How Far Did Working Opportunities and Working Conditions Improve, 1939-79? Flashcards
Blue Collar Workers- Wartime
Minister of Labour, Ernest Bevin issued ‘Essential Work Order’- March 1941
Prevented skilled workers enlisting + gave gov power to reorganise labour force
Aim to improve working conditions to boost productivity
Mass unemployment gone, working conditions improved, wage increases given
Blue Collar Workers- New Industries
Decline of traditional industries, but new opportunities in car manufacturing + electrical goods
Car industry employed over 500,000 in 1950s+60s
Blue Collar Workers- Living Conditions
High standards of living in 1950s- consumer boom + manufacturing flourished
Gradual increase in wages + working conditions- average pay for factory workers, £8.30 weekly, 1950, £16 weekly, 1960, £30 weekly, 1970
Prices rose by 63% between 1950-70, wages rose by 88%, overtime- 130% increase in average wages
Blue Collar Workers- Unemployment
Unemployment rising rapidly- industrial unemployment 1 million by 1972
Heath + Wilson accepted emphasis on full employment unrealistic
Pre-war ideas of ‘jobs for life’ and ‘job security’ faded
Blue Collar Workers- Decline of Traditional Industries
Felt in the north, Midlands, Wales and Scotland
Midlands- mainly car industry, downturn had knock on effect on tyres, plastic, steel, and glass
Short term contracts common, w/c accustomed to intermittent employment
Blue Collar Workers- Analysis
Opportunities increased in WW2- employment high + working conditions improved
Opportunities increased post-war- new industries, high standard of living, consumer boom
Until late 1960s, increase in wages + working conditions
70s- rising unemployment + loss of job security
White Collar Workers- Keynesian Policy
Keynesian economic policy placed emphasis on full employment through job creation schemes + construction projects
Expansion of government intervention + creation of welfare state created public sector jobs
White Collar Workers- Higher Wages
Higher wages meant more disposable income, increased demand for high-end goods and services, eg restaurants + hotels
Boom in service + leisure industries- employment boom
White Collar Workers- Industrial Relations
Blue collar jobs suffered from automation + mechanisation, didn’t exist within service industries
Management structures more advanced- better employee-employer relations + less likely to be unionised, so less likely to strike
White Collar Workers- Technology
New technologies, e.g television, radio, computing, broadened working opportunities + led to need for highly skilled workforce
Education + technology improved- greater aspirations + expectations
Young people less likely to follow parents, increasingly attending HE
White Collar Workers- Analysis
Welfare state + job creation schemes- more public sector jobs
Higher disposable income- increased demand for services
White collar jobs not affected by mechanisation
Improved management + fewer unions- stability
Media + computing- more opportunities + more HE- more white-collar
Women- Wartime
Construction + manufacturing- short-term boom
Full employment, many women in factories and ‘male’ jobs
1944- over 33% of population in war work, 8 million women
Canteens, medical centres, and free creches for working mothers
Women- Social Expectations
Women in workforce increased post-war, but barriers
Almost a third of women married as teenagers in 1960s, 9x women than men married before 19
Most women had first child in first 3 years of marriage, employers avoided employing mothers
Women- Educational Opportunities
Limited career options- until 1972, most w/c girls left school at 15, those who stayed took classes in secretarial skills, childcare, or hairdressing
Very few at University, fewer studied science, maths, medicine, or law- only 15% of doctors + lawyers women in 1960s
Women- Blue Collar vs White Collar
In 1960s+70s, blue collar industries most common employment- male dominated, low pay + hard working conditions
1980s- white collar industries grew- greater opportunities for women
Women- Legislation
Need to mirror EEC legislation to join in 1973- so passed 3 acts
Equal Pay Act (1970), Sex Discrimination Act (1975), and Employment Protection Act (1975)
Women- Legislation (Equal Pay Act)
1970- called for ‘equal pay for equal work’
Voluntary until 1975, 80% of employers claimed women + men did different work, loophole removed in 1983- replaced ‘equal work’ with ‘work of comparable value’
Women- Legislation (Sex Discrimination Act)
1975- illegal to treat one gender less favourably
Reality- expensive to take cases to court + women rarely won
Women- Legislation (Employment Protection Act)
1975- illegal to sack women for being pregnant, gave women right to maternity pay, and guaranteed mothers could return to jobs if they wished
Women- Reality (1979)
Acts signified growing acceptance of women in workplace
By 1979- still paid 60% of average man’s wage + still disproportionately present in low paid industries, more likely to work part-time or lower skilled jobs
Vastly under-represented in managerial positions, ‘glass-ceiling’ limited promotion
Women- Analysis
Women entered factories + typically male jobs in WW2- 8 mil
Social expectations + early marriage limited long-term career prospects
Most w/c girls left school at 15
Until 1980s- women in low-paid industries, limited opportunities
1979, women earned 60% men’s wages, in part-time, low-skill jobs
Women largely absent from management- ‘glass-ceiling’ limited promotion
