The Female Factor: Women Workers in the Twin Cities

By Rachel Vilsack
October  2009

Minnesota has a long history of strong participation rates in the labor force, including among women. In 2008 Minnesota ranked fourth nationwide with its highest labor force participation rate of 67.1 percent. 1 The reasons women work in such large numbers here include higher levels of education, access to child care, and the strong Midwestern work ethic.

The recent economic downturn has impacted men and women of all backgrounds. But a recent analysis of Minnesota workers points to a possible gender advantage in this recession. 2 Women in Minnesota may be faring better, in part, because of their occupational selection. Employment in education and health care services, which traditionally employ larger numbers of women, continued to grow over the past few years while manufacturing and construction, industries that are overwhelmingly male dominated, lost jobs.

Recent national trends also show that women, who had previously left the workforce to stay at home with children, are re-entering the labor force because their spouses lost jobs or because of increased concerns about financial security. 3 The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that labor force participation rates for women age 25 to 44 are rising.

This article will look at the state of women workers in the Twin Cities seven-county region. Just as 60 percent of employment in Minnesota is located in the Twin Cities, 60 percent of jobs held by women in Minnesota are located in the region as well.

Women in the Twin Cities Labor Force

Women held 806,750 jobs in the Twin Cities region in 2008, representing 49.8 percent of total jobs. Jobs held by females between the ages of 14 and 24 outnumbered jobs held by their male counterparts, despite population estimates that males outnumber females between the ages of 15 and 24 in the Twin Cities (see Table 1). 4

The percentage of jobs held by women in the Twin Cities has increased. In 1998, 48 percent of jobs in the Twin Cities were held by women, compared with 49.8 percent in 2008. The percentage of jobs held by women 65 years of age and older remained virtually unchanged between 1998 and 2008.

It may stand to reason that women’s participation in the labor force is strong in the Twin Cities. Seven out of 10 women residents of the Twin Cities were engaged in the labor force in 2008. Labor force participation rates for women age 20 to 34 and 45 to 54 were greater than 85 percent. Despite this high rate of participation, male labor force participation rates exceeded female labor force participation rates in all age categories, except for the 16- to 19-year-old group (see Table 2).

There is some evidence to suggest that Twin Cities women are participating in the labor force in greater numbers. Current labor force participation rates for women exceed participation rates in 2005, including among the key age categories of 20 to 24 (83.2 percent), 25 to 29 (84.6 percent), 30 to 34 (81.2 percent) and 35 to 44 (79.7 percent). It is not clear from these numbers alone if this is strictly from the impact of the recession on households, but they do reinforce the national trend.

A Closer Look at New Hires and Separations

As previously stated, the recession has impacted both genders alike, despite the increased participation and number of jobs held by women. Initial claims for unemployment insurance for both men and women increased at similar levels between the first half of 2008 and the first half of 2009 at 89.1 percent and 89 percent, respectively, in the Twin Cities. 5

As a complement to this discussion, has there been any significant changes in the movement of women into jobs (new hires) and out of jobs (separations) in the Twin Cities? It is possible to answer this question using the U.S. Census Bureau’s Local Employment Dynamics program, which allows for a quarterly comparison of industrial employment by various demographic characteristics for counties in Minnesota. In addition to total employment, the movement of people out of or into jobs with a particular employer can be tracked; so total employment, separations and new hires can be analyzed by gender to determine the rates at which men and women are leaving their jobs or acquiring new ones.

Separations measure the total number of workers who were employed by a business in the current quarter but not in the subsequent quarter. Reasons for worker separations are varied and could include job elimination, termination, or voluntary resignation. It does not include, however, an individual’s movement to a different position within the same company.

On the other hand, new hires reflect the number of firm-level accessions that were not employed by that employer during the previous four quarters. New hires include people who have not worked at that employer in the past year, and are different from people who may have been laid off from their jobs and recalled.

In the third quarter of 2008 women held 827,700 jobs or 49 percent of the total employment in the Twin Cities region. More than 140,480 female workers separated from their employer that quarter and, therefore, were not employed at the same firm in fourth quarter 2008, representing 47.9 percent of all separations in the Twin Cities. In third quarter 2008 approximately 49.7 percent of all new hires in the Twin Cities were women (see Figure 1).

While the concentration of women workers as a percent of total employment has increased, the concentration of separations and new hires for women by age group has also changed (see Figures 2 and 3). The number of women workers separated from their jobs during third quarter 2000 was approximately 202,200, compared with 137,590 in third quarter 2008. Women workers age 55 to 64 made up 4.5 percent of separations in third quarter 2000 and 6.6 percent in third quarter 2008. On the flip side, separations for girls age 14 to 18 comprised 12.4 percent of separations in third quarter 2000 and 15.3 percent of separations in third quarter 2008.

While the number of separations declined, it is not known if the remaining separations are from displacement or the voluntary movements of people out of employment and into new jobs, job searching, or retirement. As the regional economy sheds jobs during a recession, the decision to quit a job may be more difficult as there may be fewer job opportunities for the newly unemployed person. Employers who are reducing their workforces because of a shift in the demand for goods or services do not have replacement needs. In the case of girls age 14 to 18, separations may be related to the end-of-the-summer vacations and start of the school year in late August or early September.

In fact, there were fewer new hires over this same time period — 120,940 new hires of women in the Twin Cities in third quarter 2008 compared with more than 163,300 in third quarter 2000. The concentration of new hires age 55 to 64 increased from 3.5 percent in third quarter 2000 to 5.9 percent in third quarter 2008. The concentration of new hires of girls age 14 to 18 declined from 17 percent in third quarter 2000 to 13 percent in third quarter 2008. Increased opportunities for summer educational programs may cause more girls to choose education over a summer job.

For women in the prime working age groups the concentration of new hires in the 25 to 34 age group remained virtually unchanged, and there was a slight decline in the concentration of new hires age 35 to 44 between third quarter 2000 and third quarter 2008.

Top Employing Industries and Occupations for Women

Of course, some differences in new hires and separation rates could be the result of the industries in which men and women work, as occupational employment differences exist by gender. Table 3 lists the top 10 industries in the Twin Cities that employed the largest percentages of women in 2008 and the industries that employed the lowest percent of women. Twin Cities women dominate employment in the health care, retail, and educational services sectors. They make up a smaller percentage of employment in construction, repair and maintenance, utilities, and various manufacturing sectors.

This trend translates into the occupational fields in which women and men work. Twin Cities women accounted for more than 75 percent of employment in health care practitioner, technical and support occupations, while they accounted for just 2.7 percent of construction and extraction occupations in 2008.

Conclusion

As this recession draws to a close and an economic recovery takes hold, it will be interesting to track any effects on labor force participation rates of women. Stay tuned!

 1U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Geographic Profile of Employment and Unemployment, 2008.
2See Teri Fritsma’s article “Minnesota’s He-Cession” from the September 2009 edition of Minnesota Economic Trends; www.PositivelyMinnesota.com/lmi/publications/trends/0909/he_cession.htm .
3Greenhouse, Stephen, “Recession Drives Women Back to the Work Force,” New York Times, September 19, 2009.
4Population estimates for 2008 are from the U.S. Census Bureau, www.census.gov/popest/estimates.html .
5Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Labor Market Information Office, Unemployment Insurance Statistics, www.PositivelyMinnesota.com/lmi/publications/ui.htm .