The Implications of Work-Family Balance Among Dual-Earner Couples: The Case of Medical Practitioners in Nigeria

Purpose – The implications of the work-family balance (WFB) of dual-earner couples are well known, however, the extant literature on this topic has failed to adequately explore the context of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), specifically Nigeria. This article examines the implications of the WFB of dual-earner couples in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – This article employs a qualitative methodology in order to explore the effect of couples’ dual-earner status on their WFB in an African context by using Nigerian medical practitioners as the empirical focus. Findings – The findings reveal that the dual earner status provides some respite from financial hardship and improves family finances, which subsequently enhances WFB. However, the dual earner status also has negative impacts on WFB in terms of work performance, dysfunctionality, and associated societal problems. Originality/value – This paper provides insights into the WFB of dual-earner couples in the non-western context of SSA, highlighting the previously unexplored implications of dual-earner status in the context of SSA

Sharing housework between husbands and wives: how to improve marital satisfaction for working wives in Japan

AbstractThis paper examines whether and how the marital satisfaction of Japanese couples is related to the housework the spouse performs. For single-earner couples, both husbands and wives are more satisfied with the other spouse ifthe wifeperforms the greater share of the housework on weekdays. In dual-earner couples, both husbands and wives experience higher spousal satisfaction when theotherspouse performs more housework on weekdays. Japanese dual-earner couples are unable to spend more time on housework, because wives are already performing a significant share of housework on weekdays while husbands are working long hours.JEL Classification:J12, J22</jats:p

Employment Contract Matching: An Analysis of Dual Earner Couples and Working Households

We explore the significance of intra-couple and intra -household influences on three broad types of employment contracts: self-employment, performance related pay, and salaried employment. Individuals may pool income risk with their partners by holding a diversified portfolio of employment contracts, introducing intra-household risk pooling. Alternatively, employment contract matching may occur whereby individuals within couples or households are employed under similar contracts. Our empirical analysis, based on cross-section data drawn from the British Family Expenditure Surveys 1996 to 2000, provides evidence of employment contract matching both within dual earner couples and, to a lesser extent, in the context of working household members.Dual Earner Couples; Employment Contract Matching; Self-employment; Assortative Mating

Women As Economic Providers: Dual-Earner Families Thrive As Women\u27s Earings Rise

This brief examines married and single women’s contributions to family income using Current Population Survey data for 2000 and 2013. Women’s contributions to family income are essential for most families. This is obviously true for the growing number of single-mother families, but increasingly so for married couple families. While dual-earner families are doing relatively well, family income overall has been stagnant or decreasing among single-earner families, resulting in a widening income gap. Author Kristin Smith reports that of different family types, married couples in which the husband was the primary earner had the highest median family income in 2013 ($101,000), followed closely by married couples in which both spouses had similar earnings ($98,000). In contrast, single mothers with children had the lowest median family income ($30,000). In addition, from 2000 to 2013, the proportion of women in husband primary-earner families decreased from 22 percent to 16 percent. This decline is due in part to delayed marriage but also to shifts in women’s breadwinning patterns

Modelling the Employment and Wage Outcomes of Spouses: Is She Outearning Him?

This paper is focused on couple households where the wife is the main earner. The economic literature on this subject is particularly scant. According to our estimates, the wife was the main earner in one of every six couple households in France in 2002, including wife-sole-earner households. The proportion of wives outearning their husbands was 18% for dual-earners. About 24% of American women in dual-earner households earned more than their husband in 2004. Using a model of household labour supply behaviour, we show that households where the wife is the main earner may come about either because the husband has a weaker preference for work than his wife, due possibly to her high wage, or because he is hit by adverse circumstances, such as, for example, a decline in the demand for men with his particular qualifications. Positive assortative mating may also come into play. Our empirical model specifies spouse labour-market participation equations within each household, endogenizing wages and allowing for random effects and correlations in spouses’ unobservables. We conclude that the determinants of wife-sole-earner households are quite distinct from those for dual-earner households where she outearns him. The probability of observing the first seems to be more related to labour market difficulties of the husband, while the latter is not. Dual-earners where she outearns him are more likely to be found among higher educated couples, and especially, among couple where the wife’s education level is high.marriage, work behaviour, household economics

Valuing Lost Home Production for Dual-Earner Couples

Economists’ principal tool for studying household behavioral responses to changes in tax and other government policies, and the magnitude and determinants of private saving, is the life—cycle model. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to incorporate into that model one of the most conspicuous changes in the U.S. economy in the last 50 years, the rise in labor market participation for married women. The increased presence of married women in the labor force has obvious benefits: women now earn much more income than they did in the past. On the other hand, working women presumably spend less time doing housework and other types of home production, and the forgone value of time at home reduces the net benefit of their work in the market. Conventional accounts do not provide measurements of the costs of lost home production, but we attempt to use comparisons of household net worth at retirement to deduce valuations indirectly. This paper modifies a standard life—cycle model to include women’s labor supply decisions, estimates key parameters of the new specification, and attempts to assess the significance of rising female labor market participation for aggregate national saving in the U.S. Using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study, we find that the difference between measured labor market earnings for married women and earnings net of the value of lost home production seems moderately small – about 30 percent – and that the corresponding long—run effect on the overall rate of private saving is minor.

Modelling the employment and wage outcomes of spouses: is she outearning him?.

This paper is focused on couple households where the wife is the main earner. The economic literature on this subject is particularly scant. According to our estimates, the wife was the main earner in one of every six couple households in France in 2002, including wife-sole-earner households. The proportion of wives outearning their husbands was 18% for dual-earners. About 24% of American women in dual-earner households earned more than their husband in 2004. Using a model of household labour supply behaviour, we show that households where the wife is the main earner may come about either because the husband has a weaker preference for work than his wife, due possibly to her high wage, or because he is hit by adverse circumstances, such as, for example, a decline in the demand for men with his particular qualifications. Positive assortative mating may also come into play. Our empirical model specifies spouse labour-market participation equations within each household, endogenizing wages and allowing for random effects and correlations in spouses’ unobservables. We conclude that the determinants of wife-sole-earner households are quite distinct from those for dual-earner households where she outearns him. The probability of observing the first seems to be more related to labour market difficulties of the husband, while the latter is not. Dual-earners where she outearns him are more likely to be found among higher educated couples, and especially, among couple where the wife’s education level is high.Marriage;work behaviour;household economics;

Hours of Paid Work in Duel Earner Couples: The U.S. in Cross-National Perspective

In this paper we examine the hours of paid work of husbands and wives in ten industrialized countries, using data from the Luxembourg Income Study. We present results on the average hours of paid work put in jointly by couples, on the proportion working very long weekly hours, and on gender equality in working time within families. The United States ranks at or near the top on most indicators of working time for couples, because of 1) a high proportion of dual-earner couples; 2) long average work weeks, especially among women; and 3) a high proportion of individuals who work very long hours. In terms of gender equality, the U.S. ranks above average in paid working time among dual-earner couples with no children, but fares less well among working parents. Finally, we discuss policies and institutions that may help explain the distinctive U.S. results - namely the long hours and moderate levels of gender equality - including the regulation of maximum hours, the demand for part-time work, and the public provision of child care

Modelling the employment and wage outcomes of spouses: Is she outearning him?

This paper is focused on couple households where the wife is the main earner. The economic literature on this subject is particularly scant. According to our estimates, the wife was the main earner in one of every six couple households in France in 2002, including wife-sole-earner households. The proportion of wives outearning their husbands was 18% for dual-earners. About 24% of American women in dual-earner households earned more than their husband in 2004. Using a model of household labour supply behaviour, we show that households where the wife is the main earner may come about either because the husband has a weaker preference for work than his wife, due possibly to her high wage, or because he is hit by adverse circumstances, such as, for example, a decline in the demand for men with his particular qualifications. Positive assortative mating may also come into play. Our empirical model specifies spouse labour-market participation equations within each household, endogenizing wages and allowing for random effects and correlations in spouses’ unobservables. We conclude that the determinants of wife-sole-earner households are quite distinct from those for dual-earner households where she outearns him. The probability of observing the first seems to be more related to labour market difficulties of the husband, while the latter is not. Dual-earners where she outearns him are more likely to be found among higher educated couples, and especially, among couple where the wife’s education level is high.Marriage, work behaviour, household economics.

Modelling the employment and wage outcomes of spouses: is she outearning him?

This paper is focused on couple households where the wife is the main earner. The economic literature on this subject is particularly scant. According to our estimates, the wife was the main earner in one of every six couple households in France in 2002, including wife-sole-earner households. The proportion of wives outearning their husbands was 18% for dual-earners. About 24% of American women in dual-earner households earned more than their husband in 2004. Using a model of household labour supply behaviour, we show that households where the wife is the main earner may come about either because the husband has a weaker preference for work than his wife, due possibly to her high wage, or because he is hit by adverse circumstances, such as, for example, a decline in the demand for men with his particular qualifications. Positive assortative mating may also come into play. Our empirical model specifies spouse labour-market participation equations within each household, endogenizing wages and allowing for random effects and correlations in spouses' unobservables. We conclude that the determinants of wife-sole-earner households are quite distinct from those for dual-earner households where she outearns him. The probability of observing the first seems to be more related to labour market difficulties of the husband, while the latter is not. Dual-earners where she outearns him are more likely to be found among higher educated couples, and especially, among couple where the wife's education level is high