Employment Opportunities, *Equal Opportunities Occupational Surveys, Vocational Adjustment

131 Pages·2007·2.53 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME,
ED 052 464
AC 010 509
AUTHOR
Seear, B.
N.
Re-Entry of Women to the Labour Market After an
TITLE
Interruption in Employment.
INSTITUTION
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development, Paris (France).
PUB DATE
71
NOTE
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DESCRIPTORS
Employment Opportunities, *Equal Opportunities
(Jobs), *Females, *Manpower Development,
Occupational Surveys, Vocational Adjustment
ABSTRACT
The problems involved in the re-entry of women into
employment were studied, and the extent to which there exists a
demand for employment for re-entry women was examined. A growing
number ot women are seeking re-entry in a wide range of income
levels. The 4c,man1 for part-tice work appears to exceed supply.
Official m!c-tnery for assistinc re-entry women exists, at le.st
nominally, ,n all the countries studied. It has to be decided,
however, whether special machinery needs to be created to deal vit),
the particular problems of this group and whether such machinery
should take the tote of a Women's Bureau. In the United States, the
Women's Bureau is getting results. Many woken have been handicapped
in their careers 'hrough lack ot vocational guidance. Whe:e there are
good openings, many are prevented from taking advantage of them
through lack of basic educational qualifications. Success achieved in
training older women is being achieved. This study has shown that
re-entry programs for older women can ha a satisfactory investment
for both the community and the woman herself. The nature of the
women's labor market will its any case change over t:le next decade os
a result of the combined effects of technology and of the
introduction of equal pay.
(Author/CK)
re-entry
of women to
the labour market
after
an interruption
in employment
by
B.N. SEEAR
n;
'n Personnel Manageme^.1
Res
Condon School of Econorks
ORGANISATION TR ECONOMIC
CO-OPEANION ANO DEVELOPMENT
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and De.:01-
opment (OECD), Was set up under a Convention signed
in Ports on 14111 Detember. 1960, whir'', provides that the
:
OECD shah' promote policies designer
-- to achieve the highest suJainable economic growth
and employe et t and a rising standard of Ming in
Member countries. while maintaining financial sta-
bilit, cod !hos to contribute to the development of
the world economy ;
to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member
as well as non-member countries :n the process of
economic development ;
to contribute to the evansior of wo-id trod( on a
multilateral, nondiscrimifictory has in aceoirlaoce
iiith international r
The ,Ifembcrs of OECD arc Austria. Belgium, Canada,
DcnnA, Finland, France. the Lileral Republic of Geri 'any,
Ireland,
Italy,
Ireland.
Grcccc,
1.,m-mboarg,
Japcn
the
NethcrIcnds ,Vorway. Portugal, Spain, Swolen. Swit:crian*,
Turkey. the Oritcrl Kingdom and the Un,'Ic,1 Slates.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
The Meaning and Rclevan-c of the Re-Entry of 11'0)1:en Int,)
1.
Employment
9
T`,. Ite-Entry Pcocess: Opportvnities and Cbsti:cles
7
11.
Notes on Developments In the Collaborating Countries
35
111.
c2wada
.15
Dim marl;
12
Federal Republic of Germany
17
Frante
Italy
Netherlalds
65
Sweden
72
5.
United Kingdom
United Stales of America
96
Recapitulative Tablc on the Re-Entry of Women to the
Labrlir Markel In Nine Member Countries
109
IV.
113
The Costs and the 13.ene1its
Conclusions and Comments
127
V.
PREFACE
The enquiry on which this report is based was initiated by OECD
The aim was to make a preliminary investigation into the main
in 19G8.
factors affecting women's re-entry into empioymen, and, in particular,
to explore:
the need for women to return to employment, both ;o meet the
a)
satisfy the
m inpover requirements of their countries and to
desire ..)f many older women to obtain paid work;
the steps 'acing taken to enable women to return, Including the
b)
provision of infonnation and advice, the availability of training
and retraining schemes, the financial and other assistance for
trainees t nd the frcilities for obtaining employment with or
without training;
the way in which training be,hemes have been adapted and devisee
c)
to meet the special requiremeats of the older woman with regard
to hours of work, course content, and teaching methods;
the effectiveness of the measures taken in terms of the economic
d)
contribution of the women once employed and the satisfaction of
the women themselves.
The OECD countries which took part in the twill). were Canada,
Denmark, France, the Federal Republic :4 Germany, Italy, Netherlands,
Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
The range of topics to be considered, the number of countries in-
volved and the resources available larhely determined the nature and
In response to a letter sent by the OECD to all
methods of th!. enquiry.
participating countries, the appropriate ministries provided facts and
figures in the main areas of the studs. The inNestigator subsequently
collect ad-
visited each country in turn to discuss the data provided and to
ditional inforr)ation. Contac.was al so made with tratningestablishmrnts,
7 4
employers, trade unions and research org:misations with interests in
this Held.
It is obvi,aus that in view of the width of the subject, the diver: ity
of the problems arlaing- in different countries and the limitations of time
and other resources, the study was Inevitably impressionistic and In-
complete. Moreover, many changes in this field are of recent date and
the facts and figures needed to justify firm conclusions in many instlees
dirt not and do r-,t exist.
Despite these reservations it has nonetheless been possible to re-
cord a numbe;. of Interesting experiments, to Identify pro5lems common
to many countries, to suggest useful future studies and to raise policy
issues on which decisions are needed,
The chapter on the Costs and Benefits was prepared in consultation
with Dr. E.J. Mishan, Reader In Economics, London School of Eco-
nomics.
The vl.ws expressed throughout are those of the author, and do
not in any way bind the authorities of the countries concerned.
I
THE MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF THE RE -ENTRY
OF WOMEN INTO EMPLOYMENT
For centuries many %voraent, young and old, fangle and married,
have take- part :n thel countries' economic life.
In ni(die%al and
early modern times, their work teas carried out primarily in their men
homes or on nearb; farms.* With industrialisailon, however. many
women's job:: %%ere shifted into factories and taken over by men, %%hlle
the scope for economic activity sh: ank for the %,.omen oho stayed at
home.
Though the range of work available for %%oincn became more limitr2d,
the need to corn money to supplement family incomes continued to drive
many women to take %%hr.leve. employment they could find, fitting it in
as best they could with the domestic responsibilities uhinh dominated
their lives.
Vet it is
The employment of older women 13 not, therefore, near.
not perhaps realized how substantial I. the economic contribulton of the
older woman, and how important an element murk is in women's li%es.
As 'fable 1 shots, in Denmark, France, the United Kingdom and the
Federal Republic of Germany, over .10`ri of women in the age groups 15
to 6$ are economically active, and well over 3Ori ,n Canada, United
States and Svxden.
Important as this problem has always been. he'e are special fea-
tures In the present and future situation of working %vomen that make
the subject of their re-entry into employment a matter of particular and
widespread interest today.
relevant tutors are ooth social and economic.
Trv.ailit-isir. teLtio-s
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It is assumed that i.. the future, as in the past, women's family
Their work
responsibilities will continue to influence their work roles.
situation can, therefore, only .oe understood ii considered in conjunction
with the requirements of family life.
It is because important changes
arc taking place, both In family life and at work, that the position t,r
the older woman seeking employment requires special stady at the
present time.
In Western countries, the average size of family, vl,ries but (.1.spite
differences 'ctween count! Jes and fluctuations in the birth role within
countries, the size of family nowhere shows signs of t eturning to nit,e-
teenth century dimensions.
The marriage age continues to drop and, perhaps most important
of all, the age at which the average woman has her last child has fallen
Table 2 makes clear the
to thirty, or below, in .1 number of countries.
extent of the change in most of the countries include:1in this survey
Where, as in the United Kingdom, almost all girls take paid work
on leaving full-time cducatir,n, the mother lo,,k(ng for employment fa
seeking to re-enter the labour- market.
In ;once cotn.tries, howev.-n
as In the Netherlands, and to a lesser extent in Fiance, wnere it is still
not uncommon for unmarried girls to slay at home or to work on the
family rarm or in the family business, the married woman seeking em-
ployment may be entering the labour market for the first time.
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situation, which cmittot stri.tly be included In a study of re-ntry prob-
lems, presents considerable difficulties and the assistance nmessary
for many re-entry women will often be even more important in these
In benmark and In the Netherlands, ior example, as the numter
eases.
of small farms and family business declines, W1VCF, who have played an
active part in the family concern are now looking for jobs on the open
it is interesting that, in some eases where the family business
market.
Is no longer sufficient to support the family, the husband may take paid
employment, leaving the farm or shop in the i.t.re of the wife.
While the family is changing so also Is the labour market,
With
slight variations between countries, and with interesting signs of new
developments more apparent in some countries than in others, the
labour market for women has been, and still Is to a large extent, dif-
ferent from the labour market for men.* There Is, of course, an
overlap area, hut compared with the ext-nt of the distinct male and fe-
male labour mat kola it is small and relatively unimportant.
in the
professional field in most cow tries women work mainly in the tradi-
tional female professions -r teaching, nursing and social w.rk.
In
France, for example, in 1962, 63.7% of all teachers were women.
In
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