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Retirement and Changes in Housework: A Panel Study of Dual Earner Couples

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  • Thomas Leopold
  • Jan Skopek

Abstract

ObjectivesTo examine how transitions to retirement influenced the division of household labor in dual earner couples. We tested hypotheses about changes (a) between a couple’s preretirement and postretirement stage and (b) across the transitional phase during which both spouses retired.MethodWe estimated fixed-effects models for the effects of the husband’s and the wife’s retirement on changes in their hours and share of routine housework. The data came from 29 waves of the German Socio-economic Panel Study, comprising N = 31,040 annual observations of N = 3,288 dual earner couples aged 45 to 75 years.ResultsSpouses who retired first performed more housework, whereas their partners who continued working performed less. This occurred irrespective of the retirement sequence. Husbands who retired first doubled up on their share of housework, but never performed more than 40% of a couple’s total hours. None of the observed shifts were permanent. After both spouses had retired, couples reverted to their preretirement division of housework.DiscussionAlthough the findings on changes after retirement support the time availability hypothesis, gender construction theories still take precedence in explaining the division of household labor over the life course.

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  • Thomas Leopold & Jan Skopek, 2018. "Retirement and Changes in Housework: A Panel Study of Dual Earner Couples," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 73(4), pages 733-743.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:geronb:v:73:y:2018:i:4:p:733-743.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbw121
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marcantonio Caltabiano & Maria Gabriella Campolo & Antonino Pino, 2016. "Retirement and Intra-Household Labour Division of Italian Couples: A New Simultaneous Equation Approach," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 1217-1238, September.
    2. Blau, David M, 1998. "Labor Force Dynamics of Older Married Couples," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(3), pages 595-629, July.
    3. Gert G. Wagner & Joachim R. Frick & Jürgen Schupp, 2007. "The German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) – Scope, Evolution and Enhancements," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 127(1), pages 139-169.
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    1. Maria Gabriella Campolo & Antonino Di Pino, 2020. "Selectivity of Bargaining and the Effect of Retirement on Labour Division in Italian Couples," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 639-657, December.

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