Women's employment

In a new Economic report the TUC focuses on women and work, looking at changes since the turn of this century.

It notes that between January 2000 and May 2012, the number of women in work rose from 12,485,000 to 13,637,000.

However, because the number of women in the population had increased in the same period, the employment rate was virtually unchanged and women’s unemployment in fact rose.

In January 2000 there were 689,000 unemployed women and by May 2012 this had increased to 1,099,000; of this total 324,000 women had been unemployed for over a year.

There has also been a long-term increase in self-employment among women with 29% of the self-employed now being women.

The TUC has expressed concern over how much of this self-employment is in fact false, as self-employment saves employers money.

It notes that the median income of people in self-employment fell from £11,300 in 2000-1 to £10,300 in 2009-10, whereas the median income of employees rose during the same period from £14,600 to £18,900.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-21436-f0.pdf