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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The effect of sex antidiscriminatory legislation on the variability of female employment in Britain

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This paper examines the variability of female employment in the 1970s. It is based on data from the New Earnings Survey so that the behaviour of employment in the manual–nonmanual and manufacturing–nonmanufacturing sectors can be studied separately. At an aggregate level the results are compared to those derived using data from the Department of Employment, to ensure that the results are not simply the product of possible sampling variation of the New Earnings Survey. The findings of this paper, though far from conclusive, indicate that female employment vis-a-vismale employment became more stable after 1976. There may be many reasons for the decrease in relative variability of female employment in the second half of the 1970s; however, the way our sample is split coincides with the implementation of the Equal Pay Act and the Sex Discrimination Act which have become effective since 1976.