Cyclicality of Hours Worked by Married Women and Spousal Insurance

Abstract

I document that married women's hours worked are significantly less cyclical than hours worked by married men and singles and argue that spousal insurance contributes to the low cyclicality. Analyzing volatility, transition rates, and household behavior, I show that (i) married women experience the lowest cyclical volatility; (ii) their volatility depends more on past than current fluctuations of business cycle indicators; (iii) married women are less likely to become unemployed or leave the labor force during recessions, but not more likely to join the labor force; and (iv) unemployment of the husband is associated with more hours worked by the wife, particularly during recessions.

How did the COVID‐19 pandemic affect men's and women's returns to unionization?

“…Second, during a typical recession, married women tend to increase their labor supply to compensate for the unemployment of their husbands (called “the added worker effect”), so women's employment is less affected by economic downturns (Albanesi, 2020; Ellieroth, 2019). If those married women are more likely to join unions (for stronger security measures against COVID‐19, paid sick leave, and better health insurance, etc.…”

The impacts of trade liberalization on the local labor market: Older women are especially vulnerable

“…However, the option is often not available for men, as social norm requires men to earn more than women. On the other hand, women may increase their labor supply in response to the potential family income losses when their husbands are laid off (Doepke & Michèle, 2016; Ellieroth, 2019). Does the widening gender gap result from female labor supply being more responsive to China trade shocks than male labor supply?…”

Cierre de escuelas en pandemia y brechas de género en Argentina: ¿madres más vulnerables?

“…Una segunda explicación de la reducción de brechas de género durante las crisis económicas se relaciona con el cambio en las decisiones intrafamiliares. Conocido como "efecto trabajador adicional" y acudido originalmente por Woytinsky (1940) [38] implica que, bajo condiciones de pérdida del empleo del jefe de hogar (usualmente hombre), las mujeres salen a buscar trabajo para compensar la caída del ingreso familiar (ver por ejemplo Lundberg 1985[29] y Ellieroth 2019 [19] para un análisis en Estados Unidos; o Serrano et al 2019 [37] y Berniell et al 2022 [9] para un estudio sobre países de América Latina).…”