The Distribution of Income in Ireland (2000) - Combat Poverty Agency

80The Distribution of Income in Ireland7.2 WOMEN'S LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION IN IRELANDTo see the Irish situation in comparative context, Table 7.1shows female participation rates for various OECD countries inboth 1984 and 1994. In 1984 the female labour force participationrate in Ireland was 37 per cent. In contrast, many of theother countries had female participation rates of over 50 percent. For instance, the participation rate in the US was approximately63 per cent, 59 per cent in the U.K, 53 per cent in Germanyand 77 per cent in Sweden. Of the OECD countries in thetable, only Spain had a lower participation rate than Ireland. By1994 the participation rate in Ireland had increased to 47 percent. Table 7.1 shows that of the OECD countries for which dataare available only four — Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealandand Spain — experienced greater percentage increases inthe female participation rate than Ireland. These increases inparticipation and employment have continued since 1994. Indeed,the employment increases among Irish women between1991 and 1997 exceeded the combined employment increasesover the previous 20 years. Many have argued that this hascontributed substantially to Ireland's impressive growth recordsmce the early 1990's (see for example Bradley, FitzGerald,Honohan and Kearney 1997).To understand the effect of increasing female participationon household income inequality, one needs information showingwhere in the income distribution these changes have beensccumng, and also what has been happening to female wagesas women's participation and employment increased. For this?S?° Se iro e , USe *• *° house «°ld surveys carried out by theESRI m 1987 and 1994, described in detail in earlier chapters.at this point isfocus ^*• household. However, tohn,,.^0^r ° le ° f female Participation we concentrate onhouseholds containing a married couple in which both spousesb0th mus J£Ti?"a 9 ed betwe *n 24 and 55. This leavesus with 1,546 households in 1987, and 1,855 households in 1994.Female Labour Force Participation and Inequality 81Table 7.1: Female Participationand 1994AustraliaAustriaBelgiumCanadaDenmarkFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceIcelandIrelandItalyJapanKoreaCountryLuxembourgNetherlandsNew ZealandNorwayPortugalSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUKUSRates in the OECD, J984Female Participation Rate (%)198452.851.548.763.573.872.954.752.340.962.736.940.757.243.842.240.746.066.356.033.277.355.759.162.8199463.462.155.167.873.869.959.661.844.680.047.242.962.152.756.557.465.071.162.044.174.467.566.270.5Change inParticipationRate (% points)II ls useful now todistinguishocusing on these households, between the two surveys therea significant increase in the percentage of married women^orking as employees. In 1987 approximately 22 per cent of^ves were classified as employees, but by 1994 this had infouT8601 tQ 34 Per C6nt " betweensources of household income: husband's employee earn-+20+20+ 13+70-5+8+ 18+9+28+28+6+9+20+34+41+41+7+11+33-4+21+ 12+ 12