1. Men vs Women trends in labor
markets & education
Gaetan Lion
August 2nd, 2012
1
2. Overall trends looking at all age
groups combined
Data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S.
Census, Current Population Survey.
Pay attention to the X-axis of the graphs as depending on the variable
the time series are of very different length.
2
3. Labor force participation rate in pct. pt.
Labor force participation rate in %
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
Women
10 Men
0
50
53
56
59
62
65
68
71
74
77
80
83
86
89
92
95
98
01
04
07
10
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
19
19
20
3
5. Women Median earnings as % of Men
Women earnings as % of Men
85%
80%
75%
70%
65%
60%
79
81
83
85
7
89
91
93
5
97
99
01
03
05
07
09
11
8
9
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
20
20
20
5
6. % with College Degree or higher in pct. pt.
% with College Degree or higher in pct. pt.
29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
Men
21 Women
20
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
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7. Conclusion for this section
Women have made relative progress on
numerous counts over the past few decades.
Those include progressively catching up with
men on labor participation rates while often
incurring lower unemployment rates. Overall,
women have fully caught up in terms of
education as the % of women with a college
degree or higher is now equal to men. This
trend caused a 20 percentage point increase in
in women’s earnings as a % of men since 1979
(from 62% to 82%).
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8. Trends looking at the 25 – 34 year
old group
Data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S.
Census, Current Population Survey.
Pay attention to the X-axis of the graphs as depending on the variable
the time series are of very different length.
8
9. Labor force participation rate. 25 – 34 yr olds
Labor force participation 25 -34 yr old in pct. pt.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20 Female
10 Male
0
60
63
66
72
75
78
84
87
90
93
99
02
05
11
69
81
96
08
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
19
19
19
19
19
20
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11. Women Median earnings as % of Men.
25 – 34 yr olds
Female Median Earnings as % of Male. 25 -34 yrs old
94%
92%
90%
88%
86%
84%
82%
80%
78%
76%
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
11
12. % with College Degree or higher.
25 – 29 yr olds in pct. pt.
% with College Degree. 25 - 29 yrs old
38
36
34
32
30
28
26
24 Male
Female
22
20
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
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13. % with College Degree or higher.
30 – 34 yr olds in pct. pt.
% with College Degree. 30 - 34 yrs old
39
37
35
33
31
29
Male
27 Female
25
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
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14. Conclusion regarding trends for the 25-
34 year olds
Trends for labor participation and unemployment
confirm what we had observed when looking at
all age group combined. However, when
focusing on the young (as defined) women have
forged way ahead in education achievement.
And, that gap is widening rapidly in recent years.
Consequently, women earnings have rapidly
risen to reach over 92% of men by 2011. Given
current trends, it would be easy to extrapolate
that women within this age group will earn more
than men within a decade or so.
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