Polarization and gender in the labor market.

Summary Since the beginning of the 20th century, the structure of European labour markets has changed in two main ways: first, more and more women have been participating in the labour market, even during the crisis, and the female participation rates between European countries, which were once far apart, have dramatically converged. Second, the labor market appears increasingly polarized. The term "polarization" refers to the disappearance of intermediate jobs in favor of either low-skilled or very high-skilled jobs. In this chapter we show that gender and labor market polarization are intertwined in Europe more than elsewhere, because growing jobs, in response to polarization, are much more often occupied by women. In contrast, men are in the majority in declining intermediate jobs. [First paragraph].