Female breadwinner – Erwerbsentscheidungen von Frauen im Haushaltskontext
Nach wie vor ist die ungleiche Verteilung von Erwerbs- und Familienarbeit zwischen den Partnern der Regelfall. Traditionelle familiäre Arrangements werden dabei durch institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen bevorzugt. Die Folge ist, dass Frauen immer noch beruflich zurückstecken - auch wenn sie den Hauptteil des Haushaltseinkommens erarbeiten und damit die Rolle der Familienernährerin übernehmen.
Dieses Themendossier widmet sich den Bedingungen und Auswirkungen der Erwerbsentscheidung von Frauen sowie empirischen Studien, die sich mit der Arbeitsteilung der Partner im Haushaltskontext befassen.
Mit dem Filter „Autorenschaft“ können Sie auf IAB-(Mit-)Autorenschaft eingrenzen.
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Literaturhinweis
Einleitung: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer geschlechtergerechten Arbeitsmarkt- und Sozialpolitik (2026)
Zitatform
Bothfeld, Silke, Christian Hohendanner, Petra Schütt & Aysel Yollu-Tok (2026): Einleitung: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer geschlechtergerechten Arbeitsmarkt- und Sozialpolitik. In: S. Bothfeld, C. Hohendanner, P. Schütt & A. Yollu-Tok (Hrsg.) (2026): Geschlechtergerecht gestalten. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Arbeitsmarkt- und Sozialpolitik, S. 9-26.
Abstract
"Wer über Geschlechtergerechtigkeit spricht, kommt an der begrifflichen Unterscheidung zwischen Gleichberechtigung und Gleichstellungspolitik nicht vorbei. Diese Differenz ist grundlegend für das Verständnis politischer, sozialer und ökonomischer Maßnahmen zur Überwindung geschlechterbezogener Ungleichheiten. Gleichberechtigung meint die rechtlich garantierte Gleichheit von Frauen und Männern – wie sie etwa in Artikel 3 des Grundgesetzes verankert ist. Sie garantiert allen Menschen denselben Zugang zu Rechten: zum Bildungssystem, zum Arbeitsmarkt, zu politischen Ämtern. Doch so unverzichtbar diese rechtliche Grundlage ist, so unzureichend ist sie, wenn es um die tatsächliche Teilhabe in einer nach wie vor von struktureller Ungleichheit geprägten Gesellschaft geht. Hier setzt die Gleichstellungspolitik an: Sie begnügt sich nicht mit der formalen Gleichheit, sondern zielt auf faktische Chancengleichheit. Für die Gleichstellung der Geschlechter wurde daher im Artikel 3 Abs. 2 (»Männer und Frauen sind gleichberechtigt.«) 1994 der Zusatz aufgenommen »Der Staat fördert die tatsächliche Durchsetzung der Gleichberechtigung von Frauen und Männern und wirkt auf die Beseitigung bestehender Nachteile hin«. Die Gleichstellungspolitik soll in diesem Sinne bestehende Benachteiligungen – etwa beim Einkommen, bei der Verteilung von Sorgearbeit, beim Zugang zu Führungspositionen oder in den sozialen Sicherungssystemen – sichtbar machen und Instrumente entwickeln, um Ungleichheiten abzubauen. Gleichstellungspolitik bedeutet nicht Privilegierung oder Sonderbehandlung, sondern sie ist Ausdruck eines demokratischen Gestaltungsauftrags: Sie soll sicherstellen, dass Gleichberechtigung nicht nur auf dem Papier steht, sondern im gesellschaftlichen Alltag wirksam wird. Dieser Sammelband greift zentrale Fragen dieser Gestaltungsaufgabe im Rahmen der Arbeitsmarkt- und Sozialpolitik auf und versammelt Beiträge, die sich mit geschlechterbezogenen Ungleichheiten am Arbeitsmarkt und im Sozialstaat befassen – empirisch fundiert, theoretisch reflektiert und mit einem gemeinsamen Ziel: Geschlechtergerechtigkeit nicht nur zu fordern, sondern Hinweise und Vorschläge für die Gestaltung von konkreten Strukturen und politischen Maßnahmen zu präsentieren." (Textauszug, IAB-Doku)
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Literaturhinweis
Household classification, family diversity and poverty risks in Europe: Addressing a North-Western bias (2026)
Zitatform
Lancker, Wim Van, Alzbeta Bartova, Max Thaning & Rense Nieuwenhuis (2026): Household classification, family diversity and poverty risks in Europe: Addressing a North-Western bias. In: Journal of European Social Policy, S. 1-18. DOI:10.1177/09589287261430496
Abstract
"European statistics and policies commonly rely on household typologies that classify households based on the number of adults and children living together. However, these typologies overlook family relationships and classify any non-standard arrangement into a broad residual category of ‘other’. This approach fails to capture increasing family diversity across Europe and introduces a persistent North-Western bias into data and policymaking. As a result, families that do not fit conventional models may be misclassified or entirely overlooked in poverty assessments and policy targeting. This is problematic since family structures vary substantially across European countries and became more diverse over time. This article introduces the Families in Households Typology (FHT), a classification system that uses relationship identifiers in EU-SILC microdata to reconstruct family structures within households. The FHT reduces the share of individuals placed in the residual ‘other’ category from over 20% to around 5%, particularly improving identification in Southern, Central, and Eastern European countries where multigenerational living arrangements are common. The results also show that nearly half of all single parents in Europe live with another adult and are not captured as single parents under conventional typologies. This has important implications for policy design: many single-parent households may be excluded from targeted support due to misclassification. Reclassifying households using the FHT also reshapes our understanding of living standards. The poverty risk of single parents is often overestimated when the Eurostat household typology is adopted. When single parents co-residing with kin or unrelated adults are correctly identified, their average poverty risk tends to be much lower. These findings highlight the importance of moving away from basic household counts towards relational classifications that more accurately reflect the diversity of family life across Europe, rather than using typologies that reflect the dominant family reality in Northern and Western Europe." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Monetary policy and the added worker effect (2026)
Leahy, John Vincent; Ranošová, Tereza;Zitatform
Leahy, John Vincent & Tereza Ranošová (2026): Monetary policy and the added worker effect. (Discussion paper / Deutsche Bundesbank 02/2026), Frankfurt am Main, 41 S. DOI:10.71734/DP-2026-2
Abstract
"We exploit cross-sectional variation in the response of US states to a monetary policy shock to study how the impact of monetary policy varies with the share of married women who work. We find that the economy's response is more muted the lower the share of married women employed before the shock. We argue that a plausible explanation is a shielded demand response by households, insured by the "added worker effect". When women are only weakly attached to the labor market, they can flexibly enter and exit to supplement household income in times of need, providing a powerful insurance mechanism against aggregate shocks. We provide three additional pieces of evidence. First, monetary policy shocks have a stronger effect in states where married women are more firmly attached to the labor market (making fewer transitions in and out). Second, following an increase in the federal funds rate, married women themselves are comparatively more likely to be employed (and to enter employment) in states where the share of married women working pre- shock is low. Third, in contrast to employment, wages of married women fall more in states where married women have worked less, consistent with a differential labor supply response to the shock." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Gendered reporting of housework across relative spousal income (2026)
Zitatform
Syrda, Joanna (2026): Gendered reporting of housework across relative spousal income. In: Social science research, Jg. 134. DOI:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2025.103303
Abstract
"The measured work that wives and husbands perform at home and in the labour market remains strongly gendered. Competing theoretical perspectives offer divergent predictions about how relative spousal income shapes the division of housework: exchange and bargaining models predict that the higher earner performs less domestic labour, whereas sociological accounts emphasize persistent traditional gender norms. Empirical findings mirror this divide, and existing research typically overlooks gendered reporting bias in household survey data.Using data from the 1999–2023 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), this study examines whether the relationship between relative spousal income and housework depends on the gender of the household respondent. The PSID's rotating respondent design - where either spouse reports for the household - combined with within-household fixed effects and double-demeaned interaction models reveal asymmetries. When wives report, the association between relative income and housework aligns with exchange and bargaining theory. When husbands report, the same households exhibit a curvilinear pattern consistent with gender deviance neutralization. Respondent gender therefore fundamentally shapes empirical conclusions about the income-housework relationship, indicating that gender norms structure not only domestic labour but also its survey representation.Approximately one quarter of couples switch respondents over time, and these effects are identified from this subset. That strong asymmetries emerge even among more egalitarian households underscores the importance of gendered reporting. Methodologically, the findings show that conventional fixed effects models attenuate respondent-contingent nonlinearities, whereas double-demeaned estimators that control for both unit and time effects recover sharper and theoretically coherent patterns." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc.) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
When Mothers Out-Earn Fathers: Effects on Fathers' Decisions to Take Paternity and Parental Leave (2025)
Zitatform
Biasi, Paola, Maria De Paola & Francesca Gioia (2025): When Mothers Out-Earn Fathers: Effects on Fathers' Decisions to Take Paternity and Parental Leave. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 17601), Bonn, 36 S.
Abstract
"This study investigates the influence of the male breadwinner norm on fathers' decisions regarding childcare responsibilities. We study the complex interplay between economic factors and gender norms in shaping the division of household labor within families by analyzing the impact a breadwinning mother has on fathers' choices regarding paternity leave (fully subsidized) and parental leave (partially or not subsidized). We exploit administrative data, provided by the Italian National Security Institute (INPS), including demographic and working characteristics of both parents together with information on the use of paternity and parental leave by fathers in the 2013-2023 period. We find that, in line with the "doing gender" hypothesis, when the leave is fully subsidized, as for paternity leave, fathers are less likely to engage in childcare when their wives earn more than they do. In contrast, this dynamic does not apply in cases of parental leave, where the economic costs of aligning with the gender norm are substantial. The effects we find are robust when replacing the actual probability of there being an out-earning mother with the potential probability and are amplified by the salience of the gender identity norm." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Wage Risk and Government and Spousal Insurance (2025)
Zitatform
De Nardi, Mariacristina, Giulio Fella & Gonzalo Paz-Pardo (2025): Wage Risk and Government and Spousal Insurance. In: The Review of Economic Studies, Jg. 92, H. 2, S. 954-980. DOI:10.1093/restud/rdae042
Abstract
"The extent to which households can self-insure depends on family structure and wage risk. We calibrate a model of couples and singles’ savings and labour supply under two types of wage processes. The first wage process is the canonical—age-independent, linear—one that is typically used to evaluate government insurance provision. The second wage process is a flexible one. We use our model to evaluate the optimal mix of the two most common types of means-tested benefits—IW versus income floor. The canonical wage process underestimates wage persistence for women and thus implies that IW benefits should account for most benefit income. In contrast, the richer wage process that matches the wage data well, implies that the income floor should be the main benefit source, similarly to the system in place in the U.K. This stresses that allowing for rich wage dynamics is important to properly evaluate policy." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
The Economic Costs of Men's Long Work Hours for Women: Evidence on the Gender Wage Earnings Gap from Australia and Germany (2025)
Zitatform
Doan, Tinh, Liana Leach & Lyndall Strazdins (2025): The Economic Costs of Men's Long Work Hours for Women: Evidence on the Gender Wage Earnings Gap from Australia and Germany. In: Social indicators research, Jg. 179, H. 2, S. 1073-1100. DOI:10.1007/s11205-025-03647-1
Abstract
"Women’s earnings inequality persists, despite policy efforts to reduce discrimination and gender bias. Gender gaps in earnings, however, are a function of hours worked as well as wage rates, and reflect gendered short and long work hour patterns. Within households, how partners exchange time is a crucial driver of hours worked yet this is rarely incorporated into analysis of gender earning gaps. Using a two-stage instrumental variable Oaxaca- Blinder decomposition we model earnings gaps as a function of own and partner hours on and off the job. This enables us to estimate what the gender gap in hours and earnings would look like without a gendered time ‘subsidy’ or ‘borrowing’ in the home. We studied dual-earner households in two countries, Australia and Germany, finding a weekly earnings gap of AUD$536 and €400. This was accompanied by a weekly work hour gap of 12 h in Australia and 13 in Germany. When we accounted for the influence of partner’s hours (paid or unpaid), work hour gaps reduce to 5.1 h in Australian households (58% reduction), and to 6.9 h in German (47% reduction). In effect, women would work 3 to 4 h more each week, and men’s long hours would reduce, narrowing the gender earnings gaps by 43% in Australia and 25% in Germany, if time ‘subsidies’ in the home were eliminated. Our analysis reveals the economic cost to women long work hour cultures impose." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Added Worker Effects in Canada: The Effect of Spousal Job Loss on Transitions into Employment (2025)
Zitatform
Ferrer, Ana, Yazhuo (Annie) Pan & Tammy Schirle (2025): Added Worker Effects in Canada: The Effect of Spousal Job Loss on Transitions into Employment. In: Canadian public policy, Jg. 51, H. 1, S. 16-34. DOI:10.3138/cpp.2024-012
Abstract
"We examine added worker effects in Canada using the Labour Force Survey. At the extensive margin, we find that married women who are not employed are more likely to enter employment the month after a spouse has lost a job. Spousal job loss does not affect women's transition into employment in later months, and there are no significant effects for men. The effects do not appear to represent a behavioural response to an exogenous or unexpected spousal layoff. Rather, the women most likely to move in and out of employment have spouses who are more likely to experience a layoff that the family might anticipate, and they are prepared to respond. The added worker effect is stronger for more educated women, for homeowners, and when spouses’ wages are higher. At the intensive margin, we do not see significant changes in hours worked among employed persons when their spouse loses a job." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Rise in Home Working and Spousal Labor Supply (2025)
Feuillade, Mylène; Maurin, Eric; Goux, Dominique;Zitatform
Feuillade, Mylène, Dominique Goux & Eric Maurin (2025): Rise in Home Working and Spousal Labor Supply. (IZA discussion paper / Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 17997), Bonn, 55 S.
Abstract
"This article explores how an employee's choice to work from home (WFH) influences his or her spouse's outcomes. Drawing on the specific features of the French institutions, we show that a spouse's switch to WFH leads to a sharp increase in the probability that his or her partner will also switch to WFH, as well as in the number of hours worked by the partner. These cross-effects are particularly strong on the better-paid partner within the couple (whether the man or the woman) who appears to condition his or her decision to work from home on that of his or her (less-paid) partner. The effects of WFH on the volume of hours worked are greatly underestimated when spillovers within couples are neglected. On the other hand, we detect no significant effect on partners' commuting distance, nor on the type of urban unit they choose to live in." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Do Mothers’ Occupation-Specific Skills Impact Children’s Developmental Processes? (2025)
Zitatform
García-Sierra, Alicia (2025): Do Mothers’ Occupation-Specific Skills Impact Children’s Developmental Processes? In: Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Jg. 100. DOI:10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101102
Abstract
"This study examines whether mothers’ occupation-specific skills influence children’s development. I argue that while education is a valuable proxy for parental skills, it fails to capture an important dimension of human capital: the skills parents acquire through their occupational experiences. Parents enhance their human capital through on-the-job learning, with occupation-specific expertise becoming integral to their skill sets. Combining longitudinal family data (NLSY79-CYA) and the O*NET dataset, I employ two-way fixed effects, inverse probability weighting, and asymmetric fixed effects models. I exploit changes in the required skill levels of mothers’ occupations following job switches. Results indicate that when mothers transition to roles requiring higher levels of mathematical skills, their children’s mathematical abilities improve. Similar trends are observed for literacy skills, although the effects are less consistently robust. Additionally, longer maternal job tenure amplifies these effects, which are primarily driven by increases in skill requirements rather than decreases. Furthermore, children in high-SES families benefit more from increases in their mothers’ occupational skill requirements than children in low-SES families." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Can Work from Home Help Balance the Parental Division of Labor? (2025)
Zitatform
Gaudecker, Hans-Martin von, Radost Holler, Lenard Simon & Christian Zimpelmann (2025): Can Work from Home Help Balance the Parental Division of Labor? (CRC TR 224 discussion paper series / EPoS Collaborative Research Center Transregio 224 661), Bonn, 22 S.
Abstract
"This study examines how the Covid-19 pandemic-induced shift towards remote work has influenced parents' allocation of non-market and market work. Utilizing a probability- based panel survey and comprehensive administrative records from the Netherlands covering the years 2014 to 2021, we demonstrate that the potential for remote work has been significantly realized only after the onset of the pandemic. Simultaneously, following a brief period of school and daycare closures, the total time parents spent on childcare returned to pre-pandemic levels. Notably, while the potential for remote work was associated with reduced childcare provision before the pandemic, this relationship reversed post-pandemic onset. We interpret this shift as an indication of increased flexibility for parents, with fathers experiencing greater gains than mothers. Consequently, the division of childcare duties has become more equitable, and mothers have increased their working hours. Our findings suggest that broader acceptance of remote work by employers could foster greater gender convergence in the intra-household division of labor." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Does the Added Worker Effect Matter? (2025)
Zitatform
Guner, Nezih, Yuliya A. Kulikova & Arnau Valladares-Esteban (2025): Does the Added Worker Effect Matter? In: Review of Economic Dynamics, Jg. 56. DOI:10.1016/j.red.2025.101271
Abstract
"In the US, the likelihood of a married woman entering the labor force in a given month increases by 60% if her husband loses his job, known as the added worker effect. However, only 1.5% to 3.5% of married women entering the labor force in a given month can be added workers. This raises the question of whether the added worker effect can significantly impact aggregate labor market outcomes. Building on Shimer (2012), we introduce a new methodology to evaluate how joint transitions of married couples across labor market states affect aggregate participation, employment, and unemployment rates. Our results show that the added worker effect significantly impacts aggregate outcomes, increasing married women's participation and employment by 0.72 and 0.65 percentage points each month. Additionally, the added worker effect reduces the cyclicality of married women's participation and unemployment, lowering the correlation between GDP's cyclical components and participation by 4.5 percentage points and unemployment by 8 percentage points." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
What about the men, though? Relative wage opportunities and the persistence of employment gaps in couples (2025)
Hammer, Luisa;Zitatform
Hammer, Luisa (2025): What about the men, though? Relative wage opportunities and the persistence of employment gaps in couples. (IAB-Discussion Paper 01/2025), Nürnberg, 63 S. DOI:10.48720/IAB.DP.2501
Abstract
"Die geschlechtsspezifischen Unterschiede bei der Beschäftigung haben sich verringert, sind aber nach wie vor beträchtlich, insbesondere innerhalb von Paaren. Um abzuschätzen, wie sich verbesserte Lohnmöglichkeiten für Frauen auf die Beschäftigungsentscheidungen der Partner auswirken, nutze ich nachfragegesteuerte Lohnveränderungen bei Arbeitsaufgaben und deutsche Verwaltungsdaten. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Frauen positiv, wenn auch mit abnehmender Tendenz, auf relative Lohnverbesserungen reagieren, während männliche Partner als Reaktion darauf ebenfalls ihr Arbeitsangebot erhöhen. Infolgedessen verringert sich die Arbeitszeitlücke innerhalb von Paaren, schließt sich aber nicht und vergrößert sich in bestimmten Gruppen sogar. Mögliche Erklärungen für diese Muster, die auf Beckers Haushaltsmodell aufbauen, sind komparative Vorteile für Frauen sowie relative Einkommenspräferenzen und Geschlechtsidentitätsnormen für Männer." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)
Beteiligte aus dem IAB
Hammer, Luisa; -
Literaturhinweis
Winning the Bread and Baking it Too: Gendered Frictions in the Allocation of Home Production (2025)
Zitatform
Hancock, Kyle, Jeanne Lafortune & Corinne Low (2025): Winning the Bread and Baking it Too: Gendered Frictions in the Allocation of Home Production. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 33393), Cambridge, Mass, 66 S.
Abstract
"We document that female breadwinners do more home production than their male partners, driven by “housework” like cooking and cleaning. By comparing to same sex couples, we highlight that specialization within heterosexual households does not appear to be “gender neutral ” even after accounting for average earnings differences. One possible explanation would be a large comparative advantage in housework by women, a supposition commonly used to match aggregate labor supply statistics. Using a model, we show that while comparative advantage can match some stylized facts about how couples divide housework, it fails to match others, particularly that men's housework time is inelastic to relative household wages. Matching these facts requires some gendered wedge between the opportunity cost of housework time and its assignment within the household. We then turn to the implications for household formation. Gendered rigidities in the allocation of household tasks result in lower surplus for couples where women out-earn men than vice versa, providing a micro-founded reason for substantial literature showing that lower relative earning by men decreases marriage rates. We show that our mechanism —allocation of housework, rather than norms about earnings—plays a role by relating marriage rates to the ratio of home production time in US immigrants' countries of origin." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Couples' division of paid work and rising income inequality: A study of 21 OECD countries (2025)
Zitatform
Herzberg-Druker, Efrat (2025): Couples' division of paid work and rising income inequality: A study of 21 OECD countries. In: Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Jg. 99. DOI:10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101084
Abstract
"Numerous scholars have explored the association between women's changing employment patterns and the changing income inequality in recent decades. While most studies indicate that increased women's employment reduces household inequality, a few suggest the opposite effect. This research investigated whether shifts in the division of paid work (i.e., changes in the working hours) among heterosexual couples, as compared to changes in women's work alone, contribute to changes in income inequality. It also examined whether the selection of couples into the different types of division of paid work based on their level of education is a mechanism underlying the growing inequality. Based on counterfactual analyses of data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), encompassing 21 OECD countries, the findings demonstrate shifts in couples' division of paid work, particularly the increase in fulltime dual-earner households, are associated with rising income inequality in most countries studied. However, changes in educational attainment were not found to be the mechanism underlying the association between changes in couples' division of paid work and changes in income inequality." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Parental self-evaluations by gender and social class: Shared parenting ideals, male breadwinner norms, and mothers’ higher evaluation standards (2025)
Zitatform
Ishizuka, Patrick (2025): Parental self-evaluations by gender and social class: Shared parenting ideals, male breadwinner norms, and mothers’ higher evaluation standards. In: Social science research, Jg. 128. DOI:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2025.103156
Abstract
"Cultural norms that define “good” parenting are central to sociological explanations of gender inequality among parents and social class differences in parental investments in children. Yet, little is known about how mothers and fathers of different social classes evaluate their success as parents and what predicts those assessments. Using data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study examines how caregiving and breadwinning are tied to parents’ self-evaluations by genderand social class. Results show that intensive parenting activities and full-time employment strongly predict more positive self-evaluations for mothers and fathers, reflecting gender symmetry in core cultural expectations of parents. However, earnings, homeownership, and overwork positively predict self-evaluations for fathers only, and mothers evaluate themselves more negatively than fathers at the same level of involvement and financial provision. Finally, intensive parenting activities similarly positively predict self-evaluations for more- and less-educated parents. Findings highlight challenges to meeting cultural expectations of modern parenthood, particularly for mothers and economically disadvantaged parents." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Author. Published byElsevier Inc.) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Who picks up the slack? Understanding spousal responses to unemployment spells (2025)
Zitatform
Kawano, Laura, Sara LaLumia, Shanthi Ramnath & Michael Stevens (2025): Who picks up the slack? Understanding spousal responses to unemployment spells. In: Labour Economics, Jg. 96. DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102732
Abstract
"We use a large panel of married households to update estimated added worker effects. In response to a primary earner’s job loss, secondary earners are 1.1 to 2.4 percentage points more likely to work and compensate for 3.6 to 5.1 percent of the displaced worker’s lost earnings. When a secondary earner is displaced, spousal employment is unchanged but there is a substantial earnings reduction. These small compensatory responses are explained by an increased probability that the nondisplaced spouse exits employment, either through correlated unemployment shocks or retirement. Conditional on relative-earner status, sex-based differences in added worker effects are small." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
Labor supply response of women across the divorce process and the moderating role of children (2025)
Zitatform
Klingler, Matthias (2025): Labor supply response of women across the divorce process and the moderating role of children. In: Advances in life course research, Jg. 65. DOI:10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100694
Abstract
"Employment is widely considered a key coping strategy for women against the economic burden of divorce. However, few studies have explored how women adjust their labor supply across the divorce process, particularly considering the moderating role of children’s presence and age. This study uses longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) from 1984 to 2021 in an event-study approach with fixed effects regressions and an extended control group design. This design allows group-specific age trends to be controlled for in moderation analyses. The findings show that women increase their labor supply in anticipation of divorce, intensify it during the transition period, and subsequently stabilize at a higher level. Whereas childless women show minimal changes in their labor supply, all groups of mothers experience an increase, which is sustained after divorce. Mothers of children aged six years and above tend to increase their labor supply primarily by working more hours, whereas there is some indication that mothers of children aged five years and below mainly enter or re-enter employment. Overall, the results suggest that increased economic activity is an important coping strategy for women during the divorce process, with mothers showing the most pronounced increase in labor supply." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
When are you coming back? Effect of state-subsidized and employer-sponsored childcare on mothers’ return to work (2025)
Zitatform
Kronberg, Anne-Kathrin & Anna Gerlach (2025): When are you coming back? Effect of state-subsidized and employer-sponsored childcare on mothers’ return to work. In: European Sociological Review, S. 1-18. DOI:10.1093/esr/jcaf044
Abstract
"After giving birth, higher-educated mothers return to work faster and stay with their pre-birth employer more often than mothers with less education. To facilitate more equitable return patterns, public policy and organizational scholars point to state-subsidized and employer-sponsored childcare as potential solutions. We ask how these two childcare approaches affect mothers’ education-specific return timing and destination (pre-birth employer or new employer). Our paper combines representative German linked employer-employee data (LIAB) with county-level childcare information from 2007 to 2019 to address this question. We demonstrate that better state-subsidized childcare reduces education-specific differences in how quickly mothers return to their pre-birth employer. However, equalizing effects decline at the very bottom of the educational spectrum. The equalizing effect also partially extends to employer-sponsored childcare assistance, especially when state-subsidized care is scarce. Nevertheless, employer assistance cannot fully compensate for a lack of state-subsidized infrastructure or prevent mothers’ turnover to a new company. Thus, state-subsidized childcare plays a central role in understanding mothers’ returns to work. We discuss policy implications and how our findings extend beyond the German context." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))
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Literaturhinweis
How Perceived Job Insecurity, Voluntary Unemployment and Involuntary Job Loss Shape Couples’ Life Satisfaction (2025)
Zitatform
Lebert, Florence, Oliver Lipps & Alessandro Di Nallo (2025): How Perceived Job Insecurity, Voluntary Unemployment and Involuntary Job Loss Shape Couples’ Life Satisfaction. In: Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Jg. 46, H. 4, S. 985-1001. DOI:10.1007/s10834-025-10062-8
Abstract
"To adequately examine the impact of job insecurity and unemployment on life satisfaction in the context of increasing de-standardisation of work arrangements, this study distinguishes nuanced forms of perceived job insecurity and unemployment and integrates them into a single scale for employment instability. These forms comprise (1) no perceived job insecurity, (2) some or (3) severe job insecurity, (4) voluntary unemployment, (5) involuntary unemployment, and (6) other reasons for unemployment. Using dyadic data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for working-age individuals and their partners, both perceived job insecurity and unemployment lead to decreased life satisfaction, with unemployment having a more pronounced impact on life satisfaction. Involuntary reasons for unemployment are more detrimental to life satisfaction than voluntary reasons. Overall, men suffer more from employment instability than women and their employment instability has a stronger impact on their female spouses’ life satisfaction than vice versa. The results are interpreted through the lens of ‘doing gender’ and ‘gender deviation’ theory." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))