Employment und working time patterns within partner relationships

Abstract

"In this statement, IAB is commenting on the question of how gainful employment and working time are divided within partner relationships and what the essential reasons for this are. The employment und working time patterns of women and men are still very different. With women, it is in particular the family situation which decides the extent to which they are employed. On the other hand, up to now, starting a family has hardly influenced the employment behaviour of men. The large proportion of women working part-time leads to a pronounced gap between the extent of the working times of women and men. From studies on the employment and working time patterns of couples, it becomes obvious that in particular for couples with children the temporal differences in the extent of gainful employment become fixed and that little in the distribution of the employment time within the partnership would change, even if the desired working times were realised. The promotion of partner relationship models such as 'Elterngeld plus' (paternal benefit plus) or through working time in the family with equally entitled hourly models for parents, as suggested, could contribute to a more balanced distribution of working time for couples. This would particularly be the case if they are flanked by suitable working time models which allow employees to influence the place and form of their working time." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Wanger, S. & Bauer, F. (2015): Erwerbs- und Arbeitszeitmuster in Paarbeziehungen. Stellungnahme des Instituts für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB) für die Anhörung im Landtag NRW: Unterlagen von der Enquetekommission V (Familienpolitik) am 24. August 2015 - Thema: "Zeitpolitik". (IAB-Stellungnahme 03/2015), Nürnberg, 12 p.