FLOWS WORKING PAPER SERIES NO. 7/2014 Théodora Allard, Monique Bigoteau, Pascal Caillaud, Béatrice Chaudet and Annie Dussuet Degree and structures of women s labor market integration: the case of Nantes, France FLOWS: Impact of local welfare systems on female labour force participation and social cohesion
FLOWS Working Paper Editor: Per H. Jensen E-mail: perh@dps.aau.dk www.flows-eu.eu Working papers may be ordered from: Inge Merete Ejsing-Duun Fibigerstræde 1 9220 Aalborg Ø E-mail: ime@epa.aau.dk Tlf: (+45) 99 40 82 18 Fax: (+45) 98 15 53 46 Aalborg 2014 ISSN 2246-4840 1
About the FLOWS project: The FLOWS project has been funded under the EU FP7 program, grant Agreement no: 266806. The project started January 1 2011 and ended April 30 2014. The FLOWS project analyses the causes and effects of women s labour market integration, which is an issue that represents a major challenge for the European Union and its member states, and is supposedly also a precondition for the sustainability of the European social model. The overall aim is to analyse (1) how local welfare systems support women s labour market participation, as well as (2) the extent to which (and under which conditions) female labour market integration has contributed to the strengthening social cohesion. The project focuses on how public and private welfare services such as care and lifelong learning intended to support women s labour market integration have been designed; on how women of different classes, qualifications, ethnicities, and geographical locations have grasped and made use of such policies, and on how the increase in women s labour market integration has affected structures of inequality and social cohesion. The study is based on in-depth analysis of eleven cities, i.e. one city in eleven different countries. The cities/countries are: Brno/Czech Republic, Aalborg/Denmark, Tartu/Estonia, Jyväskylä/Finland, Nantes/France, Hamburg/Germany, Székesfehérvar/Hungary, Dublin/Ireland, Bologna/Italy, Terrassa/Spain, and Leeds/UK. The FLOWS project is composed by 6 academic work packages: WP 1: Degree and structures of women's labour market integration WP 2: Local production systems WP 3: The local welfare system WP 4: Local policy formation/local political actors WP 5: Survey questionnaire WP 6: Women s decision making WP 7: Social structures: cohesion or cleavages and segregation This working paper series reports work conducted in the seven work packages. 2
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The selection of the city of Nantes The city of Nantes corresponds to the Flows Project criteria: it is not a too big town, with a population of 283 025 inhabitants in 2007 (census figures) if we consider the municipality but if we consider Nantes Urban Community (Nantes Metropole), it is 580 025 inhabitants. In this report, we are using City or Urban Community figures, when they are available, but when they don t, we use Regional 1 or National ones. However, demography is quite dynamic in this area; its population is in constant increase since 1982 (even since 1968 for Nantes Urban Community). There are many young people in Nantes municipality: 22,8% of women and 24,7 % of men are less than 20 years old. A lot of them are students: 47 000, from whom 34 000 are studying in Nantes University. Nantes has been an industrial city, with several big food processing and shipbuilding companies, but in recent years, it became more a services town. In the French team, two research laboratories (ESO and CENS) have experience of scientific work about the territory of Nantes and the Urban community, like the publication of a social atlas of the young people of urban community of Nantes (Bigoteau M., Garat I., Moreau G. 2009). Fig. 1. The city of Nantes, the department Loire-Atlantique and the Region Pays de la Loire. 1 Nantes is the capital of Pays de la Loire Region. 4
Fig 2. The city of Nantes (in Red) and the Urban Community (Nantes Metropole - 24 cities in hatched) in the department of Loire-Atlantique. Size and patterns of women s labour market integration and non-integration in the city Labour force participation patterns Female activity rate is constantly increasing since the 1968 census in Nantes city, as in the whole country: it passed from 46,9% in 1968 to 65,6% in 2007 in Nantes city, from 46% to 67,3% in France. On the contrary, for the same period, male activity rate decreased from 78,4% to 72,5 % in Nantes city, from 85,6% to 75,6 % in the whole country, but less continuous. This decrease is due to the shortening of the working life (longer studies and lowering of retirement age). Thus, the male and female rates approach, without however being similar: there remains a 7 points gap in Nantes city (8,3 in France). But for the younger (15-24 years), the gap is only 3, 3 points in Nantes city. The differences are more pronounced for higher age groups, particularly for the oldest (almost 8 points). It must be pointed that it is precisely when most of women have young children, between 25 to 39, they are most active: 87,19 %. Similar observations can be made at the national level. The employment crisis starting from the mid- 1970s and the sharp rise of unemployment did not affect this movement. So the constant increase of women participation in labour market shows other behavioural changes with respect to work. It can be considered as the result of a transformation of the relationship to activity for women. One part of explanation is probably the decline in fertility which also intervenes from the 1960s; but this explanation is not sufficient because they are precisely women in charge of family who changed their behavior. Unlike the stay-at-home mother model, which had a majority in 1950s and 1960s, the standard is today, for a woman in France and in Nantes 5
city, to be at the same time a mother and a worker. For younger generations, this new model is even more significant, but it is not available for all women in the same way. Some women are actives, but not in employment. However, maternity is still influent on women activity. When they have children, women are less active than men, in France, and probably in Nantes City. But local figures are not available on this point. So we are going to describe women s labour market integration at the national level. In France, when they have children, female workers can take a maternity leave 2, during witch they receive daily indemnities paid by Social Security. It includes a prenatal leave (before the supposed date of the childbirth) and a postnatal leave (after the childbirth). Its duration depends on the number of expected children and the number of dependent children. If the legal duration of the leave maternity is fixed by the Labour Code, the national collective agreements or branch agreements can lay down more favorable provisions. The duration of the leave maternity is 16 weeks of which, in principle, 6 weeks before the excepted date of the childbirth and 10 weeks of postnatal leave after the childbirth. If the mother has two children and excepts a third one, the duration of the leave maternity is 26 weeks of 8 weeks of prenatal leave and 18 weeks of postnatal leave. The duration of the leave also varies in the event of multiple pregnancies. Almost all working mothers use this maternity leave, because it is clearly seen as a right. A national survey Leaves about birth shows that in 2004, in France, only 4% of one or two children s mothers leave for less than 16 weeks, many of them add others forms of leaving (sickness or holidays) to complete this time ; when they have a third child, or more, a smaller part leave for the integral period (Pénet, 2006). When they are asked about it, a majority of women say they would prefer to leave for a longer period, but several also say they are afraid not to have the same job when they will come back (even if this is prohibited by Labour Code). So this maternity leave is more completely used by women who are neither in precarious jobs, nor in high qualified professions. Since 2002, there is also in France a paternity leave. It applies to the whole of the employees, self-employed, farm workers, civil servants and unemployed. Granted to the father whatever his marital status, it is eleven days consecutive (eighteen in the event of multiple birth) including Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays, to add to the three days granted and paid by the employer within the framework of the Labour Code. The paternity leave must begin in the four months which follows the birth or the adoption of the child. Almost 2/3 new fathers use it in 2004, and a lot of them add other forms of leaving to increase the duration (Bauer and Pénet, 2005). The younger use it more; so considering a father must be at home when there is a birth can be seen as a generation effect. It is not already seen as a right for all 2 During this time, they are considered as in employment. 6
people. But, like for mothers, fathers who have a precarious job, or, in the contrary, who occupy a high place in the hierarchy of a company use less this form of leaving. After maternity leave, in 2007, in France, most of the 2,1 millions mothers of under 3 years 3 children are at work : only 42 % don t work : 12 % (265 000 persons) because they are in full time 4 parental leave of education, 12 % because they are unemployed and 18% because they are out of labour market. 1/3 of these inactive women never had a job, it is 6 % of the whole population of mothers with children under 3 years (Crenner, 2011). Working or not after a birth depends firstly of the number and age of children at home. But it depends also largely of study level of women. Mothers who studied for long time work more than others after a birth: 75% work when they are higher than baccalaureate graduate; in the contrary, but only 36% of those who don t have baccalaureate. So, in France in 2007, 280 000 parents of children less than 3 years are in full time parental leave of education ; 94% are women 5. They are guaranteed to can come back in their job at the end of this period. This parental leave of education can be granted to any male or female employee at the time of the birth of his or her child or the adoption of a child of less than 16 years. It is necessary to justify one year of work in the company at the date of birth of the child (or at the date of arrival of an adopted child). The parental leave of education can begin at any time until the third birthday of the child or, in the case of an adoption, until the expiration of a period of three years after the arrival of the child at home. During the parental leave of education, the work contract is suspended. This leave is not paid, but parental leaving workers can receive a family allocation named Complement for Free Choice of Activity (CLCA). These mothers have specific characteristics: the mothers of young children who took a total parental leave have more children, on average, and are less qualified than those which continued to work. Their conditions of work were also more constraining and less compatible with the usual schedules of child care. The decision to suspend its occupation appears on the other hand not very related to the professional situation of the husband. The mothers in parental leave show socio-economic characteristics (diploma, socioprofessional category, etc) relatively similar to the mothers who stopped working without profiting from a parental leave. But contrary to these last, they have 3 In France the age of 3 is more significant, because from 3 years old, children are educated by Ecole Maternelle - Maternal School. 4 The parental leave of education can also be used part time. 5 Taking parental leave does not give rise to a centralized at the national level because it is managed at each employer: it is a right available to a worker. There is no administrative data to quantify the number of parents of young children on parental leave. It is possible to make estimates based on surveys about parents of young children. The Modes for Caring Young Children conducted by the DREES in October and November 2007 among households with at least one child under seven and a half years is a good source on this subject. It has enabled to gather information on the employment situation of parents and the benefits they receive for the care of their children. (Crenner, 2011) 7
standards of living a little more high. Moreover, they occupied before their leave of more stable employment but with the schedules more often atypical.» (Crenner, 2011). Sociodemographic characteristics of the mothers of children of less than three years (in %) Working In total parental leave Inactive women having already worked Others inactives* Total Together 58 12 12 18 Number of Children 1 2 3 and more 71 55 34 2 17 27 9 11 20 18 17 19 Number of children under 3 years 1 2 and more Diploma Level Under the baccalaureate Baccalaureate Superior to the baccalaureate 61 35 36 61 75 * Inactive mothers which never worked or unemployed Sources: Investigations Modes for caring young children, 2007, DREES 11 25 18 15 8 11 16 19 10 6 17 24 27 14 11 Employment patterns Employed population is 118 827 people in 2007 in Nantes city (employment rate 59,6%), and 249 509 in Nantes Urban community, that is 63,2% for total employment rate. For women employment rate is 56,4% in city, 60,1% in Urban Community 6, while for men, they are respectively 63% and 66,3%. As for activity rate, the difference between men and women is larger (6 to 8 points) in intermediate ages from 25 to 55, but younger women, from 15 to 25, are almost as soon employed than men, with only 3 points difference. For the oldest, from 55 to 64, the difference is thin in Urban Community: 38,94%, against 42,47%, bigger in Nantes City: 40,86 % against 47,42%. When women are employed, they have, more often than men a fixed term contract. Fixed term contracts (CDD) have grown significantly in France since the 1980s. They represent a more unstable form of employment, and constitute today the first way of entry in unemployment. In Region Pays de la Loire, "107 000 female employees are in this position in 2005, representing 6 These differences between Nantes city and Nantes Urban Community figures are probably due to differences in types of people living in city centre (poorer people) or in the periphery (middle class). 8
18% of all employed women, against 14% of employed men. They thus represent two thirds of employees with fixed term contracts "(INSEE, 2008). This form of contract concerns particularly young people. Young women are more employed than men in helped contracts, supporting professional insertion. These jobs have been developed by the different national Employment Policies since 1980s. Women predominate in the contracts offered by the non-profit sector (public services, association) whereas men are more numerous in the lucrative and profit sector. Unemployment patterns The significance of differences between activity and employment rates shows the difficulties of women in finding a job: female unemployment rate is always higher than male for 50 years in France. It has declined since the late 1990s, and the gap with male unemployment rate has also decreased but remains important, especially for young people. In Nantes City, female unemployment rate is 14% in 2007, while male one is 13,1%. Young people are more affected, and young women (20,3% for 15-25 years) more than young men (19,2%) but less in Nantes city than in France (female: 23,2%, male: 20,3%). In the Pays de la Loire Region as in France, women remain unemployed longer. Long-term unemployment, longer than one year, is higher for women than for men. In 2006, they account for 53,4% of the job-seekers registered in ANPE category 1 7 since more than one year, while their weight in all the applicants of this category amounted to 51,7%. A little more than one quarter of the women job-seekers in this category are thus are registered for over one year: it is 1.8 point higher than men. The proportion of long term job-seekers nevertheless declined significantly since 2001. It is moreover lower than the national average in 2006: 26,5% against 28,0%. The phenomenon of long-term unemployment concerns mainly the 50 year old or more applicants: it is the case for 45% of female job-seekers in this age group and 43% of male ones of the same age. Long-term unemployment is particularly alarming among the registered people of category 2 8, where nearly 9 on 10 registered are women: nearly half are looking for a job for a year or more.. These claimants are not necessarily listed in this category as long : a good number, were initially registered of category 1 in search of a permanent contract and full-time ; they were then directed by ANPE towards category 2 at the end of a few months, in order to increase their chances to find an employment (INSEE Pays de la Pays de la Loire Region, 2008). Young women are particularly affected, in spite of their higher education level and academic achievement than in previous female generations. They must reach the Baccalaureate + 2 7 Category 1: people without employment, immediately available, held to achieve positive acts of job search, in search of full-time employment for unlimited duration. 8 Category 2: people without employment, immediately available, held to achieve positive acts of job search, in search of part-time employment for unlimited duration. 9
level, such as BTS or DUT 9, to have an insertion rate equivalent to that of men. (INSEE - Pays de la Loire Region, 2008). But, like men, the least graduate are most affected by unemployment. The diploma thus appears, even more than for men, a protection against unemployment. One explanation of this higher unemployment rate is that job applications from women are concentrated in a few occupations, primarily employees positions in services or sale, and characterized by the low level of qualification required for exercise: only 17 trades gather half of female job applications, while half of job applications from men are distributed in 37 different trades. These trades are often precarious and corresponding vacant employements are relatively few. "For their part, men jobseekers prefer building trades, transport and logistics or mechanics, where jobs are more abundant, and where women are still underrepresented. Thus there are five occupations in tension among their 17 first: on-road driving, cooking, masonry, welding, mounting plate fixtures (INSEE Pays de la Loire Region, 2008). Job seekers also have the opportunity to attend training. Under certain conditions, they may receive a compensation in vocational training: the allocation of re-employment Training (AREF). Women represent 59% of job seekers in this situation in the Region. Full-time and part-time employment Part time employment is higher for women than for men: 31,6% women against 10,5% men in Nantes City. Compared to national level (female: 28,5 %; male: 6,5%) these two rates are higher and the gap between male and female part time rate is lower. In first, this higher level of total part time employment in Nantes can be explained by the high proportion of students in Nantes City, who soon occupy a little job in parallel of their studies. Young people (15 to 25 years) works more often in a part-time job than other age groups: 47,4 % women, 27,3% men. But all age groups work more often in a part time job in Nantes city than in France, except men between 55 and 65 years. But we can also consider that, in France, part time employment is not a traditional way of labour market integration for women. It was almost non-existent until the 1970s. It appears only in a crisis situation, during a time when companies seek to increase employment flexibility (Maruani, 2000). It progresses in the 1980s, then increases sharply in the early 1990s after the introduction, in 1992, of a reduction of social contributions of employers for the part-time employment in the private sector. Then it declined between 1998 and 2001, due to the implementation of the reduction of working time with the law reducing to 35h weekly duration of work. In addition, it affects very differently the various industries and professions. So we can consider that the development is due primarily to national public policies, more than to women wishes for part-time work. 9 Brevet de technicien supérieur (BTS - Advanced Vocational Diploma) and Diplôme universitaire de technologie (DUT - University Diploma of Technology) 10
Rate of part-time female employment in France (in %) 1975 16,4 1980 17,2 1985 21,8 1990 23,6 1995 28,9 1997 30,9 (Source : Maruani, 2000) It can be argued that the high level of part-time employment is primarily due to a strong supply of part-time jobs, in sectors where the organization of work requires the presence of employees at specified times, making it more difficult to establish full-time schedules. The less qualified women are thus often forced to accept, if nothing else, these conditions of employment. The most graduate women are less often part-time in the Region, 1/6 teacher women and a quarter of the technical or administrative. Presumably, although these women have both higher wages and are more intrinsic interest in their work, they tend to prefer other arrangements than part-time to support the care of their children, even when those are very young. For some of them, these part-time employments represent an important form of precariousness. Indeed, many of them are forced to accept this type of job which however does not bring to them sufficient incomes to live in an autonomous way, but which are current in the female sectors traditionally, like education, health and the social action or the personal and domestic services. They then often cumulate several employments. For example, in the Region Pays de la Loire, more than 50 000 employees in personal services work exclusively for individual employers. Over 95% of them are women and the precariousness of their jobs "is linked to the weakness of their part-time job and to the multiplicity of their employers. 4/5 of maternal assistants and half of the other employees in personal services working directly for individuals have at least two employers in the Region. Compared to the level of its population, the region of Pays de la Loire has a higher number of employees in personal services working exclusively for private individuals, remunerated for much of them through the Universal Employment Services Check (CESU), than the national average: 15 per 1 000 inhabitants against 13" (Seguin, 2009). In a first conclusion, we can consider that patterns of women s labour market integration and nonintegration are clearly linked to their family situation 10, but it is not completely determinate by these characteristics because the jobs available for women have gendered specificities. 10 Data about women s labour market integration when they have, or not, children, when they are, or not, married are not available at local level, but exist at national level. In the contrary, it is now, completely impossible to know how many people are involved in the care of elderly because it is not asked in national surveys. 11
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