1987 1992 1994

M W M W M W M W

Stockholm area 1.7 1.5 1.1 0.7 4.4 2.4 6.1 4.5East Sweden 3.0 2.7 1.7 1.6 4.7 3.2 5.5 5.2Småland incl.the islands

3.3 3.0 1.2 1.6 43 2.9 6.2 43

South Götaland 3.3 3.6 1.8 2.1 4.8 3.4 7.5 6.0West Götaland 2.5 2.6 13 1.4 4.0 2.8 6.8 53Norra mellansverige 3.8 3.2 2.2 2.0 6.1 3.8 8.4 4.9Mellersta Norrland 3.9 3.5 2.0 13 6.6 3.1 9.0 4.6Övre Norrland 4.8 4.3 3.0 2.5 6.6 3.5 9.7 5.1


It is obvious that there are differences between the regions. Men and women living outside the city-areas are suffering more from high unemployment than those living in and around more populated areas in the middle and south of Sweden. In almost all regions the unemployment rates are higher for men than for women. The forecast for women’s unemployment is, however, gloomy since the planned reduction in the public sector will hit women more severly than men. Regions with a high proportion of women in the public sector can be expected to suffer more than regions where this proportion is lower.

The second aspect concerning groups more vulnerable to unemployment is related to age. Table 9 provides some information on this issue.

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Table 9: Unemployment rates for men and women within two age groups: 16-64 years and 25-54 years.

16-64 25-54M W M W

1981 2.4 2.6 1.6 1.61982 2.6 2.6 1.9 2.11983 3.0 2.8 2.2 2.11984 2.6 2.6 2.0 1.91985 2.4 2.3 1.9 1.7

1986 2.6 2.7 1.8 1.71987 1.9 1.9 1.4 1.41988 1.6 1.6 1.2 1.21989 1.3 1.4 1.0 1.01990 1.5 1.5 1.1 1.1

1991 3.0 2.3 2.4 1.81992 5.7 3.8 4.8 3.21993 9.7 6.6 8.4 5.71994 9.1 6.7 7.9 5.8


This table shows that for the period 1981-1994, the unemployment rates among 25 to 54 year olds are lower than the avarage for the whole group of 16 to 64. This means that men and women over 54 and younger than 25 will have a higher unemployment rate than the average. There have always been active Solutions to minimize the differences for these two groups. Education and/or retraining, primarly for the younger groups, and relief work as a temporary Solutions for both groups. Early retirement has also been a way of reducing men’s and women’s unemployment. The active labour market policy has probably been most important for these groups as well as for those living in regions with the highest unemployment rates.

- Unemployed mothers and fathers

In addition to different unemployment rates relating to age and regional location, another interesting dimension is the differences related to having children. If we just look at those men and women who have small children (under 7), we find that, apart from the last few years, mothers have had much higher rate of unemployment than fathers during the 1980s. (See Figure 16.) However the interesting thing is that, while the male unemployment in this group is lower rather than higher than the male average,

30

the opposite is true for women. Another observation that can be made is that the unemployment rates are almost equal in recent years, the fathers’ being lower and mothers’ higher than the average for men and women in general.

Figure 16: Unemployment rates for women and men with children under 7.

The figures from the last few years show that the probability of being unemployed does not seem to be higher (or lower) if the mother has one or more children. If anything it may be the opposite. Mothers with one child have a higher unemployment rate than mothers with two and certainly not lower than those with three children. One reason for this may be that mothers with just one child are, on average, younger than other mothers and their age together with being a first-time mother may make it more difficult to enter or re-enter the labour market.

This means that among women, women with small children seem to have been hit hardest by unemployment and this fact puts two interesting questions on to the agenda: Do women loose their jobs or have difficulties getting one because they are mothers of small children? or Do women, hit by unemployment, get pregnant while waiting for a new job? Questions like these are looking for an answer and as long as one is missing then the guesses are many.

31

- Reasons for unemployment

In the statistics the unemployed are classified into three groups: first-time job seekers (new-entry), re-entries or lost job. Among those under 25, the main reason is, of course, new entry. They have never been on the labour market earlier since a majority have been in the education system. Re-entry is most frequent among the middle age group (25-54). They have been absent for a shorter or longer period. Women who have become mothers constitute a large part of this group. The last group refers to those who have actually had a job, lost it and are immediately looking for a new one.

The reasons why a person loses his or her job (voluntarily or involuntarily) ranges from personal reasons such as health problems, family responsibilities, disliked the job, own studies or military service to reasons connected with their former job. The job is completed, the company has closed or the firm has reduced its staff. Figures 17 and 18 show the actual numbers in the different groups.

Figure 17: Causes of unemployment. Men aged 16-64.

2000

1600

1200

1983 1987 1992 1994First-time job seeker

Re-entry Lost job

32

Figure 18: Causes of unemployment. Women aged 16-64.

2000

1600

1200

1983 1987 1992 1994First-time Re—entry Wmm Lost jobjob seeker

The most important reason behind women’s and men’s unemployment is lost of job. This is so irrespective of whether the times are good or bad. Nevertheless it seems reasonable that if those who have just lost their jobs have difficulties getting a new one, the first time job seekers or those who want to re-enter the labour market will also have difficulties.

Of those unemployed, in 1983, 7 per cent of the men and 9 per cent of the women were classified as first-time job seekers. In 1994, the correspoding figures were 6 and 7 per cent. Among those unemployed who were classified as re-entries the differences were, as expected, greater between men and women. Among unemployed women in 1983 and in 1994, 19 per cent respective 20 per cent were re-entries compared with 12 and 14 per cent for men.

Why there are such small differences between different years may depend on the flexibility one can see among the new-entrants and the re-entrants. If, for example, the labour market situation is such that the prospects of getting a job is slight they may be able to postpone their entry, through continuing their schooling (new-entries) or by staying at home taking care of their children for additional year(s) (re-entries).

33

- Duration of unemployment

The higher the level of unemployment, the longer the duration. Several studies have convincingly shown that periods without a job for those hit by unemployment become longer, the higher the general rate of unemployment. This is also demonstrated very clearly here: In 1987, 57 per cent of the unemployed men were unemployed for less than 14 weeks while in 1994, the corresponding figure was only 39 per cent. The figures for women were 58 and 44 per cent respectively. (See Tables 10 and 11.)

The proportion unemployed for more than 27 weeks was as high 40 per cent for men and 35 per cent for women in 1994. Compared with 1987, this is quite a dramatic change when between 20 and 25 per cent had an unemployment duration of over 27 weeks that year.

Table 10: Duration of unemployment for men 1983-1994.

-83* -87 -92 -94

1-2 weeks 12.4 14.8 9.0 7.63-13 w 40.5 43.7 39.4 31.214-26 w 20.9 19.2 24.1 20.227-52 w 15.4 14.8 18.1 21.153- 10.7 7.5 8.6 19.4

*In 1983: 3-12 weeks, 13-26 weeks.

Table 11: Duration of unemployment for women 1983-1994.

OO « -87 -92 -94

1-2 weeks 14.1 15.6 113 9.23-13 w 41.4 42.7 43.6 34.814-26 w 20.7 15.8 20.4 19.927-52 w 14.2 15.5 16.4 21.153- 9.5 8.4 7.6 14.1

*In 1983: 3-12 weeks, 13-26 weeks.


34

Does unemployment duration vary with the cause of unemployment? Figures 19 and 20 show the duration of unemployment in weeks for different years and for different causes of unemployment. For men it is obvious that it has become more difficult to get a new job in the last few years. It is also clear that for the male first time job seekers, the time in unemployment has gradually increased since 1987. This is also true for women but it seems as if there are only minor differences between women who are first time job seekers and women who are re-entrying the labour market.

Figure 19: Average duration of unemployment for different causes of unemployment. Men aged 16-64.

40 r—-------------------------------- “----------

32

1983 1987 1992 1994H First-time mmå Re-entry iHH Lost job

job seeker

Figure 20: Average duration of unemployment for different causes of unemployment. Women aged 16-64.

40 ........................................................................................

32

job seeker

35

- Hidden unemployment

Hidden unemployment consists of persons outside the labour force who want a job and can immediatly start work. This is usually higher for women than for men but during the 1990s this type of unemployment has increased more for men than for women.

Figure 21: Hidden unemployment among men and women 1983-1994.

Even if hidden unemployment is higher for men than for women today, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of women who want to work more. This is of course, partly a reflection of the ffequent part time work among women, but it also reflects how difficult it has become to get a full time job once you have started part-time employment. In 1983, about 100 000 women wanted to work more and, in 1994, this number had increased to 250 000. Among men the numbers increased from 30 000 to almost 110 000 in the same period.

36

Figure 22: Under-occupied for labour-market reasons 1983-1994. Men and women aged 16-64.

3000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

22 Non-employment among women and men

The increase in labour force participation among women has, for a long time, meant a corresponding reduction in non-employment. However, new circumstances from the beginning of the 1990s with growing unemployment and a rise in the population have changed this.

Up until 1992, the tendency was the same as earlier, however since then the situation has changed for women. Female non-employment has increased and female participation in labour force decreased. Among men the decrease in the labour force has been gradual over a long period although it seems as if the increase in non- employment has been speeded up during the last few years. The table below shows the figures in more detail.

37

Table 12: Men and women 16-64 years in the labour force and in non-employment 1983-1994.

Labour Force Non-employmentMen Women Men Women

1983 2 290 800 2 020 001 373 300 5847001987 2299 600 2121800 383 800 493 8001992 2 321900 2142 500 443 700 538 5001994 2 217 700 2 048 700 573 700 655 900

83-92 + 31100 + 122 400 + 79 400 -46 20092-94 -104 200 -93 800 + 130 000 + 117400


Persons in non-employment aged between 16 to 64 years are mostly students, home workers, sick, disabled or early-retirements. In 1994, 42 per cent of all men in non- employment were students, while 8 per cent were working in their homes. Of women, 15 per cent were home workers and 40 per cent students. In 1987, the corresponding figures were 31 and 35 per cent.

The relationship between those in non-employment and those in the labour force has always differed for men and women. The development during the late 1980s and 1990s have however, made this relationship more equal. If the differences were quite large in 1983 they are by now almost equal. It is obviously so that the number of non-employed has increased and the the number of employed decreased both among men and women during the last years.

There are also differences between different age-groups. As expected the relationship between non-employment and employment are lower among men and women in the age of 20 to 59 compared with the whole group of 16 to 64.(See Figures 23 and 24 below.)

38

Figure 23: Relationship between those in non-employment and those in the labour- force. Aged 16-64 years.

40 r—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Figure 24: Relationship between those in non-employment and those in the labour- force. Aged 20-59 years.

roN.>OQ.£(DICO

1983 1987 1992 1994

WomenMen

999999

39

3 EDUCATION AND PARTICIPATION

- Education and employment

The choice of education is, to a high degree, influenced by the local or/and the national labour market. There is a strong conviction that better and more education give individuals better prospects on the labour market. Women were (are) for example often told that one reason for their lower wages/salaries were (are) their choice of education. Too short and insufficiently skilled education gave women worse prospects than men. This is now a thing of the past. Today, women are as well educated as men which is shown in the table below.

Table 13: Educational level among men and women in employment 1987, 1992 and 1994. 16-64 years. Per cent.

1987 1992 1994

Education M W M W M W

Basic 1 < 2 yrsUpper secondary 16 10 18 13 20 15> 2 yrsCollege/ 10 12 11 14 12 16university < 3 yrsCollege/ 11 11 12 11 13 12university > 3 yrs

Total (lOOOs) 2256 2081 2189 2061 2016 1911


Among those in employment, there has been a pronounced reduction in the number with only basic education. Among men this has declined from 21 per cent to 13 per cent and among women from 18 to 10 per cent. The increase at the level of higher education has been somewhat higher for women than for men. Of those in employment in 1987 with college or university education 21 per cent were men and 23 per cent were women. In 1994, the percentages were 25 and 28 respectively. Although women’s and men’s representation on the different educational levels may be equal there are still differences in choice of specific education. The sex-segregation on the higher level of

40

education are still manifest even if there are continuous efforts to make all kind of higher education more sex-integrated.

- Education and unemployment

There is a strong belief that more education reduces unemployment through making the labour more adapted to the existing stock of jobs. If this is true, the expectation is that men and women with little education will suffer more from high unemployment than better educated groups.

Table 14: Educational level among men and women in unemployment 1987,1992 and 1994. 16-64 years. Per cent.

1987 1992 1994


Basic 1 < 2 yrsUpper secondary 12 8 15 16 20 18> 2 yrsCollege/ 7 5 7 7 6 8university < 3 yrs College/ university > 3 yrs

5 5 4 6 5 6

Total (lOOs) 436 405 1326 818 2021 1378

It is evident from the table that the higher the level of education the lower the level of unemployment. However, we can also see that this pattern is less stable when the unemployment rates get higher. In 1987, 37 per cent of the unemployed men and 42 per cent of the women had only the basic level of education. In 1994, these figures were reduced to 33 and 30 per cent.

The unemployment among those with upper secondary schooling of more than one year has increased, among men from 39 to 50 per cent and among women from 31 to 44 per cent. Since this, of course, is a reflection of the fact that fewer people are poorly

41

educated today, it is also inevitable that the tendency will be for those with higher education to become relatively more unemployed in the future, and especially during periods of high unemployment.

- Education and non-employment

We have already established that a considerable proportion of those not in the labour märket are students. But what about the men and women who are not students, what kind of education do they have?

Table 15: Educational level among men and women in non-employment 1987, 1992 and 1994. 16-64 years. Per cent.

1987 1992 1994


Basic 1 < 2 yrs

10 10 10 11 11 11

Upper secondary > 2 yrs

11 8 13 11 15 13

College/ university < 3 yrs

5 4 6 5 6 6

College/university > 3 yrs

3 3 3 3 3 3

No info. 12 7 22 21 27 27

Total (lOOs) 3838 4938 4437 5385 5737 6559

Just as before, the decrease in the numbers with basic level of education is evident even here. In 1987, almost 60 per cent of all women and 54 per cent of all men in non- employment had only a basic education. In 1994, these figures were reduced to 36 per cent for both sexes. However, as the information are lacking for 27 per cent of those in non-employment in 1994, there may be some doubt about the real changes in education in 1994.

42

4 WAGES AND INCOMES

4.1 Wages

One of thé first Swedish studies of women’s wages was done by Karin Kock (1938). According to her findings the valuation of women’s work, was always lower than men’s work irrespective of occupation. It seemed as if women’s wages ought to stay below two- thirds of men’s and eveiy effort to go beyond this restriction met with considerable resistance. In addition to prejudices and negative attitudes towards female labour the arguments were that men were always supposed to be the breadwinner and therefore needed higher wages. Women on the other hand, were assumed to be provided for irrespective of the actual situation. Since they also knew how to sew, cook, clean etc their need to consume was lower and consequently their wages.

As early as in the beginning of this century, there was a discussion about equal pay for men and women. The primary argument for this demand was that women’s extremely low wages created unfair and disloyal competition as well as a low wage level in general. The main reason was, therefore, not primarily in the interest of women but in the interest of men through indirect effects on reduced demand for female labour. The proposals for equal pay were, however, never realized.

In 1923, men and women employed by the State received equal wages for equal work, i e according to a joint wage tariff instead of the previous separate tariffs. As a negative reaction to this, men’s and women’s occupations were given different names even if they were the same. In this way it was possible to keep the different wages. In 1947, a new decision removed some of these inequalities.

In the private industries, these changes came after the second world war. One important reason was the ILO Convention No. 100 from 1951 about equal pay for equal work and another one was the forecast of future labour shortages. A rise in the level of women’s wages was considered to be one possible way to increase the female participation rate. It was not until 1960 that the Confederation of Swedish Trades Unions (LO) and the Swedish Employers’ Federation (SAF) made an agreement which recommended that the different branches of industiy should give men and women equal pay for equal work.

43

- Solidaristic wage policy

A very important factor in the increase in women’s labour supply during the 1960s and 1970s was that work in the market became more profitable than work in the home. The main factors behind this were the increase in women’s real market wages and the increase in women’s wages relative to those of men. Studies also stress the incentives encouraging the sharing of work in the labour market and two-earner families provided by the tax system.The figure below shows how women’s relative wages within manufacturing industry have developed since 1952.

Figure 25: Female relative wages (wf/wm) 1952-1993. Manufacturing industry.

■ i i I i i i

1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992

Year

The relative wage for female blue collar workers rose on average from 70 to 90 per cent of men’s between 1960 and 1985. The empirical analysis indicates that this increase was due to various institutional changes. The agreement on equal pay for equal work (1960) and the right for women to work nights in industry (1962) were important but so was the solidaristic wage policy too. (Löfström & Gustafsson, 1991)

From the beginning of the 1950s, the solidaristic wage policy was accepted in Sweden. One of it is main principles was equal pay for equal work regardless of the firms profitability. The theory was that inefficient firms would be driven out of business and

44

workers laid off, but this would be compensated for by an active labour market policy designed to enable the unemployed or workers threatened with unemployment to find new jobs at low costs.

An important result of these policies, noticeable from about 1960-1965, was decreasing wage differentials between occupations, regions and between men and women. This is probably an explanation of why Sweden has a high female to male wage ratio and yet a large occupational sex-segregation.

Calculates of the dissimilarity index based on the census of 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990 shows that the Swedish labour market was and still is highly sex-segregated. However, it is also obvious that the trend has been reduced segregation. The dissimilarity index on a three-digit level was in 1960 74.5 compared with 64.5 in 1990. If one use a less detailed occupation-level the labour market seems to be less segregated. On a one-digit level the indices were 49.2 in 1960 and 43.1 in 1990. (Jonung, 1993)

The gradual break down of the solidaristic wage policy and less importance of the systems of centralized wage negotiations, since the middle of the 1980s, have certainly contributed to increased wage-dispersion in general. Decentralized, local and individual wage setting will probably strengthen this trend. One plausible implication of increased dispersion, when the labour market is highly sex-segregated and more women than men are concentrated to low-paid jobs, will be a widening of the male-female wage gap.

The study cited above pointed out, accordingly, the significance of laws and agreements between the unions and the employers for both the quantitive as well as qualitative changes in the labour market between 1960 and 1985. These were important means for equalizing conditions in general, and wage conditions for men and women in particular. It may be too early to say whether the present changes will make the labour market more un-equal but there are signs which can make the situation more troublesome the coming years, at least for a lot of women.

The policy described above is an important part of the explantion to the figure below where the relation between women’s relative wages and general wage dispersion are shown. The relation for Sweden and 16 other OECD-countries are illustrated on the basis of the results from a British study (Rowthorn, 1992).

45

Figure 26: Wage dispersion and womens relative wages in 17 OECD-countries 1973 and 1985.

Q)O)(0£

C

46

other hand, the decrease was more moderate between 1955 and 1975 and after that the increase has been substantial and the wage-differentials are, therefore, larger today than they were in the 195Os.

Figure 27: Wage-differentials between full-time employed white-collar women and men in mamifacturing industry 1970-1993. 1992 price level.

10

1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991

Year

Figure 28: Wage-differentials between full-time employed white-collar women and men in banking and finance 1955-1993. 1992 price level.

10

55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 92 93

Year

47

In more recent years, a number of studies employing the human Capital approach have addressed the male-female wage differential. The results show that there is always an unexplained remaining wage differential irrespective of data set, point of time, segment of the labor market and number of explanatory variables. From these studies, it is evident that differences in human Capital are no longer an important explanation of the wage differential. In Table 13, the differences in human Capital, measured as investments in education, between men and women have gradually decreased and are now marginal.

Survival of prejudices and negative attitudes towards female labour, different valuation of men’s and women’s jobs and statistical discrimination are examples of reasons behind the remaining wage differentials. Statistical discrimination occurs when all women are, because of biological characteristics, regarded as a group and not as individuals. One example is women’s ability to give birth. There are studies showing results where women without children do not seem to have any advantaged over women with children (see eg Löfström, 1992). The only reasonable explanation for this may therefore hardly be the actual born children but rather women’s ability to give birth.

Why some, but certainly not all, employers may act like this may depend on their view of the labour as a risk-investment. Those with risk-aversion may avoid female labour totally or just give them tasks or put them in positions where they are easily replaceable.

The last statement is important when discussing men’s and women’s wages. Men’s and women’s unequal distribution in high and low ranking positions within a firm or an organisation explain a great deal of the wage-differentials. A way to illustrate this is shown below. Women form the majority in the two employment categories reported in the tables below, but they appear to be in a minority when it comes to the top positions.

Table 16: Per cent of women and men in employment category financial/administrative staff (BOK/CAK 204). Full-time employees 1991.

Female Male

Total number 240066%

122934%

Of which:- Head of finance/budget 2% 20%- senior accountant 28% 65%- administrative assistant 52% 13%- clerical workers 18% 2%

Source: Kommunal personal (Municipal Personnel) 1991, page 46.

48

Table 17: Per cent of women and men in employment category chief personnel officer etc (BOK/CAK 210). Full-time employees 1991.

Female Male

Total Number 2 920 81078% 22%

Of which- chief personnel officer 3% 26%- senior wages clerk/officer 31% 54%- wages assistant 47% 15%- wages adm/pay clerk 15% 5%- clerical workers 4% 0

Source: ibidpage 41.

As can be seen from Tables 16 and 17, the proportion of women is higher than the proportion of men within the two employment categories, 66 per cent and 78 per cent respectively. However, the female-male distribution according to job position is completely different. 80 and 85 per cent of the men occupy the two highest positions within the two categories, whilst the corresponding figures for women are only 30 and 34 per cent respectively. Thus, in spite of women’s total dominance within the employment category, only a limited number of them are found amongst the senior posts.

Not even within the employment category which lies within the highly female dominated social services sector, do women occupy a more prominent position. There were 9 000 people employed within this category in 1991. Three-quarters of these were women. Only 16 per cent of these women held positions as Chief Social Services Officer (Director of Social Services), Assistant Chief Officer or District Chief Officer. The corresponding proportion amongst the men was 40 per cent. On the other hand however, women were completely dominant within the group ‘Assistants and Clerical Staff. Whereas, in the group ‘Social Services Administratör and Social Welfare Officer’, men and women were roughly equally represented.

These examples reveal that the dominance of women within the municipal sector is not reflected at all in the senior positions. Instead, the same pattern is found here as in the labour market as a whole. Men command the top positions and women the lower, a situation often termed as vertical sex segregation.

49

The implication of these differences in positions are, of course, of great importance if you want to explain the differences between men’s and women’s wages. You may very well fail to prove the existence of wage discrimination, but still have to deal with discrimination since women e.g. are prohibited from or discriminated against when it comes to promotional opportunities.

- The value ofwork

In the previous section, I presented a couple of examples of vertical sexual segregation, i.e. women and men are found at different levels in the organization. However, segregation may also be horizontal i.e. women and men may work in different occupations. This is illustrated in the following figure in which a number of typically female and male occupations within the municipal sector are ranked according to the salary level.

Figure 29: Average wage for the ten most common occupations for women and men respectively affiliated to the Swedish Local Government Workers Union, 1992.

14000-.

13000-

Male dominated professions■ □

Female dominated professions

12000-

11000-

10000-

9000-

8000-

7000-

6000

//////////

4-44-|touH OOJ2OCO

• u uJ-i W Q)

50

The figure shows the average wage in 1992 for full-time employees in the ten most common occupations for men and women covered by the Swedish Local Government Workers Union. It can be seen clearly from the figure that those occupations commonly considered to be women’s jobs are systematically lower paid than those regarded as men’s work. The differences in pay calculated in money terms may not be so great here, but the systematic difference is striking: not a single female occupation (male occupation) has higher (lower) average wage than any male occupation (female occupation)!

The wage differences between women’s and men’s occupations may be explained by a different valuation of the jobs. In contrast to the industrial sector, to the best of our knowledge, neither women’s nor men’s occupations in local government have been subject to any sort of systematic valuation. Instead there have often been stereotyped and routine descriptions of women’s jobs. For example, many of women’s occupations in the municipality are regarded as an ’extension of work in the home’. Tasks that were previously carried out unpaid in the home by women have now become paid work in the market.

In addition, several of these occupations are regarded as building on innate abilities and not acquired skills. Women are seen as possessing their skills with regard to cleaning, cooking, sewing and caring for children and the elderly through their ’social inheritance’ which justifies lower wages. Nor can the fact that the tasks discussed here are also carried out free in the home be without importance in this context.

Currently, various attempts are being made to undertake job evaluations of tasks/occupations in which special heed is to be paid to skills that have not previously been valued. The results obtained show that there seems to be unfair wage setting with regard to work in which women are over-represented compared with jobs in which men are over-represented. But still if one was to judge by the wage setting, it would seem as if all work dominated by women should be less qualified, less responsible, easier, cleaner and, in addition, place fewer demands for precision and punctuality than work dominated by men.

4.2 Incomes1

The size of the employment income is a very important measure of the degree of economic welfare. A real negative trend in wages or employment income influences the standard of living and the individuaFs freedom in various ways. For example during the depression in the beginning of the 1980s many families met the down turn by working more in order to retain their living standard.

i Besides the current wage/salary income also includes compensation from parental leave, sick leave, unemployment insurance, subsistence allowance etc.

51

In this section the average yearly employment income for different groups will be presented and it will be shown how it has changed during the 1980s. This will give an idea about the size of men’s and women’s contribution to the family’s total income, but also whether this contribution has increased or decreased for men respective women.

Table 18: Average employment income by activity level 1980, 1985, 1990 and 1991 for employees aged 20-64 not receiving income from self-employment. Thousands SEK.

1980 1985 1990 1991

Year-round and full-time employees:

Men 85.5 127.5 200.1 212.7Women 69.1 99.6 157.0 163.5All 80.4 117.6 184.2 193.6

Part-time (50-90per cent of full-time):

Men 54.7 76.0 113.4 121.1Women 45.0 64.2 101.5 108.2All 47.3 66.6 104.4 111.2

Part-time (1-49 per cent of full-time)

Men 34.1 45.5 65.6 70.3Women 31.8 43.0 65.8 66.1All 32.4 43.8 65.7 67.7

Source: Statistics Sweden: Taxes, income and charges. An overview 1994.

The differences in employment income between men and women are considerable and have become even greater during the 1980s. In 1991, a full time male employee earned, on average, 30 per cent more than a woman. In 1980, he earned 24 per cent more. These differences are a reflection of the fact that women are concentrated in low paid occupations and positions and partly that women have lower incomes even if their work is equal to men’s. In addition to that the improvement in income have been better for men than for women during the 1980s.

Even among part-timers, where women form the great majority, men’s employment incomes are higher. There has, however, been a certain reduction in the difference between male and female incomes among those working long hours, from 21 to 12 per

52

cent. Among those with short working hours the differences have been constant, around six per cent higher income for men, during the period.

If we make the comparision narrower and just compare year-round, full-time male and female employees within the same age-brackets, we find that the differentials are, as expected, smallest among the youngest workers. However, we can also see that women’s relative income has been reduced for all age groups except for the oldest during the 1980s. In 1980, women’s incomes relative to men’s were 96 per cent in the youngest age group, in 1991 this figure had fallen to 84 per cent. Among the oldest, on the other hand, the female relative income had increased from 75 to 81 per cent.

Table 19: Average employment income for year-round, full-time employees not receiving income from self- employment 1980,1985,1991 and 1991. Thousands SEK.

1980 1985 1990 1991

Men20-24 64.5 95.0 152.6 158.625-34 77.9 115.3 181.6 192.735-44 90.2 137.5 211.7 222.945-54 92.1 135.8 221.2 233.055-64 93.3 139.1 206.3 222.4

20-64 85.5 127.5 200.1 212.7

Women20-24 61.6 86.7 130.7 133.925-34 65.7 94.3 146.3 149.335-44 72.5 103.7 163.4 168.845-54 73.8 104.3 167.7 174.255-64 70.0 106.0 166.1 179.6

20-64 69.1 99.6 157.0 163.5


53

Another way to look at this is to estimate how much higher the male income is in the different age-groups and how it has change between 1980 and 1991. The figure below shows the differences.

Figure 30: Percentage higher income for men compared with women in different ages. Full-time, year-round employment 1980 and 1991.

The figure illustrates very clearly that men’s incomes are higher than women’s in every age group. Furthermore it shows that in 1991 the differences between men’s and women’s incomes had become even greater. The only exception being the age group 55- 64. Perhaps the most striking thing is the changes within the age group 20-24. In 1980 men’s income were on average 5 per cent higher than women’s and in 1991 they were almost 20 per cent higher. If anything one would expect fairly equal incomes among the youngest but this does not seems to be the case here.

Higher income for men is also a fact when different socio-economic groups are studied. Figure 31 presents the figures for three different groups where all are full-time, year- round employees aged 20-64 years.

54

Figure 31: Percentaged higher income for men compared with women in same socio- economic group. Full-time employees. Aged 20-64 years.

As expected, the differences between men and women are least among the manual workers and lower-ranking salaried employees and greatest among the senior manangement employees. The differences have grown during the 1980s. In 1991 the average male manual worker or lower-ranking salaried male employee had a 23 per cent higher income than a female. In 1980, this figure was 15 per cent. For those in senior management positions, men’s incomes were 30 per cent higher than women’s incomes in 1980 and this difference had increased to 40 per cent in 1991.

There are also great differences between the different socio-economic groups. For example in 1991 a male mangament employees had more than 70 per cent higher income than a male manual workers or lower ranking salaried employees. The corresponding figure for women was 50 per cent.

Swedish women have certainly made improvments in establishing themselves on the labour market but when it comes to wages and incomes there seems to be a lag. Some of the reasons behind this are well-known while others are less known. Studies and investigations will therefore continue and probably be of great importance since women’s position in the labour market is regarded as threatend today.

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5 STATE POLICIES AND WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT

By the end of the 1970s it could be said of Swedish women that they no longer chose between market work and home work. Paid' market work was now no longer a spare time activity compared with household work, no longer something to keep women busy while waiting for marriage and children. Work in the market had become a self-evident part of adult women’s lives, even during periods with small children.

The single most important factor which has contributed to this development was the design and the rapid expansion of the combined Swedish family and equal opportunity policy. This produced a policy which radically increased the possibility of combining market work with having a family. This is particulary obvious during the 1980s. A decade with an increasing labour force participation rate and increasing fertility råtes.

According to economic theory, the relationship between these two factors ought to be negative since a large number of children increases the value of housework and reduces labour force participation. Good opportunities for women in the labour market and a high labour force participation will, on the other hand, increase the price of children and reduce fertility. The development in Sweden did not verify this theory, since both the total fertility rate and female labour force participation rose continuously during the 1980s.

Figure 32: Fertility rate and labour force participation rate for Swedish women 1963- 1995.

2.40

- 70

0.60 -

0.00

Year

Fertility ------- Partici—rate pation rate

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Up until the end of the 1970s a higher participation rate was followed by a decreasing fertility rate. The considerable difficulties involved in arranging day care for the children while the parents were working outside home had the effect of lowering fertility in respons. During the 1980s, the situation changed dramatically. As a result of better caring facilities for children: more day-care centers, longer parental leave and better possibilities for fathers to take part in caring for the children, the downturn in the fertility rate could be broken without a reduction in the participation rate for women.

Now, in the middle of the 1990s, both the participation and fertility rates are falling. It is perhaps too early to say whether this will be a permanent or just a temporarily break, nevertheless it is very important to follow this trend closely in the near future.

The history of the Swedish family and equal opportunity policy dates back to the 1930s. Instead of introducing barriers to women working once married, Sweden passed an Act in 1939 which made it unlawful to dismiss a woman because of pregnancy, childbirth or marriage. Women were, from the end of the 1930s, also allowed twelve weeks of absence following childbirth and women below a certain income level were given a minor cash benefit. From then on, the equal opportunity debate came to be framed not only as an issue of women’s right to work but as working women’s right to marry, have children and have time to spend with their children. This has also become an issue for working men during the last 10-15 years.

- Family policy

Swedish family policy subsidizes the monetary costs as well as the time costs of having children. Many subsidies are benefits in kind, such as schooling, school lunches, health care, dental care and various leisure time activities available free to all children. A general child allowance is also paid for all children until 16 years of age and for children over 16 if they are in upper secondary schools, regardless of the income or employment of the parents.

Children less than one year old are mostly cared for at home by the mother or the father. The parental leave Insurance has been the cornerstone of the Swedish family policy since 1974. This year maternity leave was transformed into parental leave available for fathers as well as mothers. It has successively been extended and is now 15 months (60 weeks). Parental leave has been used mainly by mothers. In 1992 about nine per cent of the number of compensated days were claimed by fathers. Nevertheless as many as 40 per cent of the married or cohabiting men take some parental leave, with an average of around 50 days (7-8 weeks), during the child’s first year. However, the limited utilisation of parental leave by fathers led to a new law from the first of January 1995. This States that 30 days of the leave are reserved exclusively for the father. He is free to

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take these 30 days whenever he wishes up until the child is eight. If the father decides not to take these days, the family will loose them since he is not allowed to transfer them to the mother.

From January 1995, the parent on leave gets 80 per cent of her/his earnings for 10 months, 90 per cent of the earnings for two months and a flat-rate payment for the remaining three months. Before January 1995 the level of compensation was 90 per cent of the earnings, for 12 months. Further reductions are planned for the parental insurance as well as for other welfare insurances.

The regulations provide parents with generous opportunities to organise their work life and home life as they see fit. For example, the compensation can be used full-time or part-time and be spread out over a period of eight years. Parents also have the legal right to (unpaid) leave of absence from work for an additional 18 months and the right to reduce working hours to 75 per cent of full time until the child is eight.Other benefits included in the parental insurance are ten days of paid leave in connection with child birth for fathers. Since 1979, parents are also allowed to stay home to take care of sick children on the same conditions as when they are sick themselves.

Eighty per cent of all children in Sweden live with both of their biological parents. Slightly above 12 per cent live in single parent households, mostly single mothers. The policy towards them has been to support them being able to work. Single parents have e.g. been given preferential treatment in public child care with faster access and lower fees. Another reason for the relatively favourable standard of living of single mothers is that they have fairly good jobs and that this, in tum results from a policy aimed at etaployment for all women, married and single. However, in the crisis within the Swedish economy in the last few years, the group of single mothers has appeared to be particularly vulnerable. Low pay, difficulties to get full-time jobs, reductions in certain allowances or even loss of job have increased the need for support from the authorities for their cost of living.

Increasing poverty among single mothers is still a limited problem in Sweden, since our welfare system still works. However, it is obvious that the intemational trend in this respect, increasing poverty in general and among women in particular, also will hit Sweden if not the recent negative trend come to an end.

Benefits which depend on the employment status of the parents are mainly related to the public provision of child care. Public child care for pre-schoolers is provided in two forms: in a day care centre or in a private home by a so called ’day-mother’ employed and paid by the local authority. In 1994, 63 per cent of all children (1-6 years of age) were in public day care, two per cent in private paid day care and 36 per cent were cared

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for full-time by their parents. In January 1995, a law was passed which holds local governments responsible for making public or private child care available to all parents who demand it for children over one and under 12 years old.

Altogether the conditions of Swedish working life, the legal rights provided by the parental insurance system and the provision of public child care have developed in a manner which stimulates and enables two-earner families to combine work with a life with children. In addition, the benefits provided by parental leave provide a strong incentive for young women to establish themselves in the labour market before having children.

- Tax and social security policy

In 1971, separate taxation for spouses was introduced in Sweden. This meant that a family could lower its total taxes by equalising market income between the spouses. The combination of separate taxation and high tax progressivity has provided a strong incentive for married women to work. This is because family income has often been increased more by a secondary worker’s additional net income per hour than by the overtime work of the primary worker.

The tax reform from 1991 reduced the marginal tax rates and the differential between the husband’s and the wife’s marginal tax. The incentive to redistribute work from the high income eamer to the low income earner has been reduced. Overtime, for example is once again common, especially among men. Lower marginal tax rates in general on market work can, on the other hand, give a stronger incentive for women (and for men) to work full-time and to pursue career ambitions. A recent published evaluation of the reform shows however that some of this expectations have not been fullfilled, partly depending on the current labour market situation, and that the winner are those with high incomes. Since women very seldom belongs to the group of high income earners this will probabaly result in even higher income-differentials than the ones we already saw presented in Figures 30 and 31.

The social security system in Sweden is based on the individual not the family. This means that the emphasis on the individual and on market work and economic independence has resulted in a system where women’s and men’s benefits mainly derive from their own market earnings. If for example we look at old-age pensioners, we find a situation which is a direct reflection of women’s labour force participation in earlier days.

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In 1991, Sweden had 1.6 million old-age pensioners. Of these 40 per cent were men and 60 per cent women. The average income for men was 140 000 SEK and for women 85 000 SEK (60 percent of the men’s income). The concentration of women in the lower income-brackets is partly explained by part-time working, low wages when working and partly by those women who never joined the labour force.

Table 20: Percentage distribution of old-age pensioners by sex and income-bracket in 1991.

Income (SEK) Men Women

0 - 60000 13 4460-100 000 20 31100 -160 000 44 18160-200 000 12 3> 200 000 12 4

Number 689 000 918 000

Average income (SEK) 139 300 83 800


Depending on the way in which women’s labour force participation rates and their wages will develop the figures in the table above may change. The main rule that qualifies individuals for a full pension (pension in addition to basic retirement pension) is today 30 years of paid work, but this will soon be changed to 40 years. These changes have been critizised and also seen as an expression for backlash for women. One argument is that women are more often than men absent from work. More house work responsibilities and caring for children will therefore probably set certain limits for women’s possibilities to work the expected 40 years.

- Labour market policy

The solidaristic wage policy anticipated an active labour market policy. Such a policy was introduced on a greater scale during the 1960s. The aim was to increase and facilitate mobility between regions, between occupations and between branches among those actually in employment and those who were unemployed. Education, retraining, relief work and economic assistance are examples of different tools used in the labour market policy.

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Looking at the range and type of activities introduced it is obvious that men were the primary target gronp from the beginning. Later on, activities more adapted to women’s needs were set up. These were particularly visible when the authorities broadened the supply of relief work to also suit women not just men. The same thing happened with regard to education and training where the supply of different programmes and courses was also adjusted to women’s needs and wishes. All this happend during the 1970s when there were periods of relatively high unemployment especially in certain regions, among young people and among women.

In addition to education and relief work, available for both men and women, several projects specifically aimed at women were initiated: These included intensified service at the public employment agencies, wage subsidies, projects to assist women in non- traditional occupations etc.

The labour market policy has been an important corner stone in the Swedish model. Its ability to reach almost all individuals hit by unemployment are well known and has greatly contributed to its success. Today’s extreme unemployment råtes have put the policy on the agenda again and there are political disputes as to whether the labour market policy is effective enough in this new situation. Despite the declining importance of the solidaristic wage policy, the need for an active labour market policy will certainly be important even in the future.

- Trade unions

There is a long tradition in Sweden that if you are employed, irrespective of firm, organisations, private or public, you are also member of a trade union. The degree of organisation among both men and women is, therefore, very high. The unions are sex- integrated and no specific female-union exists. However, within the unions there are, of course, branches which are dominated by the one or the other sex. The growth in the number of members in the different unions in recent decades has primarily been due to the increase in female labour force participation. The table below shows the number of members in the three dominating trade union federations in Sweden since 1976.

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Table 21: Membership in the Swedish Federations of Trade Unions 1976-1992. lOOs.

LOa SACOb TCOc

Men Wom Men Wom Men Wom

1976 12610 6992 1215 570 5458 4610

1978 12725 7848 1358 667 5725 5146

1986 12825 9946 1799 1122 5859 6474

1989 12521 10081 1910 1306 6060 6672

1992 12330 10284 2042 1518 6243 6840

1976-92 -291 + 3292 +827 +948 + 785 +2230

a LO: The Swedish Trade Union Confederation. (Blue-collar) b SACO: The Swedish Confederation of Professionals Associations.

c TCO: The Central Government Organization of Salaried Employees. Source: Statistical Yearbook of Sweden

The proportion of female members in the unions has gradually increased from 38 to 48 per cent during this period. Today when women c

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