LSE Business Review blog:
How the rise of the service sector boosted the demand for women workers
28 July 2017
The historical growth in the service sector has created jobs for which women have a natural comparative advantage, write Rachel Ngai and Barbara Petrongolo
..There has been a vast amount of research on the causes and consequences of the rise in women’s involvement in the labour market. Proposed explanations include growing investment in human capital, medical advances, technological progress in the household, wider availability of child care, and evolving gender norms. Our research puts forward a new and complementary explanation based on the rise of the service economy and its role in boosting the demand for female work.
Related publications
‘Gender Gaps and the Rise of the Service Economy’, L. Rachel Ngai and Barbara Petrongolo. American Economic Journal, forthcoming https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/mac.20150253