Occupational Sex Segregation —Increasing or Decreasing?*
*This paper is a revised version of a paper presented to the Sixteenth Conference of Economists, Surfers Paradise, August 1987 and is based on work done while the authors were at the Bureau of Labour Market Research. The authors would like to thank the anonymous referees for their constructive comments. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their Commonwealth departments.
Abstract
Contrary to previous findings, the new index of sex segregation derived in this study suggests that sex segregation in the Australian workforce has been increasing. A decomposition of this new index indicates that the main reason for the increase is the increasing share of employment held by females. The decomposition also considers a number of aspects of occupations including growth rates, skill levels and gender domination.
Citing Literature
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