Trends in Market Work Behavior of Women since 1940

Abstract

The authors analyze the movements in work hours and employment of female employees as reported in Decennial Censuses from 1940 to 1980 and in Current Population Surveys from 1980 and 1988. Women with relatively little schooling were working fewer hours in the 1980s than in 1940; the reverse is true of well-educated women. These patterns remain when the data are disaggregated by marital status and the presence of children, and they are also little affected by controls for changes in real wages. In conjunction with results reported in the authors' parallel study on men (January 1993 ILR Review), these findings suggest that gender differences in work behavior are becoming less manifest than skill differences.