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Dual tracks: part-time work in life-cycle employment for British women

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  • Sara Connolly
  • Mary Gregory

Abstract

Almost half the women in work in the UK work part-time, but views conflict: does this support a woman`s career or is it a dead-end trap? Cohort data on labour market involvement to age 42 show highly varied pathways through full/part-time/non-employment. Econometric estimation confirms that individual characteristics matter, but labour market history is particularly powerful. Part-time work serves two different functions. A history of full-time work even including spells in part-time or non-employment, tends to lead back to full-time work, so supporting a career. Part-time work combined with non-employment is unlikely to lead to full-time work, and is a trap.
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  • Sara Connolly & Mary Gregory, 2010. "Dual tracks: part-time work in life-cycle employment for British women," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(3), pages 907-931, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jopoec:v:23:y:2010:i:3:p:907-931
    DOI: 10.1007/s00148-009-0249-4
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    Cited by:

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    3. David De Wachter & Karel Neels, 2011. "Educational differentials in fertility intentions and outcomes: family formation in Flanders in the early 1990s," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 9(1), pages 227-258.
    4. Fernández-Kranz, Daniel & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2011. "The part-time pay penalty in a segmented labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 591-606, October.
    5. Garnero, Andrea & Kampelmann, Stephan & Rycx, François, 2013. "Part-time Work, Wages and Productivity: Evidence from Belgian Matched Panel Data," IZA Discussion Papers 7789, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Helena Corrales Herrero & Beatriz Rodríguez Prado, 2011. "El empleo a tiempo parcial entre los jóvenes: Puente o trampa," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 6, in: Antonio Caparrós Ruiz (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 6, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 42, pages 677-692, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
    7. Mari, Gabriele, 2020. "Working-time flexibility is (not the same) for all: Evidence from a right-to-request reform," SocArXiv bnp9r, Center for Open Science.
    8. Carmichael, Fiona & Ercolani, Marco G., 2016. "Unpaid caregiving and paid work over life-courses: Different pathways, diverging outcomes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 1-11.
    9. Sara Connolly & Mary Gregory, 2010. "Dual tracks: part-time work in life-cycle employment for British women," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(3), pages 907-931, June.
    10. Maximilian Blesch & Philipp Eisenhauer & Peter Haan & Boryana Ilieva & Annekatrin Schrenker & Georg Weizsäcker, 2023. "Biased Wage Expectations and Female Labor Supply," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 411, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    11. Connolly, Sara & Gregory, Mary, 2007. "Part-time Employment Can Be a Life-time Setback for Earnings: A Study of British Women 1975–2001," IZA Discussion Papers 3101, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Tom Günther & Ulrich C. Schneider & Fabian Stürmer-Heiber, 2023. "Working More for Less: Part-time Penalties Across the Working Hours Distribution?," Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers 0025, Berlin School of Economics.
    13. Jacobo Muñoz-Comet & Stephanie Steinmetz, 2020. "Trapped in Precariousness? Risks and Opportunities of Female Immigrants and Natives Transitioning from Part-Time Jobs in Spain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(5), pages 749-768, October.
    14. Kyyrä, Tomi & Arranz, José María & García-Serrano, Carlos, 2017. "Does Part-Time Work Help Unemployed Workers to Find Full-Time Work? Evidence from Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 10770, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Agnieszka Piasna & Anke Plagnol, 2018. "Women’s Job Quality Across Family Life Stages: An Analysis of Female Employees Across 27 European Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 1065-1084, October.
    16. Schrenker, Annekatrin, 2023. "Do women expect wage cuts for part-time work?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    17. Ahmed Elsayed & Andries Grip & Didier Fouarge, 2017. "Computer Use, Job Tasks and the Part-Time Pay Penalty," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(1), pages 58-82, March.
    18. Andrea Garnero & Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx, 2014. "Part-Time Work, Wages, and Productivity," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(3), pages 926-954, July.
    19. María Navarro & Wiemer Salverda, 2019. "Earner Position and Job and Life Satisfaction: Do Contributions to the Household Income have the Same Effect by Gender and Occupations?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(7), pages 2227-2250, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Part-time work; Female labour supply; Life-cycle; J16; J22; J62;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C35 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions
    • 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
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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