IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v28y2021is2p535-553.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Couples' changing work patterns in the United Kingdom and the United States during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Yue Qian
  • Yang Hu

Abstract

Going beyond a focus on individual‐level employment outcomes, we investigate couples' changing work patterns in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Analyzing longitudinal panels of 2186 couples from the Understanding Society COVID‐19 Survey (UK) and 2718 couples from the Current Population Survey (US), we assess whether the pandemic has elevated the importance of human capital vis‐à‐vis traditional gender specialization in shaping couples' work patterns. The UK witnessed a notable increase in sole‐worker families with the better‐educated partner working, irrespective of gender. The impact of the pandemic was similar but weaker in the US. In both countries, couples at the bottom 25% of the prepandemic family income distribution experienced the greatest increase in neither partner working but the least growth in sole‐worker arrangements. Through a couple‐level analysis of changing employment patterns, this study highlights the importance of human capital in shaping couples' paid‐work organization during the pandemic, and it reveals the socioeconomic gradient in such organization.

Suggested Citation

  • Yue Qian & Yang Hu, 2021. "Couples' changing work patterns in the United Kingdom and the United States during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 535-553, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:s2:p:535-553
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12661
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12661
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12661?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cheng Li, 2013. "Little's test of missing completely at random," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 13(4), pages 795-809, December.
    2. Pietro Biroli & Steven Bosworth & Marina Della Giusta & Amalia Di Girolamo & Sylvia Jaworska & Jeremy Vollen, 2020. "Family Life in Lockdown," Working Papers 2020-051, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    3. Alexandra Killewald & Xiaolin Zhuo, 2019. "U.S. Mothers’ Long-Term Employment Patterns," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 285-320, February.
    4. Paula England & Andrew Levine & Emma Mishel, 2020. "Progress toward gender equality in the United States has slowed or stalled," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(13), pages 6990-6997, March.
    5. Checchi,Daniele, 2008. "The Economics of Education," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521066464, January.
    6. Jennifer Hook, 2015. "Incorporating ‘Class’ into Work-Family Arrangements: Insights from and for Three Worlds," LIS Working papers 639, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    7. Flood, Sarah M. & Pacas, José D., 2017. "Using the Annual Social and Economic Supplement as part of a Current Population Survey panel," Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, IOS Press, issue 3-4, pages 225-248.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elisa Brini & Stefani Scherer & Agnese Vitali, 2024. "Gender and Beyond: Employment Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(3), pages 1-23, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gema Zamarro & María J. Prados, 2021. "Gender differences in couples’ division of childcare, work and mental health during COVID-19," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 11-40, March.
    2. Claudia Andrade & Martie Gillen & José Alberto Molina & Melissa J. Wilmarth, 2022. "The Social and Economic Impact of Covid-19 on Family Functioning and Well-Being: Where do we go from here?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 205-212, June.
    3. Luciana Méndez, 2020. "University supply expansion and inequality of opportunity of access: the case of Uruguay," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 115-135, March.
    4. Jean‐Marie Viaene & Itzhak Zilcha, 2009. "Human Capital and Inequality Dynamics: The Role of Education Technology," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(304), pages 760-778, October.
    5. María Cervini-Plá, 2013. "Exploring the Sources of Earnings Transmission in Spain," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 204(1), pages 45-66, March.
    6. Lisa Grazzini, 2016. "The Importance of the Quality of Education: Some Determinants and its Effects on Earning Returns and Economic Growth," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(2), pages 43-82.
    7. Claudia Villosio, 2010. "What makes a good candidate? The preferences of HR Managers about new graduated job-seekers," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 69(3), pages 97-118, December.
    8. Marigen Narea & Ernesto Treviño & Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar & Catalina Miranda & Javiera Gutiérrez-Rioseco, 2022. "Understanding the Relationship between Preschool Teachers’ Well-Being, Interaction Quality and Students’ Well-Being," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(2), pages 533-551, April.
    9. Collischon, Matthias & Cygan-Rehm, Kamila & Riphahn, Regina T., 2024. "Subsidized Small Jobs and Maternal Labor Market Outcomes in the Long Run," IZA Discussion Papers 17473, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Maria De Paola & Vincenzo Scoppa, 2011. "The Effects Of Class Size On The Achievement Of College Students," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 79(6), pages 1061-1079, December.
    11. Farré, Lídia & Fawaz, Yarine & González, Libertad & Graves, Jennifer, 2020. "How the COVID-19 Lockdown Affected Gender Inequality in Paid and Unpaid Work in Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 13434, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Bernhard Eckwert & Itzhak Zilcha, 2012. "Private Investment in Higher Education: Comparing Alternative Funding Schemes," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 79(313), pages 76-96, January.
    13. Buhai, I. Sebastian & van der Leij, Marco J., 2023. "A Social Network Analysis of Occupational Segregation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    14. Carmen Aina, 2010. "The Determinants of Educational Attainment, University Drop-out and Time-to-Degree. A focus on Italy," Working Papers 132, SEMEQ Department - Faculty of Economics - University of Eastern Piedmont.
    15. Wang, Lei & Jiang, Dingjing & Pang, Jiao & Yang, Conghong & Zhang, Siqi & Rozelle, Scott, 2024. "Preschool quality and developmental outcomes of preschool children in rural China: Evidence from longitudinal and subgroup analyses," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    16. Mensah, Aziz & Toivanen, Susanna & Diewald, Martin & Ul Hassan, Mahmood & Nyberg, Anna, 2022. "Workplace gender harassment, illegitimate tasks, and poor mental health: Hypothesized associations in a Swedish cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    17. Luminita Claudia CORBU, 2016. "An Empirical Analysis Of Migration Phenomen Of Romanian Education," EcoForum, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration - Economy, Business Administration and Tourism Department., vol. 5(1), pages 1-50, January.
    18. Ben Yahmed, Sarra & Cappellari, Lorenzo & Checchi, Daniele & Corak, Miles & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Neidhöfer, Guido & Tertilt, Michele & Tommasi, Mariano, 2020. "COVID-19 and inequality," ZEW policy briefs 5/2020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. Kristinn Hermannsson & Patrizio Lecca & J. Kim Swales, 2017. "How much does a single graduation cohort from further education colleges contribute to an open regional economy?," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 429-451, October.
    20. Gabriele Ballarino & Michela Braga & Massimiliano Bratti & Daniele Checchi & Antonio Filippin & Carlo V. Fiorio & Marco Leonardi & Elena Meschi & Francesco Scervini, 2013. "GINI Country Report: Growing Inequalities and their Impacts in Italy," GINI Country Reports italy, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:s2:p:535-553. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.