This contribution investigates the link between female labour force participation and household income inequality using data from the Swiss Household Panel (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014). Through index decomposition analyses, we find that female labour force participation has slightly attenuated household income inequality over time. Women's entry into the labour market, higher work percentages within part-time work -but not the shift from part-time to full-time work -and the weak correlation in partner's earnings have contributed to this effect. Keywords: female labour force participation, income inequality, part-time work, index decomposition, household types
Erwerbstätigkeit der Frauen und Ungleichheit der Haushaltseinkommen in der SchweizZusammenfassung: Dieser Beitrag untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen der Erwerbsbeteiligung der Frauen und der Ungleichheit der Haushaltseinkommen anhand der Daten des Schweizer Haushalt-Panels (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)
At the beginning of the 2000s, Switzerland went through two global recessions: the Dotcom crisis and the Great Recession. Even though Switzerland experienced milder effects compared to its European neighbours, the Swiss unemployment rate increased considerably compared to its status quo. This paper explores the resilience of vulnerable groups to these economic downturns using both objective (income poverty and material deprivation) and subjective (wellbeing and satisfaction with the financial situation) indicators of quality of life. To analyse how quality of life evolved since the early 2000s, we use a longitudinal database: the Swiss Household Panel. Studying both objective and subjective indicators, results suggest that the dot-com crisis had a stronger negative effect than the Great Recession on vulnerable groups. This was particularly true for single parents and large families. Disadvantaged groups during the first crisis reacted in different ways during the second crisis. Some groups (the unemployed, the low-educated and the solo self-employed) experienced some scarring effects sometimes only according to objective indicators; others were resilient and continued with their normal trends (migrants and the young), whereas the most strongly affected groups during the first crisis (single parents and large families) registered an improvement in their conditions in the second crisis. These results point to a combination of subjective and objective indicators to evaluate the effects of recurrent crises on vulnerable groups.
Fuelled by federal stimuli of 440 million Swiss francs, the staggered expansion of childcare in many cantons allows the evaluation of this family policy on female labour supply. With new cantonal data, this study analyses both the decision to participate in the labour market and the intensity of participation. Empirical results of difference-in-differences regressions show that mothers work at higher percentage rates if they live in cantons that have expanded their childcare services more than the national average. The reform stimulated part-time employment of between 20 and 36 h per week by 2 percentage points. The expansion of childcare particularly affected women with two children and upper-secondary education, who are married or cohabit with their partner.
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