How Far Did Working Opportunities and Working Conditions Improve, 1939-79?

Question 1

Blue Collar Workers- Wartime

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Blue Collar Workers- New Industries

Answer 2

Decline of traditional industries, but new opportunities in car manufacturing + electrical goods
Car industry employed over 500,000 in 1950s+60s

Question 3

Blue Collar Workers- Living Conditions

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Blue Collar Workers- Unemployment

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Blue Collar Workers- Decline of Traditional Industries

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Blue Collar Workers- Analysis

Answer 6

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

Question 7

White Collar Workers- Keynesian Policy

Answer 7

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

Question 8

White Collar Workers- Higher Wages

Answer 8

Higher wages meant more disposable income, increased demand for high-end goods and services, eg restaurants + hotels
Boom in service + leisure industries- employment boom

Question 9

White Collar Workers- Industrial Relations

Answer 9

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

Question 10

White Collar Workers- Technology

Answer 10

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

Question 11

White Collar Workers- Analysis

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Women- Wartime

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Women- Social Expectations

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Women- Educational Opportunities

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Women- Blue Collar vs White Collar

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Women- Legislation

Answer 16

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)

Question 17

Women- Legislation (Equal Pay Act)

Answer 17

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’

Question 18

Women- Legislation (Sex Discrimination Act)

Answer 18

1975- illegal to treat one gender less favourably
Reality- expensive to take cases to court + women rarely won

Question 19

Women- Legislation (Employment Protection Act)

Answer 19

1975- illegal to sack women for being pregnant, gave women right to maternity pay, and guaranteed mothers could return to jobs if they wished

Question 20

Women- Reality (1979)

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Women- Analysis

Answer 21

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