The rise in employment over the last year has been far greater for men than women.
Yesterday’s labour market figures delivered more good news for the UK, with large falls in unemployment accompanied by large rises in employment. Interestingly when you look in more detail at the numbers the rise in employment over the last year has been far greater for men than women.
This is also the case when we look at unemployment. The fall in unemployment has been greater for men than women. This appears to be a general trend borne out over the course of the downturn, with women today making up a significantly higher share of JSA claimants than they did at the start of the downturn in Feb 2008.
As Figure 1 shows, the ratio of male to female JSA claimants varies widely across the UK, from 1.5 male claimants for every female claimant in London to 2.5 male claimants for every female claimant in Belfast. The cities with the highest male to female ratio also tend to have relatively high claimant count rates, such as Belfast, Middlesbrough and Dundee. Cambridge is the notable exception. It has one of the highest male to female claimant count ratios of 2.3 but the lowest claimant count rate of any city (at 1.2 per cent).
Figure 1: Male: female JSA claimant count ratio (May 2014)
The balance between male and female claimants has also shifted since 2008. Figure 2 shows the male to female claimant count ratio for each city at the start of the downturn. Comparing Figure 1 with Figure 2 shows that all cities have seen their male to female claimant ratio fall since 2008. For example, in Feb 2008 Belfast had 4.0 male claimants for every female claimant but this has fallen to 2.5 male claimants for every female claimant today. However, this change has been driven by a larger increase in female claimants than a fall in male claimants, suggesting women are faring less well than men in the labour market following the downturn.
Figure 2: Male: female JSA claimant count ratio (Feb 2008)
The latest city-by-city data can be found via the links below:
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