The future of women at work:part 1

The future of women at work: Transitions in the age of automation written by a team of authors from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) in 2019

Covid-19 is changing the way we work, and those changes will have a profound effect on those already hit hard by forces such as automation and virtual work. One group that will be facing new challenges are women. Covid-19 may speed up the adaption of technology that will displace millions from their jobs; many others will need to change the way they work.

According to the McKinsey Global Institute between 40 million to 160 million women may lose their jobs and will need to transition between occupations by 2030 hopefully into higher-skilled roles. If women are able to make these transitions, they could find more productive, better-paid work; if they don’t, they could be stuck in low-income jobs or be forced out of the labour market. Covid-19 is forcing employers and workers to adapt to a new reality in which workers both men and women need to have more technical skills, be more mobile. However, there needs to be concerted and creative new solutions by employers to enable women to move forward and be successful in this new normal.

McKinsey Global Institute in its report found that men and women tend to cluster in different occupations in both mature and emerging economies. For instance, in many countries, women account for more than 70 percent of workers in healthcare and social assistance, but less than 25 percent of machine operators and craft workers.

We can look to the past for ideas on how the future may unfold, in a scenario where technological disruptions unfold on the scale of the industrial revolution women and men could face job displacement and potential job gains of a broadly similar magnitude. The   McKinsey Global Institute studied ten countries (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States China, India, Mexico, and South Africa). Together, these ten economies account for about half of the world’s population and about 60 percent of global GDP. They found that an average of 20 percent of working women (107 million) could lose their jobs to technology versus 21 percent of men (163 million) by 2030. This will be countered by a rising demand for labour that could mean 20 percent more jobs for women, compared with 19 percent for men, assuming their shares of sectors and occupations hold. On the other hand, entirely, new occupations will be created, but so far approximately 60 percent of new occupations in the United States have been in male-dominated fields.

Too many Canadian women are at a disadvantage economically

A study done by Sun Life Financial shows that men and women have similar ideas on retirement but there are some differences.

Men are more likely to be satisfied with their retirement savings
We asked respondents how satisfied they are, and 33% said either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied.” Not a bad number, given the capital market volatility we’ve seen in recent years. Men appear in better shape, however, with 38% saying they were “very” or “somewhat” satisfied. Among women, the total is 29%. Almost half of women (47%) are “very dissatisfied” or “somewhat dissatisfied” with their savings. By comparison, just 36% of men said the same.

More than a third of women expect to be working part-time at 66
While men and women expect to work past 65 in roughly equal numbers, women are more likely to be planning on part-time work while men are more likely to keep working full-time. We asked respondents what they thought they’d be doing at 66; 34% of women said “working part-time” (versus 29% of men) and 31% of men said “working full-time” (versus 21% of women).

Men are much more likely to work past 65 by choice
Among those who expect to be working at 66, 42% of men said they’ll do so “because they want to” (versus 31% of women). Almost seven in 10 women expect to be working at 66 “because they need to.”

More men pay themselves first
It’s one of the principles of personal finance — put a sum of money aside in savings each month before paying your living expenses and making discretionary purchases. About three in 10 (29%) men said they do it every month, while 23% of women said the same. One third of men and women do it sometimes.  And 41% of women said they never do it (versus 34% of men).

Saving for retirement is a top priority among many more men
We asked respondents to name their top financial priority. Among men, 27% said it was “saving for retirement.” Just 19% of women said the same.  In both cases, the highest percentage said their No. 1 priority is to “pay down personal loan(s) or other debt(s).”

Men are more likely to be confident about their understanding of financial matters
Well over half (56%) of men answered yes to our question: “Do you feel you have the financial knowledge to be able to make a plan for your retirement?”  Among women, 48% said yes.

Yet men are less likely to worry about dying in debt
Surprisingly, 27% of Canadians said “no, it does not matter if I die in debt.” The gender split adds to our understanding: 35% of men aren’t worried about debt in the afterlife, while just 20% of women said the same.

That last item aside, it’s hard to look at these numbers and not feel it supports an argument that too many Canadian women are at a disadvantage economically (relative to men at least).

You can read this article and others in Sun Life Financial’s Understanding Unretirement