GENDER AND EMPLOYMENT IN THE SERVICE SECTOR

Previous research (Steiger and Wardell 1992) assessed post-industrial society and labor process hypotheses using data representing the entir e United States paid workforce for 1950, 1970, and 1990. Results indic ate a better fit between changes in the skill composition of the workf orce as expected by labor process theory than by post-industrial socie ty theory. The present research focuses on the United states service s ector from 1950 to 1990 using detailed occupation by industry data. Th e research questions are whether the knowledge-based work of the servi ces industries encourages 1) an upgraded and 2) a less gender segregat ed distribution of workers over time. We find that inclusion of women from the latent labor reserve offsets, in some industries severely an otherwise upward shift in the proportion of service workers occupying higher skilled jobs. Moreover, where women have maintained a numerical majority, such as in professional services, their standing in the ski ll structure relative to men significantly deteriorated over the forty years.