Women in the Labour Markets of the London Region: A Model of Dependence and Constraint

Abstract

This paper uses a simultaneous equations model of labour and housing market relationships in the London Metropolitan region in order to illuminate some of the specific characteristics of female labour markets in an explicitly spatial context. In addition to restricted female commuting fields, two significant sets of spatial constraint were identified: firstly, the residential location of married women tended to depend on access to male, not female, employment opportunities; and secondly, limited access to owner occupation tended to restrict the residential mobility of non-married women. Nevertheless, responsiveness to local demand conditions of married women's participation rates on the one hand, and non-married women's migration on the other, rendered local female unemployment comparatively less sensitive to employment change.