46 research outputs found
The Partner Pay Gap â Associations between Spousesâ Relative Earnings and Life Satisfaction among Couples in the UK. ESRI WP642, November 2019
Despite womenâs recent gains in education and employment, husbands still tend to out-earn their wives. This article examines the relationship between the partner pay gap, i.e. the difference in earned income between married, co-resident partners, and life satisfaction. Contrary to previous studies, we investigate the effects of recent changes in relative earnings within couples as well as labour market transitions. Using several waves of the UK Household Longitudinal Study, we reveal that men exhibit an increase in life satisfaction in response to a recent increase in their proportional earnings. For women their proportional earnings had no effect on life satisfaction in one model, and in a model that accounted for their recent employment changes, women exhibited decreased life satisfaction. We also find secondary-earning husbands report lower average life satisfaction than primary-earning men, while such differences were not found for women. The analysis offers compelling evidence of the role of gendered norms in the sustenance of the partner pay gap
Women between Part-Time and Full-Time Work: The Influence of Changing Hours of Work on Happiness and Life-Satisfaction
This paper asks whether part-time work makes women happy. Previous research on labour supply has assumed that as workers freely choose their optimal working hours on the basis of their innate preferences and the hourly wage rate, outcome reflects preference. This paper tests this assumption by measuring the impact of changes in working-hours on life satisfaction in two countries (the UK and Germany using the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey). We find decreases in working-hours bring about positive and significant improvement on well-being for women.Temporary Employment, Unemployment, Health
Evaluating State Programmes - âNatural Experimentsâ and Propensity Scores
Evaluations of programmes â for example, labour market interventions such as employment schemes and training courses â usually involve comparison of the performance of a treatment group (recipients of the programme) with a control group (non-recipients) as regards some response (gaining employment, for example). But the ideal of randomisation of individuals to groups is rarely possible in the social sciences and there may be substantial differences between groups in the distributions of individual characteristics that can affect response. Past practice in economics has been to try to use multiple regression models to adjust away the differences in observed characteristics, while also testing for sample selection bias. The Propensity Score approach, which is widely applied in epidemiology and related fields, focuses on the idea that âmatchingâ individuals in the groups should be compared. The appropriate matching measure is usually taken to be the prior probability of programme participation. This paper describes the key ideas of the Propensity Score method and illustrates its application by reanalysis of some Irish data on training courses.
Are fixed-term jobs bad for your health? : a comparison of West-Germany and Spain
"In this paper we analyse the health effects of fixed-term contract status for men and women in West-Germany and Spain using panel data. This paper asks whether changes in the employment relationship, as a result of the liberalisation of employment law, have altered the positive health effects associated with employment (Goldsmith et al. 1996; Jahoda 1982). Using information on switches between unemployment and employment by contract type we analyze whether transitions to different contracts have different health effects. We find that unemployed workers show positive health effects at job acquisition, and also find the positive effect to be smaller for workers who obtain a fixed-term job. We also establish surprising differences by gender and country, with women less likely to report positive health effects at job acquisition. For West-Germany, this was found to be a function of the dual-burden of paid and unpaid care within the home." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))befristeter Arbeitsvertrag - Auswirkungen, Gesundheitszustand - internationaler Vergleich, Arbeitnehmer, geschlechtsspezifische Faktoren, Arbeitslose, Sozioökonomisches Panel, EuropÀisches Haushaltspanel, psychische Faktoren, Unsicherheit, Westdeutschland, Spanien, Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Are fixed-term jobs bad for your health? A comparison of West-Germany and Spain
"In this paper we analyse the health effects of fixed-term contract status for men and women in West-Germany and Spain using panel data. This paper asks whether changes in the employment relationship, as a result of the liberalisation of employment law, have altered the positive health effects associated with employment (Goldsmith et al. 1996; Jahoda 1982). Using information on switches between unemployment and employment by contract type we analyze whether transitions to different contracts have different health effects. We find that unemployed workers show positive health effects at job acquisition, and also find the positive effect to be smaller for workers who obtain a fixed-term job. We also establish surprising differences by gender and country, with women less likely to report positive health effects at job acquisition. For West-Germany, this was found to be a function of the dual-burden of paid and unpaid care within the home." (author's abstract)Der Beitrag analysiert die gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen befristeter ArbeitsvertrĂ€ge fĂŒr MĂ€nner und Frauen in Westdeutschland und Spanien auf der Basis eines reprĂ€sentativen Datenpanels. Die Frage lautet, ob der Wandel der BeschĂ€ftigungsverhĂ€ltnisse als Folge einer Liberalisierung der Arbeitsgesetzgebung VerĂ€nderungen der positiven gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen, die von einem ArbeitsverhĂ€ltnis ausgehen (Goldsmith et al. 1996; Jahoda 1982) bewirken. Unter Nutzung von Informationen ĂŒber Wechsel zwischen Arbeitslosigkeit und BeschĂ€ftigungsverhĂ€ltnis je nach Art des Arbeitsvertrages wird analysiert, ob der Ăbergang in unterschiedliche VertragsverhĂ€ltnisse auch unterschiedliche gesundheitliche Auswirkungen hat. Es zeigt sich, dass fĂŒr arbeitslose Arbeiter die Arbeitsaufnahme positive gesundheitliche Auswirkungen hat, sich dieser Effekt aber bei Arbeitern, die einen befristeten Job annehmen, verringert. Hinzukommen ĂŒberraschende Unterschiede nach Geschlecht und Land, wobei Frauen in der Regel weniger ĂŒber positive gesundheitliche Auswirkungen einer Arbeitsaufnahme berichten. Dieses Ergebnis fand fĂŒr Westdeutschland seine ErklĂ€rung als Folge der Doppelbelastung von bezahlter Arbeit und unbezahlter Betreuungsarbeit im Haushalt. (IAB
Gesundheitliche Auswirkungen befristeter VertrÀge in Deutschland und Spanien
"Die negativen psychischen und physischen Auswirkungen der Arbeitslosigkeit sind in der Literatur hinreichend bekannt. Mit der seit lĂ€ngerem fortschreitenden Flexibilisierung des Arbeitsmarktes - beispielsweise durch die hier untersuchten befristeten VertrĂ€ge - ergeben sich jedoch neue Fragen. Sind beim Verlassen der Arbeitslosigkeit ĂŒber einen befristeten Vertrag die gleichen positiven gesundheitlichen Wirkungen zu beobachten wie typischerweise beim Wechsel in ein unbefristetes BeschĂ€ftigungsverhĂ€ltnis? Sind eventuell zu beobachtende Effekte dauerhaft und vor allem gibt es LĂ€nderspezifika? Unterschiedliche Auswirkungen könnten beispielsweise auf die HĂ€ufigkeit der Vergabe befristeter VertrĂ€ge zurĂŒckzufĂŒhren sein. Aus diesem Grunde vergleichen die Verfasserinnen Deutschland (wo die Anteile befristeter VertrĂ€ge nur relativ langsam steigen) mit Spanien (wo inzwischen rund ein Drittel aller BeschĂ€ftigten befristet beschĂ€ftigt ist). Die ZusammenhĂ€nge zwischen Vertragsart und Gesundheit in diesen beiden LĂ€ndern werden mit Hilfe des Sozioökonomischen Panels und des European Community Household Panels untersucht. Auf Basis eines Samples von Arbeitslosen wird hierbei analysiert, welche gesundheitlichen Effekte sich beim Verlassen der Arbeitslosigkeit in die verschiedenen Vertragsformen hinein ergeben. Die empirischen Ergebnisse zeigen folgendes: Verlassen Arbeitslose die Arbeitslosigkeit ĂŒber ein befristetes BeschĂ€ftigungsverhĂ€ltnis, so sind die positiven gesundheitlichen Effekte tendenziell kleiner sind als beim Abgang in einen unbefristeten Vertrag. DarĂŒber hinaus gibt es ĂŒberraschende Unterschiede zwischen den beiden LĂ€ndern und insbesondere den Geschlechtern: Frauen berichten in viel geringerem Umfang als MĂ€nner, dass die Arbeitsaufnahme ihren Gesundheitszustand verbessert hat. In Deutschland scheint die Ursache hierfĂŒr insbesondere die doppelte Belastung aus beruflichen und familiĂ€ren Verpflichtungen zu sein." (Autorenreferat
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Sacrificing their Careers for their Families? An Analysis of the Family Pay Penalty in Europe
This paper examines the extent of and the mechanisms behind the penalty to motherhood in six European countries. Each country provides different levels of support for maternal employment allowing us to determine institutional effects on labour market outcome. While mothers tend to earn less than non-mothers, the penalty to motherhood is considerably lower in countries with policy support for working mothers. The paper establishes the United Kingdom and West Germany to have the least policy support for working mothers as well as the largest penalties to motherhood
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Wivesâ part-time employment and marital stability in Great Britain, West Germany and the United States
Many hail wivesâ part-time employment as a workâfamily balance strategy, but theories offer competing predictions as to the effects of wivesâ employment on relationship stability. We use panel data to test these competing hypotheses among recent cohorts of first-married couples in Great Britain, West Germany 1 and the United States. We find effects of wivesâ employment on marital stability var y across the countries. In West Germany with its high-quality part-time employment, couples where the wife works part time are significantly more stable. In the more liberal British and US labour markets, neither wivesâ part- nor full-time employment significantly alters divorce risk. In the United States, however, mothers working part time have significantly lower divorce risk. West German and British husbandsâ unemployment proves more detrimental to marital stability than wivesâ employment. These results highlight the importance of the socioeconomic context in structuring the optimal employment participation of both partners
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A stalled revolution? What can we learn from womenâs drop-out to part-time jobs: A comparative analysis of Germany and the UK
This study examines how within-couple inequalities, that is power differences between men and women in a partnership, act as predictors of transitions from full-time to part-time employment applying Heckman corrected probit models in three different institutional and cultural contexts; Eastern Germany, Western Germany and the United Kingdom. The analyses show that when women are in a weaker position within their relationships they are more likely to drop-out of full-time work, but that this propensity varies by context. The authors also find an increased tendency over time for women to leave full-time for part-time employment in both Eastern and Western Germany, but observe no such trend in the UK. This is suggestive of ongoing incompatibilities in the institutional support for equality in dual-earning in Germany. The study uses longitudinal data covering the period 1992 until 2012 from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for Germany and from the British Household Panel (BHPS) and the âUnderstanding Societyâ data for the UK
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Partnered women's contribution to household labor income: Persistent inequalities among couples and their determinants
This paper explores earnings inequalities within dual-earner couples in East and West Germany drawing on household-level panel data from 1992 to 2016. It has three aims: (1) to analyze how the partner pay gap (the pay gap between partners within one household) has developed over time, given institutional change, and whether the extent of inequality and temporal development vary between East and West Germany; (2) to explore variation in the partner pay gap by male partners' absolute earnings; and (3) to investigate the micro-level determinants of earnings inequalities within couples and determine whether their relevance varies between East and West Germany as well as by male partnersâ absolute earnings. We find women earn substantially less than their partners, and our regression results find no indication of a declining partner pay gap. Besides substantial variation between East and West Germany, our results also reveal important group-specific variation in the extent of the partner pay gap as well as in its determinants