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4: Labor Force Participation
Pages 63-100

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From page 63...
... The proportion of women among new Ph.D.s, shown by the darkest bars, increased by 20 percentage points from 13 percent in 1973 to 33 percent in 1995, while the proportion of women in the labor force increased more slowly from 8 percent in 1973 to 21 percent in 1995. The proportion of women in the S&E labor force must increase slowly as older, predominantly male cohorts retire and are replaced by new cohorts that have a greater proportion of women.
From page 64...
... This is reflected by the white bars in Figure 4-1, which show that the percent of fulltime workers in S&E who are women increased from 6.5 percent to 20 percent. Differences between men and women in labor force participation add up to less accumulated work experience and less valuable experience for women over the course of their careers, a factor that is important for understanding the gender differences in career outcomes that are described in later chapters.
From page 65...
... • Employed outside of S&E includes doctoral scientists and engineers who are working full time in occupations that are not directly related to S&E as defined by the Survey of Doctorate Recipients. • Unemployed includes those without jobs who are seeking work.
From page 66...
... As shown in Table 4-1, in 1995 women were least represented in the largest subfields of electrical and chemical engineering, and were most strongly represented in the smaller fields of industrial engineering with 15 percent women and materials sciences with 10 percent women. 1973 1979 1989 1995 35 30 Percent Female 25 20 15 10 5 0 Combined Engineering Mathematics Physical Life Sciences Social/ Fields Sciences Behavioral Sciences FIGURE 4-2 The percentage of the full-time scientific and engineering labor force that is female, by field and year of survey.
From page 67...
... In 1973, there were 4,598 women, 9.5 percent of the total, compared to 44,053 men. The proportion of women increased to 26 percent in 1995, as the number of women grew six fold to 29,885, while the number of men only doubled to 85,098.
From page 68...
... 68 FROM SCARCITY TO VISIBILITY TABLE 4-1 Numbers of Engineers Working Full Time in S&E, by Sex, Subfield, and Year of Survey 1973 1979 1989 # # % # # % # Men Women Women Men Women Women Men Biomedical 307 2 0.6 778 10 1.3 1,314 Chemical 4,835 13 0.3 6,696 33 0.5 9,410 Electrical 7,317 17 0.2 9,578 53 0.6 12,595 Industrial 720 4 0.6 1,007 12 1.2 901 Materials Science 146 0 0.0 599 12 2.0 1,587 Other 16,883 46 0.3 23,860 218 0.9 32,631 Total 30,208 82 0.3 42,518 338 0.8 58,438 TABLE 4-2 Numbers of Mathematicians Working Full Time in S&E, by Sex, Subfield, and Year of Survey 1973 1979 1989 # # % # # % # Men Women Women Men Women Women Men Computer Science 540 30 5.3 1,330 92 6.5 3,670 Probability and Statistics 2,233 130 5.5 3,710 318 7.9 5,067 Mathematics 8,866 517 5.5 10,871 780 6.7 13,610 Total 11,639 677 5.5 15,911 1,190 7.0 22,347 TABLE 4-3 Numbers of Physical Scientists Working Full Time in S&E, by Sex, Subfield, and Year of Survey 1973 1979 1989 # # % # # % # Men Women Women Men Women Women Men Astronomy 930 64 6.4 1,531 89 5.5 2,310 Physics 16,424 220 1.3 20,603 427 2.0 25,577 Chemistry 28,936 1,236 4.1 34,990 2,105 5.7 39,788 Oceanography 523 6 1.1 888 37 4.0 1,336 Geosciences 5,355 111 2.0 7,287 292 3.9 9,857 Total 52,168 1,637 3.0 65,299 2,950 4.3 78,868
From page 69...
... LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION 69 y Sex, 1989 1995 % # # % # # % Women Men Women Women Men Women Women 3 1,314 84 6.0 1,729 135 7.2 5 9,410 257 2.7 9,574 504 5.0 6 12,595 213 1.7 16,422 601 3.5 2 901 75 7.7 1,590 279 14.9 0 1,587 138 8.0 3,304 366 10.0 9 32,631 791 2.4 36,394 1,704 4.5 8 58,438 1,558 2.6 69,013 3,589 4.9 &E, by 1989 1995 % # # % # # % Women Men Women Women Men Women Women 5 3,670 397 9.8 6,501 933 12.6 9 5,067 798 13.6 5,165 1,175 18.5 7 13,610 1,304 8.7 14,045 1,620 10.3 0 22,347 2,499 10.1 25,711 3,728 12.7 n S&E, 1989 1995 % # # % # # % Women Men Women Women Men Women Women 5 2,310 175 7.0 2,578 202 7.3 0 25,577 982 3.7 26,977 1,473 5.2 7 39,788 4,426 10.0 39,773 6,251 13.6 0 1,336 132 9.0 1,537 212 12.1 9 9,857 809 7.6 10,508 1,367 11.5 3 78,868 6,524 7.6 81,373 9,505 10.5
From page 70...
... THE AGE STRUCTURE IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING The later entry of women into S&E is reflected in their younger professional age. Professional age is important for understanding career outcomes since years working in the profession affect the positions that scientists and engineers hold.
From page 71...
... Population pyramids are the standard method for examining the age structure in a population. A population pyramid compares the age distri
From page 72...
... Comparing the plots for men and women in 1973, we see that a greater proportion of women is younger, with a median professional age of seven compared to a median age of nine for men. The shape of the distribution resulted from the proportionately smaller number of women receiving Ph.D.s before 1966 (corresponding to professional age 6)
From page 73...
... LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION 73 Panel A: 1973 43+ 37-39 31-33 25-27 19-21 13-15 7-9 1-3 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Percent - Men 1973 Percent - Women 1973 Panel B: 1995 43+ 37-39 31-33 25-27 19-21 13-15 7-9 1-3 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Percent - Men 1995 Percent - Women 1995 FIGURE 4-3 Distribution of professional ages in the science and engineering labor force, by sex and year. NOTE: Professional age is defined as the number of years since the receipt of the doctorate.
From page 74...
... While the average age of men increased in all fields, the greatest aging occurred in the more slowly growing fields of engineering and the social/behavioral sciences. The increase in professional age was smallest in the life sciences where growth of the field was greater in recent years.
From page 75...
... LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION 75 TABLE 4-7 Percent of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers with Full-Time Employment Within Science and Engineering, by Sex, Field, and Year of Survey Combined Fields Engineering Mathematics 1973 Men 90.9 93.1 94.7 Women 70.9 -- 76.5 Difference 20.0 -- 18.2 1979 Men 89.0 90.9 90.5 Women 74.1 81.8 78.4 Difference 14.9 9.1 12.1 1989 Men 88.1 89.7 91.0 Women 74.4 84.8 80.0 Difference 13.7 4.9 11.0 1995 Men 85.8 90.6 90.8 Women 73.5 81.3 79.5 Difference 12.3 9.3 11.3 Social and Physical Life Behavioral Sciences Sciences Sciences 1973 Men 89.8 93.3 87.0 Women 64.1 74.4 69.7 Difference 25.7 18.9 17.3 1979 Men 89.7 92.5 83.2 Women 73.2 77.9 71.3 Difference 16.5 14.6 11.9 1989 Men 90.3 91.3 81.0 Women 79.9 80.3 68.5 Difference 10.4 11.0 12.5 1995 Men 87.2 85.3 79.6 Women 77.4 75.9 69.4 Difference 9.8 9.4 10.2 NOTE: -- indicates too few cases to compute statistic. Full-time postdoctoral fellows are considered to be employed full time in S&E.
From page 76...
... 76 FROM SCARCITY TO VISIBILITY TABLE 4-8 Percent of Doctoral Scientists with Full-Time Employment Outside of Science and Engineering, by Sex, Field, and Year of Survey Combined Fields Engineering Mathematics 1973 Men 6.1 4.7 2.9 Women 6.5 -- 4.8 Difference –0.4 -- –1.9 1979 Men 7.6 6.0 6.6 Women 7.7 7.0 6.4 Difference –0.1 –1.0 0.2 1989 Men 8.7 7.3 6.8 Women 9.5 8.0 8.0 Difference –0.8 –0.7 –1.2 1995 Men 8.1 4.6 4.2 Women 9.9 4.3 5.0 Difference –1.8 0.3 –0.8 Social and Physical Life Behavioral Sciences Sciences Sciences 1973 Men 6.6 3.9 9.8 Women 6.9 4.8 8.1 Difference -0.3 -0.9 1.7 1979 Men 7.2 4.5 12.5 Women 7.2 4.4 10.1 Difference 0.0 0.1 2.4 1989 Men 6.8 6.0 14.4 Women 7.0 6.7 10.3 Difference -0.2 -0.7 4.1 1995 Men 6.3 9.1 13.2 Women 8.4 11.1 10.3 Difference -2.1 -2.0 2.9 NOTE: -- indicates too few cases to compute statistic.
From page 77...
... . In the social/behavioral sciences, the percentage of Ph.D.s with full-time employment outside of S&E is between 10 percent and 14 percent, with 2 percent fewer women in such positions.
From page 78...
... These changes in full-time employment occur as scientists move into part-time employment, become unemployed, or leave the labor force. These forms of underemployment, which represent a significant loss of highly trained individuals, are considered following a shorter discussion of postdoctoral fellowships.
From page 79...
... That trend has been reversed. Unfortunately, our data are too limited to pursue more detailed analyses of gender differences in postdoctoral fellowships.
From page 80...
... The overall height of the bar shows the percent of scientists and engineers who are not working full time, with the divisions within each bar indicating the specific labor force status. Part-time employment is shown with dark gray; being unemployed by light gray; and not seeking work by the white region at the top.
From page 81...
... Still, 17 percent of the female doctorates do not have full-time employment compared to only 6 percent of the male doctorates. There are also interesting changes in the relative proportion of scientists who are working part time, seeking work, and not seeking work.
From page 82...
... The dark gray bars show the corresponding percent of scientists and engineers who are unemployed. The percent of men in the United States population who are seeking work is about five times higher than for scientists and engineers whose rates are nearly constant at 1 percent.
From page 83...
... The reasons for the change are unclear, but may correspond to aging of the male S&E labor force with an increasing proportion having accumulated sufficient financial resources to stop working. Figure 4-8 shows field differences in the percent of female scientists and engineers who are unemployed.
From page 84...
... Figure 4-9 shows the percent of women who are out of the labor force. That is, they are not employed and not seeking work.
From page 85...
... Consider first the distribution among labor force statuses for men and women in 1973, as shown in Panels A and B.4 The most striking difference is the much smaller percentage of women who are working full time in S&E at all stages of the career (shown by the smaller dark gray region at the bottom) and the much larger proportion of women who are less than fully employed.
From page 86...
... Panel B: Women – 1973 FIGURE 4-10 Distribution of labor force outcomes, by sex and year of survey. NOTE: Percentages at each year since the Ph.D.
From page 87...
... Note that the vertical axis begins at 60 percent in order to highlight variation in the categories other than full time work in science and engineering.
From page 88...
... We now consider explanations for these gender differences. EXPLANATIONS FOR DIFFERENCES IN LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION To understand the loss of female scientists and engineers from fulltime employment, we must explore reasons for the lesser full-time employment of women.
From page 89...
... First, Marwell, Rosenfeld, and Spilerman (1979) find that geographic constraints imposed by a dual career limit the ability of women to make strategic job changes in the academic marketplace.
From page 90...
... Men 1989 Women 1989 Men 1995 Women 1995 70 60 50 Percent 40 30 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 Years Since Ph.D. FIGURE 4-12 Percent who cite family reasons for working part time, by sex and year of survey.
From page 91...
... Figure 4-13 plots the percent of male and female scientists and engineers in 1995 who are predicted by our model to work full time either in or out of S&E according to familial status.7 Four familial statuses are considered: single without children (black bar) , married without children (dark gray bar)
From page 92...
... It is interesting to note that as a consequence of the opposite effects of marriage and children for men and women, an identical 94 percent of single men and single women are expected to be working full time. That is, differences between men and women in labor force participation are eliminated if we compare single men to single women.
From page 93...
... LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION 93 1979 1989 1995 100 95 90 Percent of Women 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 Single Married Older Children Younger Children FIGURE 4-14 Predicted percent of women with full employment, by year of survey. 1979 1989 1995 35 Percent if Single - Percent if Small Children 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 Full Time Part Time Not Seeking Seeking Work Work FIGURE 4-15 Differences in predicted labor force status between single women and married women with young children, by year of survey.
From page 94...
... While some past research has suggested that attending a women's college greatly increased a woman's chances of being highly successful (Tidball and Kistiakowsky 1976) , we found no effect on labor force participation.
From page 95...
... , it is possible that these men and women returned to their original employment after the completion of the degree. It is also possible that those who take longer to complete the degree are either less Men Women 4 2 0 Percent –2 –4 –6 –8 Full Time in Full Time out Part Time Seeking Work Not Seeking S&E of S&E Work FIGURE 4-16 Changes in labor force status if elapsed time between the baccalaureate and Ph.D.
From page 96...
... In 1979, for every year since the degree the female scientist worked 0.12 years less than an average male scientist; in 1989 this loss was reduced to 0.09, with the largest improvements being noticed between the 9th and 15th years of the career. Overall, compared to male scientists, nearly 10 percent of the potential work experience of female scientists is being lost.
From page 97...
... As shown earlier in the chapter, the net effect of the lower labor force participation of women is that as late as 1989 nearly 10 percent of the potential work activity of female scientists and engineers was lost as a result of their less than full employment. Among the variables we consider, by far the strongest factor that affects a female scientist's labor force participation is familial status.
From page 98...
... Panel B: 1989 SDR FIGURE 4-18 Difference between mean work experience of men and women, by familial status, years since the Ph.D., and year of survey. NOTE: The vertical axis is the difference in the mean years for women and the mean years of experience for men.
From page 99...
... Thus, even if the results in later chapters found no gender differences in career outcomes (which they do not find) , there would still be important differences between male and female scientists and engineers in their success in moving into fulltime employment.
From page 100...
... 100 FROM SCARCITY TO VISIBILITY 1979 1989 1995 100 95 90 85 Percent of Women 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 Single Married Older Children Younger Children FIGURE 4-20 Predicted percent of women with full-time employment, by marital status and year of survey.


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