The interaction of demand and supply and its effect on the female labour force in the United States

Abstract

Abstract In both 1900 and 1940 young women and unmarried women formed the most important component of the female labour force. By 1960, however, older women and married women had replaced them. An explanation for this shift is sought in divergent trends in the demand for female labour and in the supply of the kind of female workers typical of the 1900-40 period. Three series of estimates of the demand for female labour are compared to six series of estimates of the supply of different types of women. It was found that all three series of estimates of demand showed a rising demand for female workers in the 1900 to 1960 period. However, the number of young women (those aged 18-34) and of unmarried women, aged 18-64 was actually declining in the 1940 to 1960 period. As a consequence, the supply of such women was well below our estimates of demand in 1960. The maintenance and continued expansion of the female labour force in the 1940 to 1960 period rested, therefore, on the greater utilization of married women and women over the age of 35. As a consequence, the age and marital-status composition of the female labour force has undergone considerable changes in the 1940 to 1960 period.