Here’s some recent data on the concept of women leaving (and returning to) the workforce. In the June edition of the Harvard Business Review, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Laura Sherbin and Diana Forster conducted a survey in 2009 using the same questionnaire they used in 2004 to examine the choices women make about their career paths. Interestingly, the results of the two surveys were quite similar, despite one of the worst recessions in recent memory.
In 2004, in a robust economy, 37% of highly qualified (top performing) women said they were “offramping” – voluntarily leaving their jobs for extended time periods. In 2009, the researchers found that, for the most part, off-ramps and on-ramps are here to stay; 31% said they had taken an off-ramp, and for those who did, they’re staying out of work longer – up to six months longer.
In the 2009 survey, the researchers found that, of the 31% of women who had off-ramped, 40% re-entered the workforce in full-time jobs, 23% came back for part-time roles, and 7% became self-employed. Perhaps most interesting, 30% had not returned at all to the workforce.
The authors hypothesize that the nonlinear path is not a luxury for boom times, but the way many women want to structure their careers, regardless of the economy. All of which left me wondering what these results might look like in another 5 years… of the choices, I’d bet on the self-employed number going higher and higher. What do you think?
Comments
Post has no comments.