IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ozl/journl/v14y2011i2p103-122.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lone and couple mothers in the Australian labour market: differences in employment transitions

Author

Listed:
  • Jennifer Baxter

    (Australian Institute of Family Studies)

  • Jennifer Renda

    (Australian Institute of Family Studies)

Abstract

While more mothers have been participating in the paid workforce over recent years, the employment rate of lone mothers remains lower than that of couple mothers. This paper provides new insights into these different rates of employment, by examining whether the lower employment rate of lone mothers is due to their being less likely to enter employment, more likely to exit employment once employed, or a combination of both. Monthly calendar data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey are used to identify and compare the rate at which lone and couple mothers move into and out of employment over a seven-year period. These data show that of those employed in a one-month period, lone mothers are more likely to transition out of employment than couple mothers; however, not-employed lone and couple mothers are no different in their likelihood of transition into employment. These analyses also show that educational attainment, work history and age of youngest child may contribute to the different employment rates of lone and couple mothers.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Baxter & Jennifer Renda, 2011. "Lone and couple mothers in the Australian labour market: differences in employment transitions," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 14(2), pages 103-122.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:14:y:2011:i:2:p:103-122
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ftprepec.drivehq.com/ozl/journl/downloads/AJLE142baxter.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marilyn McHugh & Jane Millar, 1996. "Sole Mothers in Australia: Supporting Mothers to Seek Work," Discussion Papers 0071, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre.
    2. Stephen Knights & Mark N. Harris & Joanne Loundes, 2002. "Dynamic Relationships in the Australian Labour Market: Heterogeneity and State Dependence," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 78(242), pages 284-298, September.
    3. Daniel Perkins & Rosanna Scuttella, 2008. "Improving Employment Retention and Advancement of Low-Paid Workers," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 11(1), pages 97-114.
    4. Jane Millar, 2008. "Making work pay, making tax credits work: An assessment with specific reference to lone‐parent employment," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(2), pages 21-38, April.
    5. Yin King Fok & Sung-Hee Jeon & Roger Wilkins, 2009. "Does Part-Time Employment Help or Hinder Lone Mothers Movements into Full-Time Employment?," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2009n25, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    6. Garry F. Barrett, 2002. "The Dynamics of Participation in the Sole Parent Pension," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 78(240), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Ann Harding & Quoc Ngu Vu & Richard Percival & Gillian Beer, 2005. "Welfare-to-Work Reforms: Impact on Sole Parents," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 12(3), pages 195-210.
    8. Peter Dawkins & Paul Gregg & Rosanna Scutella, 2002. "The Growth of Jobless Households in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 35(2), pages 133-154, June.
    9. Matthew Gray & Lixia Qu, 2006. "Changes in the Labour Force Status of Lone and Couple Australian Mothers, 1983-2005," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 9(4), pages 395-416, December.
    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. Meg Smith & Kathy Tannous, 2013. "Access to Full-Time Employment - Does Gender Matter?," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 16(2), pages 237-257.
    2. Deborah A. Cobb‐Clark & Lihini De Silva, 2021. "Participation, Unemployment, and Wages," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 54(4), pages 482-493, December.

    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. Lixin Cai, 2015. "The dynamics of low pay employment in Australia," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 36(7), pages 1095-1123, October.
    2. Mahmud Rice, James & Goodin, Robert E. & Parpo, Antti, 2006. "The Temporal Welfare State: A Crossnational Comparison," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(3), pages 195-228, December.
    3. Watson, Dorothy & Maître, Bertrand & Whelan, Christopher T., 2012. "Work and Poverty in Ireland: An Analysis of CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2004-2010," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT226.
    4. Sandra M. Leitner, 2022. "A skill‐specific dynamic labour supply and labour demand framework: A scenario analysis for the Western Balkan countries to 2030," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 36(4), pages 471-504, December.
    5. Vespignani, Joaquin L. & Yanotti, Maria Belen, 2020. "COVID-19 and Tasmanian Youth Unemployment: A Policy Recommendation," MPRA Paper 101158, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2020.
    6. Bruce Chapman & Matthew Gray, 2002. "Youth Unemployment: Aggregate Incidence and Consequences for Individuals," CEPR Discussion Papers 459, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    7. Hielke Buddelmeyer & Wang‐Sheng Lee & Mark Wooden, 2010. "Low‐Paid Employment and Unemployment Dynamics in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(272), pages 28-48, March.
    8. Boyd Hunter & Matthew Gray, 2012. "Indigenous Labour Supply following a Period of Strong Economic Growth," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 15(2), pages 141-159.
    9. Taehyun Ahn, 2010. "Employment Dynamics of Married Women and the Role of Part-Time Work: Evidence from Korea," Working Papers 1003, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy).
    10. Lundin, Andreas & Hemmingsson, Tomas, 2013. "Adolescent predictors of unemployment and disability pension across the life course – a longitudinal study of selection in 49 321 Swedish men," Working Paper Series 2013:25, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    11. Cain Polidano & Ha Vu, 2012. "Labour market impacts from disability onset," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2012-583, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    12. Nicolas Hérault & Guyonne Kalb & Rezida Zakirova, 2011. "Dynamics of Household Joblessness: Evidence from Australian Micro-Data 2001–2007," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2011n10, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    13. Peter Dawkins & Paul Gregg & Rosanna Scutella, 2002. "The Growth of Jobless Households in Australia," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 35(2), pages 133-154, June.
    14. Sarah Brown & Lisa Farrel & John Sessions, 2006. "Self-Employment Matching: An Analysis of Dual Earner Couples and Working Households," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 155-172, March.
    15. Lixin Cai, 2014. "State-Dependence and Stepping-Stone Effects of Low-Pay Employment in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 90(291), pages 486-506, December.
    16. Cuesta, Maite Blázquez & Budría, Santiago, 2017. "Unemployment persistence: How important are non-cognitive skills?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 29-37.
    17. Colin P. Green & Gareth D. Leeves, 2013. "Job Security, Financial Security and Worker Well-being: New Evidence on the Effects of Flexible Employment," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(2), pages 121-138, May.
    18. Nick Carroll, 2006. "Explaining Unemployment Duration in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 82(258), pages 298-314, September.
    19. Yi-Ping Tseng & Ha Vu & Roger Wilkins, 2006. "Dynamic Properties of Income Support Receipt in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2006n23, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour and Demographic Economics; Labour Economics Policy; Mobility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

    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:ozl:journl:v:14:y:2011:i:2:p:103-122. 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: Sandie Rawnsley (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/becurau.html .

    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.