SET women in public and private sectors

Key 2009 ONS employment statistics

General statistics
•    Women make up 63.4% of the public sector work force (34.8% of all women in work in the UK are employed in this sector).
•    Women make up 39.5% of the private sector workforce (65.2% of all women in work in the UK are employed in this sector).

SET occupations
•    In all SET occupations, there are about 417,000 women in the private sector, making up 9.1% of the workforce. In comparison, 255,000 women in the public sector make up 34.8% of the workforce.

SET professions and associate professions including health
•    In SET professions and associate professions (including health), there are about 394,000 women, making up 15.7% of private sector workforce. In comparison, 251,000 women in the public sector make up 38.6% of the workforce.

SET professions and associate professions excluding health
•    In SET professions and associate professions (excluding health), there are about 289,000 women, making up 12.5% of private sector workforce. In comparison, 133,000 women in the public sector make up 31.5% of the workforce.

In 2009, 20.6 million people were employed in the private sector and 6.8 million were employed in the public sector in the UK. In other words, one in four people (25.0 per cent) was working in the public sector.  

When breaking down these figures by gender, we find that women are much more likely to be employed in the public sector. Figure 1 illustrates the gender distributions in each of the sector.

It is clear from the figure that whilst one in three women (34.8 per cent) was working in the public sector, the comparative figure for men was only one in six (16.8 per cent).  

Figure 2 shows gender breakdown of the workforce in 2009 in the UK within private and public sectors. Among 20.6 million people employed in the private sector 39.5 per cent were women and 60.5 per cent were men (women were only two out of five people employed in the private sector).  Turning to the public sector where 6.8 million people were employed, women were 63.4 per cent of the workforce and men 36.6 per cent; nearly two in three people working in the public sector were women. It again demonstrates that women are much more likely to be employed in the public than private sector.

Focusing on SET occupations in the private and public sectors, we find the similar pattern, with women being much more likely to be employed in the public sector. Figure 3 below shows that in the private sector women accounted for less than 10 per cent (or 417 thousand) of the all SET occupations (the first pair of bars).  The proportion of women goes up to 15.7 per cent (394 thousand) when only SET professions and associate professions including health are considered (the middle pair), but reduces slightly when only SET professions and associate professions are included (12.5 per cent or 289 thousand).  

Looking at the SET workforce in the public sector (Figure 4), we see much smaller numbers of women and men working in SET occupations, compared to the private sector.  However, it is immediately evident that proportions of women working in SET occupations within the sector are much higher than that of the private sector.  Within each of the SET occupational groups, the proportion of women exceeds 30 per cent; almost 40 per cent of workforce in SET professions and associate professions including health were women.  

Takao Maruyama and Anna Zalevski, 19 October 2010