Education,Work and Parenthood: Comparing the Experience of Young Men and Women in Sweden

This article analyzes the determinants of young men and women’s entry into parenthood, applying hazard regressions to a combination of longitudinal micro-data from the 1992/1993 Swedish Family Survey and aggregate time-series data. We study the impact of education, labor market attachment and macro-economic change on becoming a parent for both men and women in Sweden since the mid-1960s. Our results show clear gender differences both when it comes to individual characteristics and aggregate-level factors. Even though the effects sometimes differed according to gender, education and labor market attachment were key factors determining the transition to parenthood. Over time the pattern grew increasingly similar for men and women.     

Pension prospects of minority ethnic groups: inequalities by gender and ethnicity

Minority ethnic groups have low income in later life from private pensions, partly due to shorter employment records in Britain since migration. Yet disadvantage and discrimination in the labour market, as well as differences in cultural norms concerning women's employment, may lead to persistence of ethnic variation in private pension acquisition. Little is known about the pension arrangements made by men and women in minority ethnic groups during the working life. This paper examines the extent of ethnic disadvantage in private pension scheme arrangements and analyses variation according to gender and specific ethnic group, using three years of the British Family Resources Survey, which provides information on over 97,000 adults aged 20-59, including over 5,700 from ethnic minorities. Both men and women in minority ethnic groups were less likely to have private pension coverage than their white counterparts but the extent of the difference was most marked for Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. Ethnicity interacted with gender, so that Blacks showed the least gender inequality in private pension arrangements, reflecting the relatively similar full-time employment rates of Black men and women. A minority ethnic disadvantage in private pension coverage, for both men and women, remained after taking account of age, marital and parental status, years of education, employment variables, class and income. The research suggests that minority ethnic groups - especially women - will be disproportionately dependent on means-tested benefits in later life, due to the combined effects of low private pension coverage and the policy of shifting pension provision towards the private sector.     

A New Look at Family Migration and Women’s Employment Status

Family migration has a negative impact on women’s employment status. Using longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey (3,617 women; 22,354 women/wave observations) we consider two neglected issues. First, instead of relying on the distance moved to distinguish employment‐related migrations, we use information on the reason for moving, allowing us to separate employment‐related moves, stimulated by the man or the woman, from other moves. Second, we consider selection effects and the role of state dependence in relation to women’s employment status prior to moving. Moving for the sake of the man’s job has a significant negative effect on subsequent employment status for previously employed women. Women who were not employed previously benefited only slightly from family migration.     

The Effect of Private Sector Work Opportunities in Prison on Labor Market Outcomes of the Formerly Incarcerated

This paper examines the effects of a private-sector prison work program called the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) on formal unemployment duration, duration of formal employment, and earnings of men and women released from various state prisons between 1996 and 2001. It also investigates the labor market dynamics of formerly incarcerated men and women. The program is found to increase reported earnings and formal employment on the extensive margin, with a stronger impact on the formal employment of women. There is little evidence that it increases formal employment along the intensive margin (i.e., duration of formal employment). Contrary to segmented labor market theories, superior employment (i.e., higher-paying jobs) does not lead to increased job stability. Roughly 92 % of individuals who obtained formal employment in the sample experienced job loss; however, reincarceration rates are too low to explain this fact. An evaluation of labor market dynamics reveals that traditional human capital variables, criminogenic factors, and a few demographic characteristics determine job loss. In addition, black women, single women, and women with more extensive criminal histories face greater barriers in the labor market than their male counterparts.     

Gender,Productivity, and the Marital Wage Premium

Explanations for married men’s wage premium often emphasize greater market productivity due to a gendered division of household labor, though this “specialization thesis” has been insufficiently interrogated. Using data from Wave 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 972), this paper examines the relationship between wages and time spent in paid labor and housework for married women and men with high levels of labor force attachment and their spouses. Scrutiny of couples’ time use finds strong evidence for the gendered division of labor, but little support for the anticipated wage effects of the specialization thesis itself. Less strict sample restrictions point to the need for continued research directed at couples’ joint employment and household labor decisions.     

Family Migration and Subsequent Employment: The Effect of Gender Ideology

A substantial body of evidence shows gender asymmetry in family migration, with women more likely to leave employment following migration than men. Gender ideologies, although yet not tested directly, have been proposed as one determinant for these asymmetries. Analyzing longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey (1991–2008) on 3,333 dual‐earner couples with dyadic multilevel regression models, the author examined whether the association of family migration with subsequent employment is moderated by the gender ideologies of both partners. The existing literature is enriched by illustrating that women's gender ideologies do not moderate the association, but women with egalitarian partners are less likely to leave employment after family migration than those with traditional partners. No significant effects for men were found. Even after controlling for both partners' gender ideologies and relevant control variables, a substantial gender difference in the risk of leaving employment after family migration remains, meriting further research.     

Young,successful, precarious? Precariousness at the entry stage of employment careers in Germany

ABSTRACT

The article investigates entry-stage employment trajectories of young people in Germany, asking whether transitions into continuous employment indicate successful labour market integration. Applying a novel multidimensional approach to precariousness to individuals’ employment and household trajectories, we understand entry-stage employment trajectories holistically. The balanced-panel sample is drawn from the German Socio-Economic Panel, with a focus on young men and women between 15 and 25 years of age in the first year of the sample period who had been employed at least once (n?=?1360).

Dual-channel sequence-cluster analysis reveals considerable variation in the precariousness of young people’s entry-stage employment. While almost all young men and women experience periods of precariousness, the durations vary substantially. Precarious employment or precarious living conditions frequently occur during education. Our results confirm that individuals with disrupted employment trajectories are seldom successfully integrated into the labour market and frequently experience precarious employment. In previous research, transitions into continuous employment have been understood as the hallmark of successful labour market integration. This holds true for young women but not for young men, who experienced continuous and precarious entry-stage employment. To correctly identify young men’s successful labour market integration, additional information about their employment precariousness is required.     

THE DIFFERENTIAL EFFECT OF LABOR MARKET CONTEXT ON MARGINAL EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES

Transformation of the labor market creates a complex and dynamic environment where jobs and skills are exchanged. Studies suggest that contemporary industrial shifts provided less opportunity than in the past, and that technological change led to a complicated melange of employment outcomes. Many of the new jobs are characterized by a series of negative qualities related to income and hours. Accordingly, this analysis concentrates on inadequate employment through low-wage work and involuntary part-time work. I examine the effect of contextual factors, specifically area levels of occupational sex-segregation and the size of the service sector industry, on men and women's marginal employment outcomes. Several findings stand out. First, women post higher chances of working for low-wages than their male counterparts. However, employment in the expanding service sector does reduce men and women's chances of experiencing part-time work. Second, the protection afforded by individual level, human capital qualities remains relatively constant for women across metro areas, but labor market context significantly affects women's odds of employment marginalization. Context is not as salient for men, but the value of their personal attributes vary across labor markets. Finally, women working in areas with higher levels of occupational sex-segregation were relatively worse off than those in areas with more integration. Industrial restructuring clearly contributed to recent shifts in U.S. employment and inequality. Studies suggest that contemporary industrial shifts have provided less opportunity than in the past, greater inequality between rich and poor, and a complicated melange of inadequate employment outcomes (Colclough and Tolbert 1992; Farley 1996; Harrison and Bluestone 1988; Morris, Bernhardt, and Handcock 1994; Sassen 1994). Deindustrialization, as it is sometimes called, offers opportunity for highly-educated, skilled, or technologically-innovative men and women. However, lower skilled workers or those with less education may face relatively good job markets filled with positions that are low quality in terms of wages, hours, or benefits. This bifurcation of work is credited with not only reducing the sex-wage gap, but also increasing inequality within sex groups (Bernhardt, Morris, and Handcock 1995). By employing a new structuralist approach and focusing on the area opportunity structure, along with the traditional human capital framework, I link both the local labor market context and individual qualities that affect employment outcomes (Browne 1997; Cotter et al. 1997; McCall 2000). In this article, I examine the effect of contextual factors, specifically the area industrial composition and the openness of the labor market, on men and women's marginal employment outcomes during the early 1990s.     

The Employment Status of Immigrant Women: The Case of Sweden1

This article presents an exploration of the employment status of various groups of immigrant women in the Swedish labor market in the period 1970–1995. Since employment is one of the key components for the integration of immigrants, it is interesting to study what factors determine whether or not immigrants become employed after entering Sweden. Numerous studies have analyzed the labor market integration of immigrant men, whereas the integration of women still has received less attention (Ekberg, 1983, 1991; Hammarstedt, 2001; Scott, 1999). This study can be seen as a contribution to an increase in the knowledge of the labor market integration of female immigrants in Sweden.     

LABOR IMMOBILITY AND THE FORMATION OF GENDER WAGE GAPS IN LOCAL MARKETS

Family ties have an important effect on the wage gap between male and female workers because wives are often more geographically tied to their husband's location, which may not be the best market for the wife's skills. Theory implies a testable inverse relationship between urban size—reflecting labor market size—and male-female wage differentials. Our results indicate that the wage gap between married men and women narrows with urban size. About 17 percent of the wage gap between married men and women can be accounted for by urban size—or, more fundamentally, by geographic immobility due to the family tie constraint.     

A Privileged Pole? Diversity in Women's Pay,Pensions and Wealth in Britain

Is gender on its own becoming redundant in the analysis of employment experiences? There is a growing interest in economic diversity amongst women within the social sciences, with commentators suggesting, firstly, that a polarization in women's labour market experiences is occurring. Secondly, economic diversity amongst women may even be so distinct that a privileged pole is faring substantially better in wage and occupational terms than most men. This article uses data from the Family Resources Survey to explore these two suggestions. It concludes that the success on the labour market that has been achieved by an economically privileged pole amongst women supports the decline in the power of gender to explain variation in occupational patterns and wages, but it is clear that gender (tempered with awareness of the ways that it is cross‐cut by class, ethnicity and other social divisions) remains an invaluable explanatory variable for our understanding of economic security in its fuller sense, not least in the pension positions of women.     

Affirming, Transforming, or Neglecting Gender? Conceptualizing Gender in the Pension Reform Process

This article analyzes the gender visions adopted by policy actorsin pension reform debates. Based on the work of Fraser (Fraser, N. 1994."After the Family Wage: Gender Equity and the Welfare State."Political Theory 22 : 591–618; Fraser, N. 1995. "FromRedistribution to Recognition? Dilemmas of Justice in a ‘Post-Socialist’Age." New Left Review 212:68–93), four gendered visionsof public pensions are introduced and then applied to pensionreforms in Belgium and Sweden. In line with international trends,both cases seek to integrate women within a pension system thattreats men and women the same regardless of their nonmarketactivities. However, in both cases, some compensation is introducedto acknowledge the caring functions performed mainly by women.Based on Fraser's typology, this arrangement leads to one ofthe worst-case scenarios since it legitimizes pension systemsthat are predominantly geared toward full-time contributorsand penalizes those individuals most likely to spend sometimesaway from the labor market. The Belgian case emphasizes thenegative role of the EU in retrenching pension rights and benefitsfor women. The Swedish case is interesting because of the scopeof its reform and the fact that women in the service sectorend up supporting the principle of tying benefits to contributions.     

“I Try Not to Depend on Anyone but Me”: Welfare‐Reliant Women's Perspectives on Self‐Sufficiency,Work, and Marriage*

Welfare reformers sought to reduce “dependency,” or reliance on state‐supported cash benefits and deployed a discourse of “self‐sufficiency” to promote the legitimacy of efforts to remove welfare recipients from publicly funded cash assistance through either wage labor or marriage. We use longitudinal, qualitative interview data collected from 38 initially welfare‐reliant women to examine what self‐sufficiency means to them and their perspectives on how work and marriage affect their ability to be self‐sufficient. Grounded theory analysis revealed that for these women, self‐sufficiency means formal independence from both the state (i.e., Temporary Assistance to Needy Families [TANF]) and men (i.e., marriage). Although they value marriage as an institution and would ideally marry, they do not consider marriage to be a likely route to self‐sufficiency given the pool of men available to them. Rather, they embrace their own market‐based wage labor as the means by which they can attain some measure of independence. Taking our lead from the women in this study, we challenge the emphasis on marriage in current welfare policy. We argue that employment training that results in better jobs for women and men and work supports that make low‐wage work pay are clearly the appropriate direction for policy aimed at the welfare‐reliant and working poor.     

Not All Laws are Created Equal: Legal Differences in State Non-Discrimination Laws and the Impact of LGBT Employment Protections

In this paper, I study the impact of legal differences in state employment nondiscrimination acts (ENDAs) for gay men and lesbian women on labor market outcomes. Employing a DDD approach, I show that enacting an employment non-discrimination act is associated with increased wages of gay men and decreased employment of lesbian women. If all employment non-discrimination acts are treated as identical, these laws increased the hourly wages of gay men by 2.7% and decreased the employment of lesbian women by 1.7% and their hours worked by 0.7 hours. The results show that the strength of the law can result in heteroge-neous effects of the laws for gay men, but not for lesbian women. ENDAs with both punitive and compensatory damage provisions resulted in smaller wage increases for gay men than ENDAs with only compensatory damage provisions. ENDAs with longer statutes of limitations for complaints increased the employment of gay men, whereas laws with shorter statutes of limitations decreased employment. Based on the estimates from the state-level employment non-discrimination acts, I argue that extending federal protections under Title VII would lead to a small increase in the wages of gay men, but would significantly reduce the employment of lesbian women.     

Access to the labour market for gays and lesbians: Research review

ABSTRACT

This article reviews findings of scientific studies looking into the bias that gay men and lesbians face when accessing the labor market. Studies in this topic were scarce before year 2000, but a considerable body of literature appeared in the Western countries in the recent years. When summed up, the findings provide robust evidence that lesbians and gay men face negative bias when accessing employment. The magnitude of the bias varies considerably across contexts. Different labor market outcomes of gay men and lesbians are also partially caused by differences in household specialization between different-sex and same-sex households. Future research needs to address the contextual differences in bias against gay men and lesbians.     

Erwerbseinstieg und erste Erwerbsjahre

The debate about the structural change of the labor market and the organization of dependent work has not been decided, neither theoretically nor empirically. This paper investigates on the basis of data from the GSOEP (German Socio Economic Panel) the entry into the labor market and the first years of gainful employment for four birth cohorts. The central focus of our argumentation lies on the following questions: Is there an increase of atypical entries into the labor market (aged 15 to 26) — i.e. part-time employment, unemployment or non labor market participation — and what proportion of their first years of working life (aged 15 to 36) do people spend in full-time employment. The results show a rise of atypical entries into the labor market for the younger cohorts. The duration of male full-time employment will be shorter because of longer education periods, while this duration rises for women as a result of decreasing relevance of housewife work. An atypical entry into the labor market has long-term consequences for the further working life, so that it hardly can be compensated. A de-standardization of the entry into the working life is most frequent for men and women with lower professional qualification. The results show that society is increasingly polarizing along the lines of qualified and non-qualified persons.     

INTEGRATING ECONOMIC DUALISM AND LABOR MARKET SEGMENTATION:

Although the U.S. economy of the early twenty-first century is vastly different from the U.S. economy prior to the 1970s, the nature of these economic changes and their impact on U.S. workers is unclear. This article claims that despite contemporary economic shifts, differential labor and employer power continues to segment the economy, and workers' position in the labor market continues to predict their rewards, beyond the effects of gender, race, and human capital. Drawing on segmented labor market and dual economy research, we propose a four-category model of the structural factors that influence variance in work-related rewards. We examine the distribution of jobs in each of four categories between 1974 and 2000 and observe that losses and gains across categories are unevenly distributed by race and gender. While white men have experienced the greatest declines in employment and earnings, they have maintained their absolute advantage over women and nonwhites. In multivariate analyses, we find that the structural position of employment continues to be a significant determinant of wages. Although women and racial minorities have experienced sizable increases in employment in primary labor market jobs in the core of the economy, both groups remain overrepresented in low-paying jobs. Moreover women, but not nonwhite men, consistently receive significantly fewer rewards for their labor in both low-paying and high-paying jobs. Our findings suggest that structural factors continue to influence earnings inequality, especially across race and gender lines.     

Failing to Make Ends Meet: Dubious Financial Success Among Employed Former Welfare to Work Program Participants

To many, declining caseloads and increased labor market entry substantiate welfare reform’s success. This study examines how Louisiana welfare to work program participants who succeeded by leaving assistance and obtaining employment are making ends meet, if their needs are met and which characteristics are associated with having their needs met. Telephone survey data reveal low wages, informal labor market activity, government, community, and social support use, and notable levels of unmet needs. A multivariate analysis shows workers with higher earnings and regular nonmonetary help from family and friends are likely to have more needs met. Those likely to have fewer needs met report lower wages, more young children, use of government support programs and informal labor market activity.     

De facto immigration enforcement,ICE raid awareness,and worker engagement

We explore whether fear of apprehension affects immigrants' labor market engagement by examining how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removals due to immigration violations and increased awareness of immigration raids impact their labor market outcomes. We find that ICE deportations are associated with reductions in the labor force participation and employment of likely undocumented immigrants when compared to similarly skilled foreign-born US citizens. Effects are particularly strong among women, especially those with children, as well as in industries likely targeted by ICE raids. Controlling for perceived threats and de jure immigration policies has little impact on these results.     

The link between male employment and child maltreatment in the U.S., 2000–2012

Child maltreatment rates are strongly linked to adult male behavior, suggesting that labor market conditions, by influencing male behaviors, can influence maltreatment rates. Using the unemployment rate as the sole measure of labor market conditions, past studies generally conclude that employment conditions do not systematically influence child maltreatment rates. By contrast, this study found that state-level child maltreatment rates were statistically significant and inversely related to the state-level employment rates of men, aged 20 to 34 yrs old. It also found that the interaction of child poverty and living in a single-parent household is positively related to child maltreatment rates. Policies to reduce employment problems are discussed.