How Long Is a Piece of Elastic? The Measurement of Female Activity Rates in British Censuses, 1951-1981

Heather Joshi and Susan Owen

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 1987, vol. 11, issue 1, 55-74

Abstract: The regular British Working Population data cover the employed plus registered unemployed. Conventional definitions include unregistered job search that is observed at the decennial Census of Population, but inferring comparable time series of female economic activity rates from these data is not straightforward since the recording method altered each time. The authors adjust the census information in the light of other contemporary sources to present a series of decennial female activity rates by age group, "less inconsistent" with the definition adopted by the EEC Labour Force Survey, likely to be the most regular source in future. The revised series makes the longer-run upward trend appear smoother than the crude data would suggest. Copyright 1987 by Oxford University Press.

Date: 1987
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:cambje:v:11:y:1987:i:1:p:55-74

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Cambridge Journal of Economics is currently edited by Jacqui Lagrue

More articles in Cambridge Journal of Economics from Cambridge Political Economy Society Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().