Citation: Gash, V. (2008). Bridge or trap? To what extent do temporary workers make more transitions to unemployment than to the standard employment contract. European Sociological Review, 24(5), pp. 651-668. doi: 10.1093/esr/jcn027 This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. 1984;Blossfeld and Rohwer 1995). This paper establishes higher rates of transition to permanent employment than to unemployment for most temporary workers, though strong between-country differences are found. Permanent

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Others underline the difficulties women with family responsibilities face in their negotiation of paid employment (i.e. McRae 2003, Ginn et al. 1996. Here advocates claim that part-time workers are structurally constrained in their jobs due to the ongoing incompatibility of full-time employment and family life rather than being less committed to paid employment due to their weak work orientation. Permanent repository linkThis debate can only be resolved when there is an adequate understanding of how preferences and institutional structures, as well as their interaction, affect outcome. While there is a good grasp of the institutions and policies likely to structure female market

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This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent Vanessa Gash, University of ManchesterAbstract: This paper examines the extent of and the mechanisms behind the penalty to motherhood in six European countries. Each country provides different levels of support for maternal employment allowing us to determine institutional effects on labour market outcome. While mothers tend to earn less than nonmothers, the penalty to motherhood is considerably lower in countries with policy support for working mothers. The paper establishes the United Kingdom and West Germany to have the least policy support for working mothers as well as the largest penalties to motherhood.

Germany and Spain are typically regarded as 'rigid' economies, yet both have had different experiences of fixed-term jobs. Using quantile regression we find that in West Germany the earnings of permanent and fixed-term workers are most similar among high earners and most dissimilar among low earners. In Spain, the wage penalty shows little variation across the distribution of wages. This pattern was also found for different occupational groups, although there are clear differences in the absolute wage penalty across occupations. In conclusion we caution against generalizing findings from Spain to other 'rigid' European labour markets. Copyright 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation CEIS, Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2007.