Recently released research has shown that female employees are weathering the current recession better than male employees.

The survey, which looked at 45,809 different individuals, found that labour turnover amongst women has dropped to its lowest level for five years, and that women are less likely to lose their jobs as the recession forces companies to make staff cutbacks. For the first time in over a decade, the rate of female labour turnover is less than that of men.

The study was conducted by the Chartered Management Institute and CELRE. It puts the proportion of women leaving or changing their job at 4.3%, while the proportion of men is 4.8%. This is the lowest rate since 2005, when only 3.9% changed their job.

It would appear that the cause of this low turnaround rate may be due to female executives taking job transfers instead of being made redundant. This is most clearly evident amongst junior employees, where 8% of women have changed departments in the last year, compared to only 4.5% of men.

While labour turnover is low, the survey also shows that, despite the recession, some workers are still quitting their jobs. Aside from London, Scottish executives are most likely to quit, with 4.9% doing so in the past year, and executives from East Anglia, at 2.3%, are least likely to quit.

When asked why they thought staff had quit, 8% of employers believed that their working environment was to blame, while 47% claimed salaries were the cause and 46% felt that the lack of training they offered led to staff departures.

Technorati Tags: Gender Gap, Labour Turnover, Recession