Women will make up the majority of business, financial and legal professionals by 2012, according to a new report which also forecasts that more than two out of five managers throughout the whole workforce will be women by that time. Laura Slatteryreports.
The study published by Fás and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) says women will continue to acquire educational qualifications at a faster rate than men and will increase their share of employment in professional and managerial occupations faster than they will in other job areas.
One exception to the trend is that the proportion of women entering science and engineering professions is not expected to change.
The ESRI's forecasts, which are based on 860 job categories across 20 sectors, predict that the participation of women in the workforce will increase from 41.8 per cent in 2005 to more than 44 per cent by 2012.
About 44 per cent of managers will be female by this time.
But ESRI economist Dr Pete Lunn, one of the authors of the report, said the increasing proportion of women in managerial roles "doesn't necessarily mean that women will be smashing through the glass ceiling in the boardroom".
The increase in female labour that fuelled much of the employment boom is beginning to level off, as the Republic becomes more like other European countries.
National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) director Joanna McMinn welcomed the prediction that women would increasingly move into highly-skilled professional areas of the workforce but said it did not mean they would be adequately represented in the highest-paid jobs.
"There is already a good representation of women in managerial positions, but not in the top, decision-making roles."
Ms McMinn called on the Government and employers to encourage flexible working policies that both men and women could take up without losing their employment security. She said the report's predictions raised further questions about the gender pay gap, the availability of childcare and access to the highest-paid jobs.
The European Commission found last month that women earn an average of 15 per cent less than men in Europe despite being better educated, with the pay gap rising to 25 per cent among private-sector companies.
The commission plans to ask EU states to set objectives and deadlines for closing the gender pay gap, which the Government's National Women's Strategy says is 14 per cent in the Republic.
The growing presence of women in the workplace will coincide with the increasing professionalisation of the workforce, the Fás/ESRI report said. Jobs requiring third-level qualifications and high skill levels will increase faster than other types of jobs, with professionals, associate professionals and managers rising 20 per cent in number between 2005 and 2012.
The business, financial and legal professions are expected to expand the most, with numbers increasing by almost 50 per cent.
As more women enter the workforce, childcare workers will be in strong demand, as will other caring professionals. But employment levels in agricultural occupations will continue to fall, the report says.
The ESRI studied how the employment market might look in 2012 under two scenarios - one in which the global economy grows strongly and one in a less favourable economic climate. If there is low economic growth, the number of unskilled manual workers is forecast to decline by more than 4 per cent.