Gender Statistics in the Labour Market

Angela MeUNECE Statistics Division

Economic life

WorkSegregation

Wages

Accessibility

Quality

Income Povert

y

Working age

Population

Labour Force

Outside labour force(not active)

Employed UnemployedHousework Study Pension Other

By occupation

By industry

By status

Segregation

Working age

Population

Labour Force

Outside labour force(not active)

Employed UnemployedHousework Study Pension Other

Activity rate

Unemployment Rate

Working age

Population

Labour Force

Outside labour force(not active)

Employed UnemployedHousework Study Pension Other

Employment Rate

Employment Indicators

Activity Rate = Labour Force/Total Working Age Population

Employment Rate =Total Employed/Total Working Age

Population

Unemployment Rate =Total Unemployed/Labour Force

Working age

Population

Labour Force

Outside labour force(not active)

Employed UnemployedHousework Study Pension Other

Labour Force Surveys, Census, Surveys

LFS, Census, Registers

Enterprise surveys,

LFS, Census

Unemployment

LFSRegistere

d

Employment

• Formally there is a clear distinction between employed and non employed population

• ILO definition: a person is currently employed if he/she has worked at least one hour the week previous the survey

• Work: for income (cash or kind) or unpaid production of goods

BUT … measurement challenges

Informal employmen

tDifficult to measure

Important because it identifies the quality of

work

Often informal employment is not measured: need for special module

in surveys

Formal employment

Easier to measure because close to the people idea of

work

What is Informal Employment?

Persons in informal employment are those who work in the informal sector or in formal units with no formal benefits

Informal employment is broader than employment in informal sector

Informal sector units are household units with low level of organization, small scale operations, casual labour relations, and where business and household accounting can not be distinguished

Paid/Unpaid work

Unpaid work Production of goods Production of services (child care,

preparation of meals, …)

Source

Time-use surveys

Paid/Unpaid work

Why is the measurement of informal sector and unpaid work a gender

issue?

Because they contribute to have a better understanding of women work

Occupational segregation

0102030405060708090

Nurses Home-based care

Technical Saleperson

WomenMen

Segregation

• Horizontal Segregation• There is no hierarchical order in the

different categories

• Vertical Segregation• There is a hierarchical order (salary,

power, prestige, …)

Inequality

Measurement of Segregation

Occupation Female Male

Legislators, senior official and managers

25,400 39,000

Professionals 92,300 54,600

Clerks 21,400 3,900

Plant and machine operators and assemblers

5,600 93,000

Measurement of Segregation

Occupation Distribution of Female

Distribution of Male

Legislators, senior official and managers

17.5% 20.5%

Professionals 63.8% 28.6%

Clerks 14.8% 2%

Plant and machine operators and assemblers

3.9% 48.9%

Measurement of Segregation

Occupation Sex distribution

female

Sex distribution

male

Legislators, senior official and managers

39.4% 60.6%

Professionals 62.8% 37.2%

Clerks 84.6% 15.4%

Plant and machine operators and assemblers

5.7% 94.3%

Measurement of Segregation

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

Legislators, senior official,managers

Professionals

Clerks

Plant and machine operators andassemblers

Female

Male

There is inequality: the smallest share of women is in the higher professional categories

Employment by status of employment

• Employees

• Employers

• Own-account workers

• Members of producing cooperatives

• Unpaid family workers

Self-employed

Employment: Data availability

Source Availability Data collection

By Occupation NSO Small categories need large

sample (census)

LFS, Census,

By Industry NSO Enterprise surveys may be incomplete/small categories need large samples

LFS, Census, Enterprise surveys

By status NSO LFS, Census

Gender Wage gap

Men average salary - women average salary

Men salary

• Does it measure discrimination?

Gender Wage gap

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1995

2000

2001

2002

2003

Gender Wage gap

It simply measures different earnings between women and men without saying the causes

• Need to disaggregate wage gap by:• Occupation• Full/part time• ……

Gender Wage gap

Average wages can be calculated:

• Hourly• Weekly• Monthly• Annually

The average Hourly wage is the best measure since it overcomes the bias due to part-time and full-time jobs

Gender Wage gap

Sources

• Enterprise surveys

• LFS • Better source for disaggregated

data

Accessibility to labour market

Employment by family composition (number of children)

Need to include a module on family care

in LFS