Part III: The Employment of Women in North America and the European Union

The pattern of female employment in North America can be further illuminated by comparing it to the experience of women in the European Union (EU). Table 5 provides a selection of comparative data concerning the employment of women in North America and the EU. In 1996, the number of women employed in North America totaled some 75.8 million people, which compared with the figure for male employment implied a ratio of 7.7 women employed for every 10 men. This figure is slightly higher than that reported in the European Union, which in 1994 stood at seven women employed for every 10 men.

The higher ratio of female to male employment in North America is largely the result of a higher rate of female employment growth in recent decades. While female employment in both economic regions has grown at a higher rate than that for males, the rate of growth for women has been even greater in North America: an annual average of 2.4 percent from 1979 to 1996, in comparison with an annual growth rate of 1.3 percent in the EU between 1975 and 1994. Nevertheless, the rate of participation of women in the labor force in North America (54.5 percent in 1996) is slightly lower than that of the European Union (56 percent in 1994). Two factors influence this result: one is Mexico’s relatively low rate of female participation; the other is that the overall female working age population in North America is increasing at a higher rate than in the EU.40

Table 5
Labor Indicators in North America and the European Union
Indicators	North America 1996	European Union 1994
I.Total Population (millions)
Total	388.3	371.1
Male	190.3	181.1
Female	198.0	109.0
II. Employment (millions)
Total	174.5	146.2
Male	98.7	85.8
Female	75.8	60.4
III. Annual Growth Rate of Female Employment
	2.4 (1979-1996)	1.3 (1975-1994)
IV. Participation Rates1
Total	65.1	66.1
Male	76.6	76.0
Female	54.5	56.0
V. Distribution of Employment by Sector (%)
Men
Agriculture	10.0	6.1
Industry	29.1	40.1
Services	60.8	53.8
Women
Agriculture	2.9	4.6
Industry	13.3	17.1
Services	83.8	78.2
VI. Part-time Work (%)2
Total	18.1	15.3
Male	12.7	4.8
Female	28.8	30.8
VII. Unemployment Rate (%)3
Total	5.4	11.1
Male	5.3	10.0
Female	5.6	12.8
VIII. Unemployment Rate for Youth (15-24 years) (%)
Total	10.8	21.1
Male	10.6	20.5
Female	10.9	21.9
Note:	1) Total labor force as percentage of the working age population. 2) Part-time work as percentage of total employment, total male employment and total female employment. 3) Unemployment as percentage of total labor force, total male labor force and total female labor force.
Source:	European Commission,“Employment in Europe”, 1995; the Secretariat of the Commission for Labor Cooperation, using data from Statistics Canada, STPS/INEGI, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As regards employment distribution by sector, female labor in both the EU and North America has been concentrated in the service sector (social and personal services, commerce, financial and real estate services, government and transportation and communications); however, this concentration is greater in North America. In 1996, for every 10 female workers in North America, 8.4 were employed in the service sector, while in the EU in 1994, this ratio stood at 7.8 for every 10 female workers. It is interesting to note that the participation of women in industrial activities (manufacturing, mining and construction) is higher in the EU than in North America.

In both regions, the proportion of women with part-time employment is high and is greater than the corresponding figure for men. However in the EU, part-time work is far more common among women than among men as compared to the gender differential in North America.⁴¹ For example, in 1994, 30.8 percent of female labor was part-time in the EU, while this proportion stood at just 4.8 percent for men. By contrast, the percentage of women engaged in part-time work stood at 28.8 percent in North America during 1996, while a figure of 12.7 percent was reported for men.

As regards unemployment, rates for both men and women are substantially higher in the EU than in North America. In 1994, the open unemployment rate in the European Union was more than double that reported in North America in 1996. Female unemployment rates in the EU were higher (12.8 percent in 1994) than those of men (10 percent), while in North America, both rates were similar at 5.6 percent for women and 5.3 percent for men. It is worth noting that the female unemployment rate has tended to increase over the last few years in the European Union, while an opposite trend has occurred in North America.

In both regions, young workers (between the ages of 15 and 24) are subject to higher unemployment levels than the rest of the working population, but the rates are substantially higher in the European Union. In 1994, the unemployment rate prevailing among young women in the EU was almost twice as high (21.9 percent) as the figure (10.9 percent) reported for young women the North American countries in 1996.

Endnotes

¹In some cases this profile required information dating from previous years.

²The European Union is made up of the following countries: Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, Greece, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Finland and Sweden.

³Human Resources Development Canada, projections prepared by Canadian Occupational Projections System, 1998, Ottawa.

⁴Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Projections for 1996-2006, November 1997.

⁵Consejo Nacional de Población,“Proyecciones de la Población Total y la Económicamente Activa, 1996-2005.” Data refers to people 12 years and older.

⁶This situation is also present in other regions. For example in all Latin America, the economic participation rate of women with 10 or more year of schooling was 55% in 1994, while for women with 13 or more years of schooling was 71 percent. CEPAL, “Sustainable Development, Poverty and Gender. Latin American and the Caribbean: working to the year 2000.” Santiago, Chile, November 1997.

⁷Data refer to dual-earner families. Nancy Ghalam,“Income and Earnings,” in Women in Canada, Statistics Canada,Third edition, 1995, p. 85.

⁸José Gómez de León Cruces,“Tendencias Recientes y Características de la Participación Económica de las Mujeres en México,” conference presented at the Conferencia Trinacional de la Mujer en el Trabajo en el Siglo XXI, México,April 23-25, 1997.

⁹More current data for 1970 comes from the Census, data for 1994 comes from a different series, the Current Population Survey, which indicates that the fertility rate remained at an average of 1.2 children per woman in 1994.

¹⁰In 1997, the Mexican fertility rate fell to 2.8 children per woman. Jose Gómez de León Cruces, Ibid.

¹¹The substantial reduction in the fertility rate in Mexico was partly due to the implementation of a new population policy in 1973. In this year the Ley General de Población (Population Law) established among its main objectives a family planning program.

¹²Howard V. Hayghe,“Developments in Women’s Labor Force Participation,” in Monthly Labor Review, September 1997, U.S. Department of Labor.

¹³Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, 1996.

¹⁴The social, personal and professional services sector includes: business, personal, entertainment and recreation, professional, educational, social and other services industries.

¹⁵Formal trade is defined as that performed in fixed establishments.

¹⁶It should be noted that female employment in paper and printing and allied products is mainly concentrated in printing and publishing in all three countries. In the United States, the highest levels of female employment within the metal, machinery and transportation equipment industries were in computing and automobile related industries.

¹⁷However in Mexico, while the share of female employment in the manufacturing sector as a whole declined, “blue collar” production jobs increased during the period.

¹⁸Part-time figures for the United States and Canada are characterized by a certain degree of underestimation. In the case of the United States, part-time workers with more than two jobs are considered as full-time workers if their total working hours exceed a weekly total of 35 hours.According to a note published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Issues of Labor Statistics in April 1996, in 1995, almost 6.5 million workers with one or more part-time jobs were classified as full-time workers, since their total working hours were were above 35 hours or more. In Canada, part-time employment includes workers with less than 30 hours a week. If the group of women working between 30 and 34 hours per week were included, the proportion of part-time female employment would increase substantially, since in 1995 the percentage of women working between 30 and 34 hours per week accounted for approximately 29 percent of total female employment.

¹⁹In 1994, the questionnaire used for the Current Population Survey was modified. One of the changes was the definition of involuntary part-time employment. Starting in 1994, workers who are classified as part-time for economic reasons must want and be available for full-time work.This requirement was not used before the modification.

²⁰For Mexico all hours worked were estimated based on information from the Encuesta Nacional de Empleo (ENE).

²¹Statistics Canada, Earnings of Men and Women, 1995. Page 8 Catalogue No. 13-217-XPB, January 1997

²²Although during the period 1990-1994 family reasons were still dominant in explaining work interruptions (47%), they are less prevalent than in the 1950s (88%). Janet Fast & Moreno da Pont,“Changes in Women’s Work Continuity,” in Canadian Social Trends, No. 46,Autumn 1997, Statistics Canada.

²³Ibid.

²⁴United States data refer to January 1983 and February 1996.

²⁵For Mexico all earnings data were estimated based on information from the Encuesta Nacional de Empleo (ENE).

²⁶In 1996 the share of married women in the total female labor force accounted for 64.2 percent in Canada, 45.1 percent in Mexico and 54.4 percent in the United States.

²⁷In the United States, the federal minimum wage stood at $4.25 US dollars per hour in 1995. In October 1996, the minimum wage was increased to $4.75 US dollars an hour; as of September 1, 1997, this wage was once again increased to $5.15 US dollars an hour.

²⁸In Mexico, the minimum wage is fixed on a daily basis; the average level for 1996 was $20.40 pesos per day. It should be noted that the Federal Labor Law establishes that for every six days worked, workers are entitled to a day of rest with full pay.

²⁹The definition is:“female householder, no husband present.”

³⁰U.S. Department of Commerce, Income, Poverty and Valuation of Non-Cash Benefits: 1993, Current Population Reports, Consumer Income, Series P60-188,Tables A and C,Washington D.C. February 1995.

³¹The definition is: “female lone-parent families.”

³²Statistics Canada, Income Distribution by Size in Canada, 1993,Tables II and IV, Ottawa, December 1994.

³³Deciles of workers are ranked in order of their earnings from lowest to highest. The first decile refers to the lowest average earnings.

³⁴OECD, Employment Outlook, July 1996, table 3.1, pag. 61, Paris.

³⁵Data were estimated based on the information presented in STPS/INEGI, Encuesta Nacional de Empleo, Salarios,Tecnología y Capacitación en el Sector Manufacturero 1992. Mexico, 1995.

³⁶Statistics Canada, Earnings of Men and Women, 1995. Page 8 Catalogue No. 13-217-XPB, January 1997.

³⁷Differences in definitions of unemployment among the three countries are significant. For more information regarding the main differences see Appendix B.

³⁸Voluntary unemployment is defined as a worker choosing to leave his or her job for personal reasons such as illness, family responsibilities, return to school, dissatisfied with job or retirement.

³⁹Involuntary unemployment is defined as job loss due to economic reasons such as company shutdown, company move or end of seasonal job.

⁴⁰Between 1979 and 1994 female working age population in the European Union grew at an annual rate of 0.5%, while in North America grew at 2.0%; female labor force grew at 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively, during the same period.

⁴¹Differences between part-time employment data for North America and the European Union may be partly due to conceptual and definitional differences.