Ethnic differences in early labour market outcomes of women

The labour force participation of women in the UK has increased significantly over the last 50 years. The higher participation of women in the labour force is however not uniform across all ethnic groups; with economic inactivity rates being significantly higher among ethnic minority women relative to their white peers.

In this illustrated talk, Dr Gurleen Popli discusses the different factors that explain the inactivity rates among women (age 25-34 years), which might be used to explain the gap in the inactivity rates between white women and ethnic minority women. The factors Dr Popli explores are the educational attainments of women, their family structure (having children and a partner), whether they are born in the UK, and their gender role norms. While background factors (education, family, born abroad) are important in explaining economic inactivity for all women, gender role norms are more important for women from some ethnic minorities.