The Three Barriers to Career Progression

Group 3: Skilled professional service industries. Employment in this group can be considered “careers.” These industries—education, human health services, and public administration—are chiefly driven by domestic demand. Economists might describe these industries as “income elastic” in the sense that they expand as national income increases. Workers have upper-secondary or tertiary education, and the occupations include managers, professionals, technicians, clerks, and service workers (ISCO codes 1–5). More than 70 percent of this employment is formal, and average weekly hours are close to 40. This group would also include workers in more advanced manufacturing industries such as computers and electronics, although Vietnam is the only country participating in this industry. Residential care and financial services are also in this group but become more important in upper-middle and high-income countries.

That none of our sample countries has made the jobs-to-careers transition (see chapter 2) suggests that they face barriers to the expansion of women’s opportunities. For that reason, our study focuses on both identifying and evaluating barriers not just to employment but also to careers.

As noted earlier, three barriers emerge: (a) low demand for professional service industries (due to low GDP); (b) low education levels; and (c) low female participation in industries that employ the most women globally. These barriers are not mutually exclusive and often represent barriers for both men and women. We analyze them with a focus on maximizing participation in Group 2 and enabling a move into Group 3, given that our sample countries are middle-income ones.

BARRIER ONE: LOW DEMAND FOR SERVICES DUE TO LOW GDP

The first barrier—low demand for activities originating in the services sector—is one that low- and lower-middle-income countries inevitably must overcome as part of their economic development. GDP per capita is simply not high enough to create enough demand for the service jobs that offer careers for both women and men.

Occupational Characteristics by Country Income Level In keeping with a shift in employment from agriculture to the industrial and service sectors as countries get richer, the share of total employment in agriculture falls and the share in services rises, although the rise for females in services is even more pronounced. In addition, the total demand for low-skill occupations in agricultural and elementary occupations (ISCO codes 6 and 9) falls from 44 percent in lower-middleincome countries to 25 percent in upper-middle-income countries, and the demand for HSOs (ISCO codes 1–3) rises from 13 percent to 25 percent, although the rise for females is again more pronounced (rising from 15 percent to 32 percent) (figure 3.2).