Gender compositions of occupations and firms jointly shape switches from gender-atypical towards more gender-typical positions

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research on sex segregation in the labor market has repeatedly found that women and men are more likely to exit from occupations and firms in which they are the numerical minority and subsequently seek positions that are more represented by their gender. However, this research looked at mobility either across occupations or across firms, leaving unclear how the simultaneous exposure to gender compositions of occupations and firms shapes attrition from gender-atypical positions. We draw on linked employer-employee register data from the German social security insurance system (SIEED, 2012-2018) to highlight that some occupations can be found in firms with various gender compositions, indicating that gender compositions of occupations and firms do not always align and thereby may independently affect mobility. Conditional relative risk ratios for mobility between gender-typed occupations and firms reveal substantial switches from gender-atypical towards more gender-typical positions. This gendered labor market mobility is most pronounced for men across occupations. For women, gender compositions of firms drive not only mobility across firms but also switches out of gender-atypical occupations. Our findings underscore that gender compositions of occupations and firms jointly shape attrition from gender-atypical positions, which ultimately perpetuates labor market segregation.