Question: Identify and explain three emerging trends in HR.
Historic Rise of College-Educated Women
in Labor Force Changes Workplace
Companies are restructuring their compensation and
benefits packages to attract these qualified women
Butchireddygari, Likhitha. Wall Street Journal (Online)
New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]20 Aug 2019.
This year is shaping up to be the first year that women make up the majority of the college-
educated labor force, a milestone that is already altering benefits packages offered by companies
and one that could influence family sizes in the future.
Women make up only 46.6% of the overall labor force, but they first reached 45% of the college-
educated labor force at the turn of the century. Since 2013, the female share of college-educated
workers has been around the 49% mark, with 2019 being
the year that women cross into a very slight majority.
Nicole Smith, chief economist at Georgetown University
Center on Education and the Workforce, said this
development overall is a positive one.
"It is the culmination of a trend that started maybe over 40
years ago," Ms. Smith said. "It's going to give women a lot
more earning potential. It's going to give them more
control over their finances, their own destiny."
According to the Census Bureau, women-led households
made up a little more than 26% of all households in 1980.
By 2018, that number grew to 30.5%, although broader
social changes contribute to this trend as well.
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy
Institute, said that women also look to further their
education just to get the same returns as men who achieve
lower levels of education. In other words, the wage gap at different education levels might be
pushing the female desire to earn advanced degrees.
The trend is likely to continue to rise. Since the 1980s,
women have made up the majority of those seeking bachelor's
degrees. By 1999, women received 57% of bachelor's
degrees, and it has been that way more or less for almost two
decades.
While 57% might appear to be a magic number for women
with college degrees, it's unclear whether the college-
educated female workers will ever get to that point and how
long it will take for it to do so. Ariane Hegewisch, program
director of employment and earnings at the Institute for
Women's Policy Research, said several factors—including
future demand for female-dominated professions, impact of
automation on female-dominated professions and the child
and elder care policy landscape—will shape the female share
of the college-educated labor force.
The rise of these female workers is changing the way
companies structure compensation and benefits packages to
attract qualified women. According to human resources consulting firm Mercer's 2015 National
Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, 6% of employers with 20,000 or more employees
covered egg freezing. In 2018, that number nearly tripled to 17%. Smaller companies have seen
smaller but steady growth in coverage of fertility services in recent years.
"With greater numbers, HR departments are going to have to pay
more attention to their female-educated workers," said Richard
Fry, senior researcher at the Pew Research Center. "For example,
there's evidence that female workers maybe more value flexible-
work arrangements. They may value more highly generous
parental-leave policies."
Paid parental leave has also seen growth. The percent of
companies offering coverage increased from 24% to 40%
between 2015 and 2018, according to Mercer's Survey on
Absence and Disability Management.
Mr. Fry also noted that since a college degree is required for
promotions in many professions, this milestone signals an
improving ability for women to move up the corporate ladder.
McKinsey's annual Women in the Workplace Survey shows
gains—albeit small—in the share of women at almost all levels
in recent years.
Still, the majors women choose in college, and their subsequent occupations, remain heavily
skewed, acting as a significant caveat for women's earning potential, Ms. Smith said. She noted
that a disproportionate number of women still pursue professions like teaching or nursing. While
those professions will continue to be in demand in the future, their salaries aren't as high as some
male-dominated professions.
That "puts women at a significant disadvantage not only in
their first job, but the cumulative impact over a lifetime
can be millions of dollars for a young woman," she said.
Ms. Smith also pointed to a potential ramification on the
fertility rate, which is the number of children a woman
would have over her lifetime. Around the world, as female
college-attainment rises, typically the fertility rate goes
down as educated women delay starting families.
In the U.S., the total fertility rate has been below the
replacement level of 2.1 since 1971 and hit a record-low of
1.7 last year. Low fertility levels in advanced nations can
lower overall labor force growth and increase spending
due to the cost of taking care of an aging population.