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The Impact of World War II on the Demand for Female Workers in Manufacturing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2018

Dina Shatnawi  and
Price Fishback
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Abstract

Most studies of female workers in the 1940s focus on labor supply. We use the basics of supply and demand to measure the impact of WWII on the short- and medium-run demand for female workers in manufacturing. Demand rose for both salaried and production female workers during the war and then fell after the war. However, the post-war demands for both groups were substantially higher than before the war and higher than the levels that would have been reached had the demands followed a counterfactual growth path from the boom period in the 1920s.

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Type
Research Article
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The Journal of Economic History , Volume 78 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 539 - 574
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 The Economic History Association 

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