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The great recession and unpaid work time in the United States - Does poverty matter?

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  • Tamar Khitarishvili

    (Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, NY)

  • Kijong Kim

    (Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, NY)

Abstract

Using the 2003–12 American Time Use Survey, this paper establishes the presence of poverty-based differences in the changes in household production time of men and women during the Great Recession, contributing to our understanding of the heterogeneous impact of recession on the well-being of individuals. We find that poor men’s unpaid work time increased whereas nonpoor men’s unpaid work time decreased. Among women, only nonpoor women reduced their unpaid work time. We examine the forces behind these changes using the Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions. The decompositions reveal that poverty-based differences can be partially attributed to shifts in the structure of households whereas gender-based differences to shifts in own and spousal employment status. Nevertheless, sizable portions of the changes in unpaid work time remain unexplained by the shifting individual and household characteristics. The analysis of the unexplained portion of the changes supports the assertion that poverty matters to the adjustments in unpaid work time.

Suggested Citation

  • Tamar Khitarishvili & Kijong Kim, 2015. "The great recession and unpaid work time in the United States - Does poverty matter?," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 12(1), pages 19-48, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:leu:journl:2015:vol12:issue1:p19-48
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    Cited by:

    1. Sanna Nivakoski & Massimiliano Mascherini, 2021. "Gender Differences in the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employment, Unpaid Work and Well-Being in the EU," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 56(5), pages 254-260, September.
    2. Fernando Rios-Avila, 2015. "Losing Ground: Demographic Trends in US Labor Force Participation," Economics Policy Note Archive 15-7, Levy Economics Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Time use; household production; poverty; gender; great recession;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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