Gender, Time Use, and Public Policy over the Life Cycle

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. In this paper we compare gender differences in the allocation of time to market work, domestic work, child care, and leisure over the life cycle. Time use profiles for these activity categories are constructed on survey data for three countries: Australia, the UK and Germany. We discuss the extent to which gender differences and life cycle variation in time use can be explained by public policy, focusing on the tax treatment of the female partner and on access to high quality, affordable child care. Profiles of time use, earnings and taxes are compared over the life cycle defined on age as well as on phases that represent the key transitions in the life cycle of a typical household. Our contention is that, given the decision to have children, life cycle time use and consumption decisions of households are determined by them and by public policy. Before children arrive, the adult members of the household have high labour supplies and plenty of leisure. The presence of pre-school children, in combination with the tax treatment of the second earner's income and the cost of bought-in child care, dramatically change the pattern of time use, leading to large falls in female labour supply. We also highlight the fact that, in the three countries we study, female labour supply exhibits a very high degree of heterogeneity after the arrival of children, and we show that this has important implications for public policy. Terms of use: Documents in Gender, Time Use and Public Policy over the Life Cycle Patricia Apps Ray Rees D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SJEL Classification: J16, J22, H31, D91

Labour market integration, occupational uncertainty, and fertility choices in Germany and the UK

“…Since 2000, politicians have promised repeatedly to extend the availability of childcare, but the supply has remained virtually unchanged. This confluence of factors-the limited childcare supply, generous benefits and parental leave policies, and a tax structure favouring single-earner families (Apps and Rees 2005)-have led German mothers to retreat from the labour market. When combined with a persistent pay gap between men and women, this system promotes dependence on a male breadwinner.…”

The Quantitative Role of Child Care for Female Labor Force Participation and Fertility

“…Maternal labor force participation and child care enrollment choices by the children's age constitute the core of the analysis in this paper. Similarly to Apps and Rees (2005), my focus is however not on the maternal labor force participation status in each month of a child's life but during the different stages of a child's adolescence. For pre-school ages I follow the usual convention and split them up in two periods, ages zero to two and ages three to mandatory school age where children in Germany are on average six and a half years old.…”

Time Use of Mothers in the United States: Recent Evidence from the American Time Use Survey

“…Although each one of us faces the time constraint imposed by the 24-hour day, mothers face particular time trade-offs when providing care for their children as a part of their daily lives. Knowledge of time use patterns in U.S. households will have important implications for employers, who may better understand the ways in which parents balance work and family, and can inform public policy on a variety of issues such as social security, health care, elder care, tax reform, and educational policy (see, for example, Apps [2005] and Smeeding and Marchand [2004]). …”