The Paula Principle

Mustang

We went on Saturday to the Turkish film Mustang , which tracks the passage from childhood of five girls.  The girls live with their uncle and grandmother (the parents have disappeared, perhaps dead) in quite a rural area, 1000 km from Istanbul.  In the first phase of the film they are carefree and vivacious, larking around with boys at the end of school term and chattering non-stop with each other. Gradually the tenor of the film changes, as the older people assert traditional cultural mores.  Two of the girls are married off to boys they only meet on the day of the betrothal.  The others resist in various ways, but the house…
Read More

Graduates and non-graduates: RF & HEPI

Two reports have come out in the last few days which complement each other well. The first is from the Resolution Foundation, and focuses on the much-neglected group of people who have some qualifications but are not graduates.  This is the RF exactly fulfilling its remit of shedding light on what is happening to the middle segments of our society - squeezed or not.   Given the number of people who hold vocational qualifications, and the number of times we hear about the UK's lack of intermediate skills, it's absurd that we pay so little attention to them. The report produces quite a neat typology of non-graduates:  from 'ladder climbers'…
Read More

Grandparenting and the club sandwich

An interesting piece in yesterday's Financial Times on grandparents (in the main, grandmothers) who find themselves an essential part of their children's (mainly daughters) childcare arrangements.  This is, often, at the expense of their own career, which may have just been taking off again. The lead story (for those of you who aren't behind the FT's paywall) is about an accountant, Tracey Conway, who had moved up from 2 days a week to 5 days - and has now gone down again to help look after her grandson, as her daughter pursues her career at the bank.  She finds much to be happy about it, especially her strong link with the…
Read More

Why any skills assessment can’t ignore older women

Older women are habitually treated as marginal figures in the labour force .   I've just come across some figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that really drive home why this should no longer be the case. Here are the key points: 1.  The participation rate for women aged 55+  is already over one-third.  That, if I've understood the figures correctly, is of all women aged 55+, i.e. including centenarians and beyond. 2.  Nearly one third (32.8%) of F aged 65-69 will be in work by 2024.  So much for conventional ways of giving us the labour force figures, stopping at 65. 3.   Nearly one quarter  (22.4%) of…
Read More

Adam Smith’s dinner: man-made?

Two PP-relevant books to report on. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner has a chirpy title  and a distinctive style.  Katrina Marçal is a Swedish journalist who lays about her with relish.  Her main target is homo economicus, beginning with the eponymous Scottish original.  The answer to the title's question is 'his mother', and Marçal's treatment of AS is characteristic of her general approach:  vigorous, often amusing, landing some good heavy punches, but not exactly even-handed.  Old Adam gets labelled as an advocate of every=man-for-himself, with not much nuance about it, which is a tad simplistic. It's an enjoyable and stimulating book, and many economists deserve the mauling they get.  When it…
Read More

A really strong Select Committee report

The Select Committee on Women and Equalities has just published a hard-hitting and very well argued report on the Gender Pay Gap.  A particular virtue is that it gives due attention to age, showing how the gender pay gap (GPG) increases over the life course.  This leads it to a number of really interesting reflections and recommendations on how to improve the position of older women.  The opening para gives a good flavour of the report's forthright style: "The UK’s gender pay gap of 19.2% represents a significant loss to productivity. Women are better educated and better qualified than ever before, yet their skills are not being fully utilised. Women over 40 are…
Read More

Careers and pay: findings from CIPD and Bank of England

The CIPD has just published its 2016 Employee Outlook.  This reports the views of over 2000 men and women on what is going well, and less well, with their careers.    A number of findings are very relevant to the Paula Principle. The very first table shows that 35% of women report themselves as overqualified for the job they are in, compared with 27% of men.  This looks like fairly direct evidence in favour of the PP.  It could be that women are disposed to pay more attention to their level of qualification and so are inherently more likely to notice any discrepancy between this and the job they are…
Read More

OECD says it: rebalance the system in favour of FE

My former colleagues at OECD have just produced an excellent report which should disturb, and which deserves really wide discussion - especially as I agree wholeheartedly with one of their major, and radical, recommendations. Building Skills for All: A Review of England looks at the problem of low skills.  A familiar issue, you may see - haven't we heard it all before.  Well,  try this: "Around one in five young English university graduates can manage to read the instructions on a bottle of aspirin, and understand a petrol gauge, but will struggle to undertake more challenging literacy and numeracy tasks." This is based on PIAAC evidence - an international survey based on…
Read More

An update on the PP

New Year's Day, and the chance to take stock on the Paula Principle.  I finished the book a year ago but still haven't managed to find a publisher.  I'll have in any case to update it (once I finish what I'm currently doing, a report for Unesco on the state of play on adult learning across the world), partly because some of the statistics need it but also because some of the debate on gender issues has moved on.  I still don't claim to be a gender specialist, but writing the book has meant that my eye is caught by gender items in the media, and this has prompted some…
Read More

The divergence continues

Two separate items from this week which exactly confirm the divergence that is at the heart of the Paula Principle. First the 'End of Cycle' report from UCAS shows women moving even further ahead.   (By the way, what does "UCAS' stand for?  Universities Commission on Admissions and Statistics?  I couldn't find it on their site.)    The entry rate for 18 year old women is 9.2 percentage points higher than for men, making them 35 per cent (proportionally) more likely to enter than men. These differences, both proportional and in percentage points, are the highest recorded. Here's the chart: Another very significant point is that this effect is even…
Read More

Mustang

We went on Saturday to the Turkish film Mustang , which tracks the passage from childhood of five girls.  The girls live with their uncle and grandmother (the parents have disappeared, perhaps dead) in quite a rural area, 1000 km from Istanbul.  In the first phase of the film they are carefree and vivacious, larking around with boys at the end of school term and chattering non-stop with each other. Gradually the tenor of the film changes, as the older people assert traditional cultural mores.  Two of the girls are married off to boys they only meet on the day of the betrothal.  The others resist in various ways, but the house…
Read More

Graduates and non-graduates: RF & HEPI

Two reports have come out in the last few days which complement each other well. The first is from the Resolution Foundation, and focuses on the much-neglected group of people who have some qualifications but are not graduates.  This is the RF exactly fulfilling its remit of shedding light on what is happening to the middle segments of our society - squeezed or not.   Given the number of people who hold vocational qualifications, and the number of times we hear about the UK's lack of intermediate skills, it's absurd that we pay so little attention to them. The report produces quite a neat typology of non-graduates:  from 'ladder climbers'…
Read More

Grandparenting and the club sandwich

An interesting piece in yesterday's Financial Times on grandparents (in the main, grandmothers) who find themselves an essential part of their children's (mainly daughters) childcare arrangements.  This is, often, at the expense of their own career, which may have just been taking off again. The lead story (for those of you who aren't behind the FT's paywall) is about an accountant, Tracey Conway, who had moved up from 2 days a week to 5 days - and has now gone down again to help look after her grandson, as her daughter pursues her career at the bank.  She finds much to be happy about it, especially her strong link with the…
Read More

Why any skills assessment can’t ignore older women

Older women are habitually treated as marginal figures in the labour force .   I've just come across some figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that really drive home why this should no longer be the case. Here are the key points: 1.  The participation rate for women aged 55+  is already over one-third.  That, if I've understood the figures correctly, is of all women aged 55+, i.e. including centenarians and beyond. 2.  Nearly one third (32.8%) of F aged 65-69 will be in work by 2024.  So much for conventional ways of giving us the labour force figures, stopping at 65. 3.   Nearly one quarter  (22.4%) of…
Read More

Adam Smith’s dinner: man-made?

Two PP-relevant books to report on. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner has a chirpy title  and a distinctive style.  Katrina Marçal is a Swedish journalist who lays about her with relish.  Her main target is homo economicus, beginning with the eponymous Scottish original.  The answer to the title's question is 'his mother', and Marçal's treatment of AS is characteristic of her general approach:  vigorous, often amusing, landing some good heavy punches, but not exactly even-handed.  Old Adam gets labelled as an advocate of every=man-for-himself, with not much nuance about it, which is a tad simplistic. It's an enjoyable and stimulating book, and many economists deserve the mauling they get.  When it…
Read More

A really strong Select Committee report

The Select Committee on Women and Equalities has just published a hard-hitting and very well argued report on the Gender Pay Gap.  A particular virtue is that it gives due attention to age, showing how the gender pay gap (GPG) increases over the life course.  This leads it to a number of really interesting reflections and recommendations on how to improve the position of older women.  The opening para gives a good flavour of the report's forthright style: "The UK’s gender pay gap of 19.2% represents a significant loss to productivity. Women are better educated and better qualified than ever before, yet their skills are not being fully utilised. Women over 40 are…
Read More

Careers and pay: findings from CIPD and Bank of England

The CIPD has just published its 2016 Employee Outlook.  This reports the views of over 2000 men and women on what is going well, and less well, with their careers.    A number of findings are very relevant to the Paula Principle. The very first table shows that 35% of women report themselves as overqualified for the job they are in, compared with 27% of men.  This looks like fairly direct evidence in favour of the PP.  It could be that women are disposed to pay more attention to their level of qualification and so are inherently more likely to notice any discrepancy between this and the job they are…
Read More

OECD says it: rebalance the system in favour of FE

My former colleagues at OECD have just produced an excellent report which should disturb, and which deserves really wide discussion - especially as I agree wholeheartedly with one of their major, and radical, recommendations. Building Skills for All: A Review of England looks at the problem of low skills.  A familiar issue, you may see - haven't we heard it all before.  Well,  try this: "Around one in five young English university graduates can manage to read the instructions on a bottle of aspirin, and understand a petrol gauge, but will struggle to undertake more challenging literacy and numeracy tasks." This is based on PIAAC evidence - an international survey based on…
Read More

An update on the PP

New Year's Day, and the chance to take stock on the Paula Principle.  I finished the book a year ago but still haven't managed to find a publisher.  I'll have in any case to update it (once I finish what I'm currently doing, a report for Unesco on the state of play on adult learning across the world), partly because some of the statistics need it but also because some of the debate on gender issues has moved on.  I still don't claim to be a gender specialist, but writing the book has meant that my eye is caught by gender items in the media, and this has prompted some…
Read More

The divergence continues

Two separate items from this week which exactly confirm the divergence that is at the heart of the Paula Principle. First the 'End of Cycle' report from UCAS shows women moving even further ahead.   (By the way, what does "UCAS' stand for?  Universities Commission on Admissions and Statistics?  I couldn't find it on their site.)    The entry rate for 18 year old women is 9.2 percentage points higher than for men, making them 35 per cent (proportionally) more likely to enter than men. These differences, both proportional and in percentage points, are the highest recorded. Here's the chart: Another very significant point is that this effect is even…
Read More

Mustang

We went on Saturday to the Turkish film Mustang , which tracks the passage from childhood of five girls.  The girls live with their uncle and grandmother (the parents have disappeared, perhaps dead) in quite a rural area, 1000 km from Istanbul.  In the first phase of the film they are carefree and vivacious, larking around with boys at the end of school term and chattering non-stop with each other. Gradually the tenor of the film changes, as the older people assert traditional cultural mores.  Two of the girls are married off to boys they only meet on the day of the betrothal.  The others resist in various ways, but the house…
Read More

Graduates and non-graduates: RF & HEPI

Two reports have come out in the last few days which complement each other well. The first is from the Resolution Foundation, and focuses on the much-neglected group of people who have some qualifications but are not graduates.  This is the RF exactly fulfilling its remit of shedding light on what is happening to the middle segments of our society - squeezed or not.   Given the number of people who hold vocational qualifications, and the number of times we hear about the UK's lack of intermediate skills, it's absurd that we pay so little attention to them. The report produces quite a neat typology of non-graduates:  from 'ladder climbers'…
Read More

Grandparenting and the club sandwich

An interesting piece in yesterday's Financial Times on grandparents (in the main, grandmothers) who find themselves an essential part of their children's (mainly daughters) childcare arrangements.  This is, often, at the expense of their own career, which may have just been taking off again. The lead story (for those of you who aren't behind the FT's paywall) is about an accountant, Tracey Conway, who had moved up from 2 days a week to 5 days - and has now gone down again to help look after her grandson, as her daughter pursues her career at the bank.  She finds much to be happy about it, especially her strong link with the…
Read More

Why any skills assessment can’t ignore older women

Older women are habitually treated as marginal figures in the labour force .   I've just come across some figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that really drive home why this should no longer be the case. Here are the key points: 1.  The participation rate for women aged 55+  is already over one-third.  That, if I've understood the figures correctly, is of all women aged 55+, i.e. including centenarians and beyond. 2.  Nearly one third (32.8%) of F aged 65-69 will be in work by 2024.  So much for conventional ways of giving us the labour force figures, stopping at 65. 3.   Nearly one quarter  (22.4%) of…
Read More

Adam Smith’s dinner: man-made?

Two PP-relevant books to report on. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner has a chirpy title  and a distinctive style.  Katrina Marçal is a Swedish journalist who lays about her with relish.  Her main target is homo economicus, beginning with the eponymous Scottish original.  The answer to the title's question is 'his mother', and Marçal's treatment of AS is characteristic of her general approach:  vigorous, often amusing, landing some good heavy punches, but not exactly even-handed.  Old Adam gets labelled as an advocate of every=man-for-himself, with not much nuance about it, which is a tad simplistic. It's an enjoyable and stimulating book, and many economists deserve the mauling they get.  When it…
Read More

A really strong Select Committee report

The Select Committee on Women and Equalities has just published a hard-hitting and very well argued report on the Gender Pay Gap.  A particular virtue is that it gives due attention to age, showing how the gender pay gap (GPG) increases over the life course.  This leads it to a number of really interesting reflections and recommendations on how to improve the position of older women.  The opening para gives a good flavour of the report's forthright style: "The UK’s gender pay gap of 19.2% represents a significant loss to productivity. Women are better educated and better qualified than ever before, yet their skills are not being fully utilised. Women over 40 are…
Read More

Careers and pay: findings from CIPD and Bank of England

The CIPD has just published its 2016 Employee Outlook.  This reports the views of over 2000 men and women on what is going well, and less well, with their careers.    A number of findings are very relevant to the Paula Principle. The very first table shows that 35% of women report themselves as overqualified for the job they are in, compared with 27% of men.  This looks like fairly direct evidence in favour of the PP.  It could be that women are disposed to pay more attention to their level of qualification and so are inherently more likely to notice any discrepancy between this and the job they are…
Read More

OECD says it: rebalance the system in favour of FE

My former colleagues at OECD have just produced an excellent report which should disturb, and which deserves really wide discussion - especially as I agree wholeheartedly with one of their major, and radical, recommendations. Building Skills for All: A Review of England looks at the problem of low skills.  A familiar issue, you may see - haven't we heard it all before.  Well,  try this: "Around one in five young English university graduates can manage to read the instructions on a bottle of aspirin, and understand a petrol gauge, but will struggle to undertake more challenging literacy and numeracy tasks." This is based on PIAAC evidence - an international survey based on…
Read More

An update on the PP

New Year's Day, and the chance to take stock on the Paula Principle.  I finished the book a year ago but still haven't managed to find a publisher.  I'll have in any case to update it (once I finish what I'm currently doing, a report for Unesco on the state of play on adult learning across the world), partly because some of the statistics need it but also because some of the debate on gender issues has moved on.  I still don't claim to be a gender specialist, but writing the book has meant that my eye is caught by gender items in the media, and this has prompted some…
Read More

The divergence continues

Two separate items from this week which exactly confirm the divergence that is at the heart of the Paula Principle. First the 'End of Cycle' report from UCAS shows women moving even further ahead.   (By the way, what does "UCAS' stand for?  Universities Commission on Admissions and Statistics?  I couldn't find it on their site.)    The entry rate for 18 year old women is 9.2 percentage points higher than for men, making them 35 per cent (proportionally) more likely to enter than men. These differences, both proportional and in percentage points, are the highest recorded. Here's the chart: Another very significant point is that this effect is even…
Read More

Mustang

We went on Saturday to the Turkish film Mustang , which tracks the passage from childhood of five girls.  The girls live with their uncle and grandmother (the parents have disappeared, perhaps dead) in quite a rural area, 1000 km from Istanbul.  In the first phase of the film they are carefree and vivacious, larking around with boys at the end of school term and chattering non-stop with each other. Gradually the tenor of the film changes, as the older people assert traditional cultural mores.  Two of the girls are married off to boys they only meet on the day of the betrothal.  The others resist in various ways, but the house…
Read More

Graduates and non-graduates: RF & HEPI

Two reports have come out in the last few days which complement each other well. The first is from the Resolution Foundation, and focuses on the much-neglected group of people who have some qualifications but are not graduates.  This is the RF exactly fulfilling its remit of shedding light on what is happening to the middle segments of our society - squeezed or not.   Given the number of people who hold vocational qualifications, and the number of times we hear about the UK's lack of intermediate skills, it's absurd that we pay so little attention to them. The report produces quite a neat typology of non-graduates:  from 'ladder climbers'…
Read More

Grandparenting and the club sandwich

An interesting piece in yesterday's Financial Times on grandparents (in the main, grandmothers) who find themselves an essential part of their children's (mainly daughters) childcare arrangements.  This is, often, at the expense of their own career, which may have just been taking off again. The lead story (for those of you who aren't behind the FT's paywall) is about an accountant, Tracey Conway, who had moved up from 2 days a week to 5 days - and has now gone down again to help look after her grandson, as her daughter pursues her career at the bank.  She finds much to be happy about it, especially her strong link with the…
Read More

Why any skills assessment can’t ignore older women

Older women are habitually treated as marginal figures in the labour force .   I've just come across some figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that really drive home why this should no longer be the case. Here are the key points: 1.  The participation rate for women aged 55+  is already over one-third.  That, if I've understood the figures correctly, is of all women aged 55+, i.e. including centenarians and beyond. 2.  Nearly one third (32.8%) of F aged 65-69 will be in work by 2024.  So much for conventional ways of giving us the labour force figures, stopping at 65. 3.   Nearly one quarter  (22.4%) of…
Read More

Adam Smith’s dinner: man-made?

Two PP-relevant books to report on. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner has a chirpy title  and a distinctive style.  Katrina Marçal is a Swedish journalist who lays about her with relish.  Her main target is homo economicus, beginning with the eponymous Scottish original.  The answer to the title's question is 'his mother', and Marçal's treatment of AS is characteristic of her general approach:  vigorous, often amusing, landing some good heavy punches, but not exactly even-handed.  Old Adam gets labelled as an advocate of every=man-for-himself, with not much nuance about it, which is a tad simplistic. It's an enjoyable and stimulating book, and many economists deserve the mauling they get.  When it…
Read More

A really strong Select Committee report

The Select Committee on Women and Equalities has just published a hard-hitting and very well argued report on the Gender Pay Gap.  A particular virtue is that it gives due attention to age, showing how the gender pay gap (GPG) increases over the life course.  This leads it to a number of really interesting reflections and recommendations on how to improve the position of older women.  The opening para gives a good flavour of the report's forthright style: "The UK’s gender pay gap of 19.2% represents a significant loss to productivity. Women are better educated and better qualified than ever before, yet their skills are not being fully utilised. Women over 40 are…
Read More

Careers and pay: findings from CIPD and Bank of England

The CIPD has just published its 2016 Employee Outlook.  This reports the views of over 2000 men and women on what is going well, and less well, with their careers.    A number of findings are very relevant to the Paula Principle. The very first table shows that 35% of women report themselves as overqualified for the job they are in, compared with 27% of men.  This looks like fairly direct evidence in favour of the PP.  It could be that women are disposed to pay more attention to their level of qualification and so are inherently more likely to notice any discrepancy between this and the job they are…
Read More

OECD says it: rebalance the system in favour of FE

My former colleagues at OECD have just produced an excellent report which should disturb, and which deserves really wide discussion - especially as I agree wholeheartedly with one of their major, and radical, recommendations. Building Skills for All: A Review of England looks at the problem of low skills.  A familiar issue, you may see - haven't we heard it all before.  Well,  try this: "Around one in five young English university graduates can manage to read the instructions on a bottle of aspirin, and understand a petrol gauge, but will struggle to undertake more challenging literacy and numeracy tasks." This is based on PIAAC evidence - an international survey based on…
Read More

An update on the PP

New Year's Day, and the chance to take stock on the Paula Principle.  I finished the book a year ago but still haven't managed to find a publisher.  I'll have in any case to update it (once I finish what I'm currently doing, a report for Unesco on the state of play on adult learning across the world), partly because some of the statistics need it but also because some of the debate on gender issues has moved on.  I still don't claim to be a gender specialist, but writing the book has meant that my eye is caught by gender items in the media, and this has prompted some…
Read More

The divergence continues

Two separate items from this week which exactly confirm the divergence that is at the heart of the Paula Principle. First the 'End of Cycle' report from UCAS shows women moving even further ahead.   (By the way, what does "UCAS' stand for?  Universities Commission on Admissions and Statistics?  I couldn't find it on their site.)    The entry rate for 18 year old women is 9.2 percentage points higher than for men, making them 35 per cent (proportionally) more likely to enter than men. These differences, both proportional and in percentage points, are the highest recorded. Here's the chart: Another very significant point is that this effect is even…
Read More

Mustang

We went on Saturday to the Turkish film Mustang , which tracks the passage from childhood of five girls.  The girls live with their uncle and grandmother (the parents have disappeared, perhaps dead) in quite a rural area, 1000 km from Istanbul.  In the first phase of the film they are carefree and vivacious, larking around with boys at the end of school term and chattering non-stop with each other. Gradually the tenor of the film changes, as the older people assert traditional cultural mores.  Two of the girls are married off to boys they only meet on the day of the betrothal.  The others resist in various ways, but the house…
Read More

Graduates and non-graduates: RF & HEPI

Two reports have come out in the last few days which complement each other well. The first is from the Resolution Foundation, and focuses on the much-neglected group of people who have some qualifications but are not graduates.  This is the RF exactly fulfilling its remit of shedding light on what is happening to the middle segments of our society - squeezed or not.   Given the number of people who hold vocational qualifications, and the number of times we hear about the UK's lack of intermediate skills, it's absurd that we pay so little attention to them. The report produces quite a neat typology of non-graduates:  from 'ladder climbers'…
Read More

Grandparenting and the club sandwich

An interesting piece in yesterday's Financial Times on grandparents (in the main, grandmothers) who find themselves an essential part of their children's (mainly daughters) childcare arrangements.  This is, often, at the expense of their own career, which may have just been taking off again. The lead story (for those of you who aren't behind the FT's paywall) is about an accountant, Tracey Conway, who had moved up from 2 days a week to 5 days - and has now gone down again to help look after her grandson, as her daughter pursues her career at the bank.  She finds much to be happy about it, especially her strong link with the…
Read More

Why any skills assessment can’t ignore older women

Older women are habitually treated as marginal figures in the labour force .   I've just come across some figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that really drive home why this should no longer be the case. Here are the key points: 1.  The participation rate for women aged 55+  is already over one-third.  That, if I've understood the figures correctly, is of all women aged 55+, i.e. including centenarians and beyond. 2.  Nearly one third (32.8%) of F aged 65-69 will be in work by 2024.  So much for conventional ways of giving us the labour force figures, stopping at 65. 3.   Nearly one quarter  (22.4%) of…
Read More

Adam Smith’s dinner: man-made?

Two PP-relevant books to report on. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner has a chirpy title  and a distinctive style.  Katrina Marçal is a Swedish journalist who lays about her with relish.  Her main target is homo economicus, beginning with the eponymous Scottish original.  The answer to the title's question is 'his mother', and Marçal's treatment of AS is characteristic of her general approach:  vigorous, often amusing, landing some good heavy punches, but not exactly even-handed.  Old Adam gets labelled as an advocate of every=man-for-himself, with not much nuance about it, which is a tad simplistic. It's an enjoyable and stimulating book, and many economists deserve the mauling they get.  When it…
Read More

A really strong Select Committee report

The Select Committee on Women and Equalities has just published a hard-hitting and very well argued report on the Gender Pay Gap.  A particular virtue is that it gives due attention to age, showing how the gender pay gap (GPG) increases over the life course.  This leads it to a number of really interesting reflections and recommendations on how to improve the position of older women.  The opening para gives a good flavour of the report's forthright style: "The UK’s gender pay gap of 19.2% represents a significant loss to productivity. Women are better educated and better qualified than ever before, yet their skills are not being fully utilised. Women over 40 are…
Read More

Careers and pay: findings from CIPD and Bank of England

The CIPD has just published its 2016 Employee Outlook.  This reports the views of over 2000 men and women on what is going well, and less well, with their careers.    A number of findings are very relevant to the Paula Principle. The very first table shows that 35% of women report themselves as overqualified for the job they are in, compared with 27% of men.  This looks like fairly direct evidence in favour of the PP.  It could be that women are disposed to pay more attention to their level of qualification and so are inherently more likely to notice any discrepancy between this and the job they are…
Read More

OECD says it: rebalance the system in favour of FE

My former colleagues at OECD have just produced an excellent report which should disturb, and which deserves really wide discussion - especially as I agree wholeheartedly with one of their major, and radical, recommendations. Building Skills for All: A Review of England looks at the problem of low skills.  A familiar issue, you may see - haven't we heard it all before.  Well,  try this: "Around one in five young English university graduates can manage to read the instructions on a bottle of aspirin, and understand a petrol gauge, but will struggle to undertake more challenging literacy and numeracy tasks." This is based on PIAAC evidence - an international survey based on…
Read More

An update on the PP

New Year's Day, and the chance to take stock on the Paula Principle.  I finished the book a year ago but still haven't managed to find a publisher.  I'll have in any case to update it (once I finish what I'm currently doing, a report for Unesco on the state of play on adult learning across the world), partly because some of the statistics need it but also because some of the debate on gender issues has moved on.  I still don't claim to be a gender specialist, but writing the book has meant that my eye is caught by gender items in the media, and this has prompted some…
Read More

The divergence continues

Two separate items from this week which exactly confirm the divergence that is at the heart of the Paula Principle. First the 'End of Cycle' report from UCAS shows women moving even further ahead.   (By the way, what does "UCAS' stand for?  Universities Commission on Admissions and Statistics?  I couldn't find it on their site.)    The entry rate for 18 year old women is 9.2 percentage points higher than for men, making them 35 per cent (proportionally) more likely to enter than men. These differences, both proportional and in percentage points, are the highest recorded. Here's the chart: Another very significant point is that this effect is even…
Read More

Mustang

We went on Saturday to the Turkish film Mustang , which tracks the passage from childhood of five girls.  The girls live with their uncle and grandmother (the parents have disappeared, perhaps dead) in quite a rural area, 1000 km from Istanbul.  In the first phase of the film they are carefree and vivacious, larking around with boys at the end of school term and chattering non-stop with each other. Gradually the tenor of the film changes, as the older people assert traditional cultural mores.  Two of the girls are married off to boys they only meet on the day of the betrothal.  The others resist in various ways, but the house…
Read More

Graduates and non-graduates: RF & HEPI

Two reports have come out in the last few days which complement each other well. The first is from the Resolution Foundation, and focuses on the much-neglected group of people who have some qualifications but are not graduates.  This is the RF exactly fulfilling its remit of shedding light on what is happening to the middle segments of our society - squeezed or not.   Given the number of people who hold vocational qualifications, and the number of times we hear about the UK's lack of intermediate skills, it's absurd that we pay so little attention to them. The report produces quite a neat typology of non-graduates:  from 'ladder climbers'…
Read More

Grandparenting and the club sandwich

An interesting piece in yesterday's Financial Times on grandparents (in the main, grandmothers) who find themselves an essential part of their children's (mainly daughters) childcare arrangements.  This is, often, at the expense of their own career, which may have just been taking off again. The lead story (for those of you who aren't behind the FT's paywall) is about an accountant, Tracey Conway, who had moved up from 2 days a week to 5 days - and has now gone down again to help look after her grandson, as her daughter pursues her career at the bank.  She finds much to be happy about it, especially her strong link with the…
Read More

Why any skills assessment can’t ignore older women

Older women are habitually treated as marginal figures in the labour force .   I've just come across some figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that really drive home why this should no longer be the case. Here are the key points: 1.  The participation rate for women aged 55+  is already over one-third.  That, if I've understood the figures correctly, is of all women aged 55+, i.e. including centenarians and beyond. 2.  Nearly one third (32.8%) of F aged 65-69 will be in work by 2024.  So much for conventional ways of giving us the labour force figures, stopping at 65. 3.   Nearly one quarter  (22.4%) of…
Read More

Adam Smith’s dinner: man-made?

Two PP-relevant books to report on. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner has a chirpy title  and a distinctive style.  Katrina Marçal is a Swedish journalist who lays about her with relish.  Her main target is homo economicus, beginning with the eponymous Scottish original.  The answer to the title's question is 'his mother', and Marçal's treatment of AS is characteristic of her general approach:  vigorous, often amusing, landing some good heavy punches, but not exactly even-handed.  Old Adam gets labelled as an advocate of every=man-for-himself, with not much nuance about it, which is a tad simplistic. It's an enjoyable and stimulating book, and many economists deserve the mauling they get.  When it…
Read More

A really strong Select Committee report

The Select Committee on Women and Equalities has just published a hard-hitting and very well argued report on the Gender Pay Gap.  A particular virtue is that it gives due attention to age, showing how the gender pay gap (GPG) increases over the life course.  This leads it to a number of really interesting reflections and recommendations on how to improve the position of older women.  The opening para gives a good flavour of the report's forthright style: "The UK’s gender pay gap of 19.2% represents a significant loss to productivity. Women are better educated and better qualified than ever before, yet their skills are not being fully utilised. Women over 40 are…
Read More

Careers and pay: findings from CIPD and Bank of England

The CIPD has just published its 2016 Employee Outlook.  This reports the views of over 2000 men and women on what is going well, and less well, with their careers.    A number of findings are very relevant to the Paula Principle. The very first table shows that 35% of women report themselves as overqualified for the job they are in, compared with 27% of men.  This looks like fairly direct evidence in favour of the PP.  It could be that women are disposed to pay more attention to their level of qualification and so are inherently more likely to notice any discrepancy between this and the job they are…
Read More

OECD says it: rebalance the system in favour of FE

My former colleagues at OECD have just produced an excellent report which should disturb, and which deserves really wide discussion - especially as I agree wholeheartedly with one of their major, and radical, recommendations. Building Skills for All: A Review of England looks at the problem of low skills.  A familiar issue, you may see - haven't we heard it all before.  Well,  try this: "Around one in five young English university graduates can manage to read the instructions on a bottle of aspirin, and understand a petrol gauge, but will struggle to undertake more challenging literacy and numeracy tasks." This is based on PIAAC evidence - an international survey based on…
Read More

An update on the PP

New Year's Day, and the chance to take stock on the Paula Principle.  I finished the book a year ago but still haven't managed to find a publisher.  I'll have in any case to update it (once I finish what I'm currently doing, a report for Unesco on the state of play on adult learning across the world), partly because some of the statistics need it but also because some of the debate on gender issues has moved on.  I still don't claim to be a gender specialist, but writing the book has meant that my eye is caught by gender items in the media, and this has prompted some…
Read More

The divergence continues

Two separate items from this week which exactly confirm the divergence that is at the heart of the Paula Principle. First the 'End of Cycle' report from UCAS shows women moving even further ahead.   (By the way, what does "UCAS' stand for?  Universities Commission on Admissions and Statistics?  I couldn't find it on their site.)    The entry rate for 18 year old women is 9.2 percentage points higher than for men, making them 35 per cent (proportionally) more likely to enter than men. These differences, both proportional and in percentage points, are the highest recorded. Here's the chart: Another very significant point is that this effect is even…
Read More

Mustang

We went on Saturday to the Turkish film Mustang , which tracks the passage from childhood of five girls.  The girls live with their uncle and grandmother (the parents have disappeared, perhaps dead) in quite a rural area, 1000 km from Istanbul.  In the first phase of the film they are carefree and vivacious, larking around with boys at the end of school term and chattering non-stop with each other. Gradually the tenor of the film changes, as the older people assert traditional cultural mores.  Two of the girls are married off to boys they only meet on the day of the betrothal.  The others resist in various ways, but the house…
Read More

Graduates and non-graduates: RF & HEPI

Two reports have come out in the last few days which complement each other well. The first is from the Resolution Foundation, and focuses on the much-neglected group of people who have some qualifications but are not graduates.  This is the RF exactly fulfilling its remit of shedding light on what is happening to the middle segments of our society - squeezed or not.   Given the number of people who hold vocational qualifications, and the number of times we hear about the UK's lack of intermediate skills, it's absurd that we pay so little attention to them. The report produces quite a neat typology of non-graduates:  from 'ladder climbers'…
Read More

Grandparenting and the club sandwich

An interesting piece in yesterday's Financial Times on grandparents (in the main, grandmothers) who find themselves an essential part of their children's (mainly daughters) childcare arrangements.  This is, often, at the expense of their own career, which may have just been taking off again. The lead story (for those of you who aren't behind the FT's paywall) is about an accountant, Tracey Conway, who had moved up from 2 days a week to 5 days - and has now gone down again to help look after her grandson, as her daughter pursues her career at the bank.  She finds much to be happy about it, especially her strong link with the…
Read More

Why any skills assessment can’t ignore older women

Older women are habitually treated as marginal figures in the labour force .   I've just come across some figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that really drive home why this should no longer be the case. Here are the key points: 1.  The participation rate for women aged 55+  is already over one-third.  That, if I've understood the figures correctly, is of all women aged 55+, i.e. including centenarians and beyond. 2.  Nearly one third (32.8%) of F aged 65-69 will be in work by 2024.  So much for conventional ways of giving us the labour force figures, stopping at 65. 3.   Nearly one quarter  (22.4%) of…
Read More

Adam Smith’s dinner: man-made?

Two PP-relevant books to report on. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner has a chirpy title  and a distinctive style.  Katrina Marçal is a Swedish journalist who lays about her with relish.  Her main target is homo economicus, beginning with the eponymous Scottish original.  The answer to the title's question is 'his mother', and Marçal's treatment of AS is characteristic of her general approach:  vigorous, often amusing, landing some good heavy punches, but not exactly even-handed.  Old Adam gets labelled as an advocate of every=man-for-himself, with not much nuance about it, which is a tad simplistic. It's an enjoyable and stimulating book, and many economists deserve the mauling they get.  When it…
Read More

A really strong Select Committee report

The Select Committee on Women and Equalities has just published a hard-hitting and very well argued report on the Gender Pay Gap.  A particular virtue is that it gives due attention to age, showing how the gender pay gap (GPG) increases over the life course.  This leads it to a number of really interesting reflections and recommendations on how to improve the position of older women.  The opening para gives a good flavour of the report's forthright style: "The UK’s gender pay gap of 19.2% represents a significant loss to productivity. Women are better educated and better qualified than ever before, yet their skills are not being fully utilised. Women over 40 are…
Read More

Careers and pay: findings from CIPD and Bank of England

The CIPD has just published its 2016 Employee Outlook.  This reports the views of over 2000 men and women on what is going well, and less well, with their careers.    A number of findings are very relevant to the Paula Principle. The very first table shows that 35% of women report themselves as overqualified for the job they are in, compared with 27% of men.  This looks like fairly direct evidence in favour of the PP.  It could be that women are disposed to pay more attention to their level of qualification and so are inherently more likely to notice any discrepancy between this and the job they are…
Read More

OECD says it: rebalance the system in favour of FE

My former colleagues at OECD have just produced an excellent report which should disturb, and which deserves really wide discussion - especially as I agree wholeheartedly with one of their major, and radical, recommendations. Building Skills for All: A Review of England looks at the problem of low skills.  A familiar issue, you may see - haven't we heard it all before.  Well,  try this: "Around one in five young English university graduates can manage to read the instructions on a bottle of aspirin, and understand a petrol gauge, but will struggle to undertake more challenging literacy and numeracy tasks." This is based on PIAAC evidence - an international survey based on…
Read More

An update on the PP

New Year's Day, and the chance to take stock on the Paula Principle.  I finished the book a year ago but still haven't managed to find a publisher.  I'll have in any case to update it (once I finish what I'm currently doing, a report for Unesco on the state of play on adult learning across the world), partly because some of the statistics need it but also because some of the debate on gender issues has moved on.  I still don't claim to be a gender specialist, but writing the book has meant that my eye is caught by gender items in the media, and this has prompted some…
Read More

The divergence continues

Two separate items from this week which exactly confirm the divergence that is at the heart of the Paula Principle. First the 'End of Cycle' report from UCAS shows women moving even further ahead.   (By the way, what does "UCAS' stand for?  Universities Commission on Admissions and Statistics?  I couldn't find it on their site.)    The entry rate for 18 year old women is 9.2 percentage points higher than for men, making them 35 per cent (proportionally) more likely to enter than men. These differences, both proportional and in percentage points, are the highest recorded. Here's the chart: Another very significant point is that this effect is even…
Read More

Mustang

We went on Saturday to the Turkish film Mustang , which tracks the passage from childhood of five girls.  The girls live with their uncle and grandmother (the parents have disappeared, perhaps dead) in quite a rural area, 1000 km from Istanbul.  In the first phase of the film they are carefree and vivacious, larking around with boys at the end of school term and chattering non-stop with each other. Gradually the tenor of the film changes, as the older people assert traditional cultural mores.  Two of the girls are married off to boys they only meet on the day of the betrothal.  The others resist in various ways, but the house…
Read More

Graduates and non-graduates: RF & HEPI

Two reports have come out in the last few days which complement each other well. The first is from the Resolution Foundation, and focuses on the much-neglected group of people who have some qualifications but are not graduates.  This is the RF exactly fulfilling its remit of shedding light on what is happening to the middle segments of our society - squeezed or not.   Given the number of people who hold vocational qualifications, and the number of times we hear about the UK's lack of intermediate skills, it's absurd that we pay so little attention to them. The report produces quite a neat typology of non-graduates:  from 'ladder climbers'…
Read More

Grandparenting and the club sandwich

An interesting piece in yesterday's Financial Times on grandparents (in the main, grandmothers) who find themselves an essential part of their children's (mainly daughters) childcare arrangements.  This is, often, at the expense of their own career, which may have just been taking off again. The lead story (for those of you who aren't behind the FT's paywall) is about an accountant, Tracey Conway, who had moved up from 2 days a week to 5 days - and has now gone down again to help look after her grandson, as her daughter pursues her career at the bank.  She finds much to be happy about it, especially her strong link with the…
Read More

Why any skills assessment can’t ignore older women

Older women are habitually treated as marginal figures in the labour force .   I've just come across some figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that really drive home why this should no longer be the case. Here are the key points: 1.  The participation rate for women aged 55+  is already over one-third.  That, if I've understood the figures correctly, is of all women aged 55+, i.e. including centenarians and beyond. 2.  Nearly one third (32.8%) of F aged 65-69 will be in work by 2024.  So much for conventional ways of giving us the labour force figures, stopping at 65. 3.   Nearly one quarter  (22.4%) of…
Read More

Adam Smith’s dinner: man-made?

Two PP-relevant books to report on. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner has a chirpy title  and a distinctive style.  Katrina Marçal is a Swedish journalist who lays about her with relish.  Her main target is homo economicus, beginning with the eponymous Scottish original.  The answer to the title's question is 'his mother', and Marçal's treatment of AS is characteristic of her general approach:  vigorous, often amusing, landing some good heavy punches, but not exactly even-handed.  Old Adam gets labelled as an advocate of every=man-for-himself, with not much nuance about it, which is a tad simplistic. It's an enjoyable and stimulating book, and many economists deserve the mauling they get.  When it…
Read More

A really strong Select Committee report

The Select Committee on Women and Equalities has just published a hard-hitting and very well argued report on the Gender Pay Gap.  A particular virtue is that it gives due attention to age, showing how the gender pay gap (GPG) increases over the life course.  This leads it to a number of really interesting reflections and recommendations on how to improve the position of older women.  The opening para gives a good flavour of the report's forthright style: "The UK’s gender pay gap of 19.2% represents a significant loss to productivity. Women are better educated and better qualified than ever before, yet their skills are not being fully utilised. Women over 40 are…
Read More

Careers and pay: findings from CIPD and Bank of England

The CIPD has just published its 2016 Employee Outlook.  This reports the views of over 2000 men and women on what is going well, and less well, with their careers.    A number of findings are very relevant to the Paula Principle. The very first table shows that 35% of women report themselves as overqualified for the job they are in, compared with 27% of men.  This looks like fairly direct evidence in favour of the PP.  It could be that women are disposed to pay more attention to their level of qualification and so are inherently more likely to notice any discrepancy between this and the job they are…
Read More

OECD says it: rebalance the system in favour of FE

My former colleagues at OECD have just produced an excellent report which should disturb, and which deserves really wide discussion - especially as I agree wholeheartedly with one of their major, and radical, recommendations. Building Skills for All: A Review of England looks at the problem of low skills.  A familiar issue, you may see - haven't we heard it all before.  Well,  try this: "Around one in five young English university graduates can manage to read the instructions on a bottle of aspirin, and understand a petrol gauge, but will struggle to undertake more challenging literacy and numeracy tasks." This is based on PIAAC evidence - an international survey based on…
Read More

An update on the PP

New Year's Day, and the chance to take stock on the Paula Principle.  I finished the book a year ago but still haven't managed to find a publisher.  I'll have in any case to update it (once I finish what I'm currently doing, a report for Unesco on the state of play on adult learning across the world), partly because some of the statistics need it but also because some of the debate on gender issues has moved on.  I still don't claim to be a gender specialist, but writing the book has meant that my eye is caught by gender items in the media, and this has prompted some…
Read More

The divergence continues

Two separate items from this week which exactly confirm the divergence that is at the heart of the Paula Principle. First the 'End of Cycle' report from UCAS shows women moving even further ahead.   (By the way, what does "UCAS' stand for?  Universities Commission on Admissions and Statistics?  I couldn't find it on their site.)    The entry rate for 18 year old women is 9.2 percentage points higher than for men, making them 35 per cent (proportionally) more likely to enter than men. These differences, both proportional and in percentage points, are the highest recorded. Here's the chart: Another very significant point is that this effect is even…
Read More

Mustang

We went on Saturday to the Turkish film Mustang , which tracks the passage from childhood of five girls.  The girls live with their uncle and grandmother (the parents have disappeared, perhaps dead) in quite a rural area, 1000 km from Istanbul.  In the first phase of the film they are carefree and vivacious, larking around with boys at the end of school term and chattering non-stop with each other. Gradually the tenor of the film changes, as the older people assert traditional cultural mores.  Two of the girls are married off to boys they only meet on the day of the betrothal.  The others resist in various ways, but the house…
Read More

Graduates and non-graduates: RF & HEPI

Two reports have come out in the last few days which complement each other well. The first is from the Resolution Foundation, and focuses on the much-neglected group of people who have some qualifications but are not graduates.  This is the RF exactly fulfilling its remit of shedding light on what is happening to the middle segments of our society - squeezed or not.   Given the number of people who hold vocational qualifications, and the number of times we hear about the UK's lack of intermediate skills, it's absurd that we pay so little attention to them. The report produces quite a neat typology of non-graduates:  from 'ladder climbers'…
Read More

Grandparenting and the club sandwich

An interesting piece in yesterday's Financial Times on grandparents (in the main, grandmothers) who find themselves an essential part of their children's (mainly daughters) childcare arrangements.  This is, often, at the expense of their own career, which may have just been taking off again. The lead story (for those of you who aren't behind the FT's paywall) is about an accountant, Tracey Conway, who had moved up from 2 days a week to 5 days - and has now gone down again to help look after her grandson, as her daughter pursues her career at the bank.  She finds much to be happy about it, especially her strong link with the…
Read More

Why any skills assessment can’t ignore older women

Older women are habitually treated as marginal figures in the labour force .   I've just come across some figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that really drive home why this should no longer be the case. Here are the key points: 1.  The participation rate for women aged 55+  is already over one-third.  That, if I've understood the figures correctly, is of all women aged 55+, i.e. including centenarians and beyond. 2.  Nearly one third (32.8%) of F aged 65-69 will be in work by 2024.  So much for conventional ways of giving us the labour force figures, stopping at 65. 3.   Nearly one quarter  (22.4%) of…
Read More

Adam Smith’s dinner: man-made?

Two PP-relevant books to report on. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner has a chirpy title  and a distinctive style.  Katrina Marçal is a Swedish journalist who lays about her with relish.  Her main target is homo economicus, beginning with the eponymous Scottish original.  The answer to the title's question is 'his mother', and Marçal's treatment of AS is characteristic of her general approach:  vigorous, often amusing, landing some good heavy punches, but not exactly even-handed.  Old Adam gets labelled as an advocate of every=man-for-himself, with not much nuance about it, which is a tad simplistic. It's an enjoyable and stimulating book, and many economists deserve the mauling they get.  When it…
Read More

A really strong Select Committee report

The Select Committee on Women and Equalities has just published a hard-hitting and very well argued report on the Gender Pay Gap.  A particular virtue is that it gives due attention to age, showing how the gender pay gap (GPG) increases over the life course.  This leads it to a number of really interesting reflections and recommendations on how to improve the position of older women.  The opening para gives a good flavour of the report's forthright style: "The UK’s gender pay gap of 19.2% represents a significant loss to productivity. Women are better educated and better qualified than ever before, yet their skills are not being fully utilised. Women over 40 are…
Read More

Careers and pay: findings from CIPD and Bank of England

The CIPD has just published its 2016 Employee Outlook.  This reports the views of over 2000 men and women on what is going well, and less well, with their careers.    A number of findings are very relevant to the Paula Principle. The very first table shows that 35% of women report themselves as overqualified for the job they are in, compared with 27% of men.  This looks like fairly direct evidence in favour of the PP.  It could be that women are disposed to pay more attention to their level of qualification and so are inherently more likely to notice any discrepancy between this and the job they are…
Read More

OECD says it: rebalance the system in favour of FE

My former colleagues at OECD have just produced an excellent report which should disturb, and which deserves really wide discussion - especially as I agree wholeheartedly with one of their major, and radical, recommendations. Building Skills for All: A Review of England looks at the problem of low skills.  A familiar issue, you may see - haven't we heard it all before.  Well,  try this: "Around one in five young English university graduates can manage to read the instructions on a bottle of aspirin, and understand a petrol gauge, but will struggle to undertake more challenging literacy and numeracy tasks." This is based on PIAAC evidence - an international survey based on…
Read More

An update on the PP

New Year's Day, and the chance to take stock on the Paula Principle.  I finished the book a year ago but still haven't managed to find a publisher.  I'll have in any case to update it (once I finish what I'm currently doing, a report for Unesco on the state of play on adult learning across the world), partly because some of the statistics need it but also because some of the debate on gender issues has moved on.  I still don't claim to be a gender specialist, but writing the book has meant that my eye is caught by gender items in the media, and this has prompted some…
Read More

The divergence continues

Two separate items from this week which exactly confirm the divergence that is at the heart of the Paula Principle. First the 'End of Cycle' report from UCAS shows women moving even further ahead.   (By the way, what does "UCAS' stand for?  Universities Commission on Admissions and Statistics?  I couldn't find it on their site.)    The entry rate for 18 year old women is 9.2 percentage points higher than for men, making them 35 per cent (proportionally) more likely to enter than men. These differences, both proportional and in percentage points, are the highest recorded. Here's the chart: Another very significant point is that this effect is even…
Read More

Mustang

We went on Saturday to the Turkish film Mustang , which tracks the passage from childhood of five girls.  The girls live with their uncle and grandmother (the parents have disappeared, perhaps dead) in quite a rural area, 1000 km from Istanbul.  In the first phase of the film they are carefree and vivacious, larking around with boys at the end of school term and chattering non-stop with each other. Gradually the tenor of the film changes, as the older people assert traditional cultural mores.  Two of the girls are married off to boys they only meet on the day of the betrothal.  The others resist in various ways, but the house…
Read More

Graduates and non-graduates: RF & HEPI

Two reports have come out in the last few days which complement each other well. The first is from the Resolution Foundation, and focuses on the much-neglected group of people who have some qualifications but are not graduates.  This is the RF exactly fulfilling its remit of shedding light on what is happening to the middle segments of our society - squeezed or not.   Given the number of people who hold vocational qualifications, and the number of times we hear about the UK's lack of intermediate skills, it's absurd that we pay so little attention to them. The report produces quite a neat typology of non-graduates:  from 'ladder climbers'…
Read More

Grandparenting and the club sandwich

An interesting piece in yesterday's Financial Times on grandparents (in the main, grandmothers) who find themselves an essential part of their children's (mainly daughters) childcare arrangements.  This is, often, at the expense of their own career, which may have just been taking off again. The lead story (for those of you who aren't behind the FT's paywall) is about an accountant, Tracey Conway, who had moved up from 2 days a week to 5 days - and has now gone down again to help look after her grandson, as her daughter pursues her career at the bank.  She finds much to be happy about it, especially her strong link with the…
Read More

Why any skills assessment can’t ignore older women

Older women are habitually treated as marginal figures in the labour force .   I've just come across some figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that really drive home why this should no longer be the case. Here are the key points: 1.  The participation rate for women aged 55+  is already over one-third.  That, if I've understood the figures correctly, is of all women aged 55+, i.e. including centenarians and beyond. 2.  Nearly one third (32.8%) of F aged 65-69 will be in work by 2024.  So much for conventional ways of giving us the labour force figures, stopping at 65. 3.   Nearly one quarter  (22.4%) of…
Read More

Adam Smith’s dinner: man-made?

Two PP-relevant books to report on. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner has a chirpy title  and a distinctive style.  Katrina Marçal is a Swedish journalist who lays about her with relish.  Her main target is homo economicus, beginning with the eponymous Scottish original.  The answer to the title's question is 'his mother', and Marçal's treatment of AS is characteristic of her general approach:  vigorous, often amusing, landing some good heavy punches, but not exactly even-handed.  Old Adam gets labelled as an advocate of every=man-for-himself, with not much nuance about it, which is a tad simplistic. It's an enjoyable and stimulating book, and many economists deserve the mauling they get.  When it…
Read More

A really strong Select Committee report

The Select Committee on Women and Equalities has just published a hard-hitting and very well argued report on the Gender Pay Gap.  A particular virtue is that it gives due attention to age, showing how the gender pay gap (GPG) increases over the life course.  This leads it to a number of really interesting reflections and recommendations on how to improve the position of older women.  The opening para gives a good flavour of the report's forthright style: "The UK’s gender pay gap of 19.2% represents a significant loss to productivity. Women are better educated and better qualified than ever before, yet their skills are not being fully utilised. Women over 40 are…
Read More

Careers and pay: findings from CIPD and Bank of England

The CIPD has just published its 2016 Employee Outlook.  This reports the views of over 2000 men and women on what is going well, and less well, with their careers.    A number of findings are very relevant to the Paula Principle. The very first table shows that 35% of women report themselves as overqualified for the job they are in, compared with 27% of men.  This looks like fairly direct evidence in favour of the PP.  It could be that women are disposed to pay more attention to their level of qualification and so are inherently more likely to notice any discrepancy between this and the job they are…
Read More

OECD says it: rebalance the system in favour of FE

My former colleagues at OECD have just produced an excellent report which should disturb, and which deserves really wide discussion - especially as I agree wholeheartedly with one of their major, and radical, recommendations. Building Skills for All: A Review of England looks at the problem of low skills.  A familiar issue, you may see - haven't we heard it all before.  Well,  try this: "Around one in five young English university graduates can manage to read the instructions on a bottle of aspirin, and understand a petrol gauge, but will struggle to undertake more challenging literacy and numeracy tasks." This is based on PIAAC evidence - an international survey based on…
Read More

An update on the PP

New Year's Day, and the chance to take stock on the Paula Principle.  I finished the book a year ago but still haven't managed to find a publisher.  I'll have in any case to update it (once I finish what I'm currently doing, a report for Unesco on the state of play on adult learning across the world), partly because some of the statistics need it but also because some of the debate on gender issues has moved on.  I still don't claim to be a gender specialist, but writing the book has meant that my eye is caught by gender items in the media, and this has prompted some…
Read More

The divergence continues

Two separate items from this week which exactly confirm the divergence that is at the heart of the Paula Principle. First the 'End of Cycle' report from UCAS shows women moving even further ahead.   (By the way, what does "UCAS' stand for?  Universities Commission on Admissions and Statistics?  I couldn't find it on their site.)    The entry rate for 18 year old women is 9.2 percentage points higher than for men, making them 35 per cent (proportionally) more likely to enter than men. These differences, both proportional and in percentage points, are the highest recorded. Here's the chart: Another very significant point is that this effect is even…
Read More