Institutional and Demographic Explanations of Women's Employment in 18 OECD Countries, 1975–1999

Abstract

This study combined demographic and institutional explanations of women's employment, describing and explaining the degree to which mothers in industrialized societies are less likely to be employed than women without children. A large number of cross‐sectional surveys were pooled, covering 18 Organisation for Economic Co‐Operation and Development countries, 192,484 observations, and 305 country‐years between 1975 and 1999. These data were merged with measures of institutional context and analyzed with multilevel logistic regression. The results indicate that, over time, women were increasingly likely to combine motherhood and employment in many, but not all, countries. Both mothers and women without children were more likely to be employed in societies with a large service sector and low unemployment. The employment of women without children was generally unaffected by family policies. Mothers were more likely to be employed in societies with extensive reconciliation policies and limited family allowances.

Family policies and single parent poverty in 18 OECD countries, 1978–2008

“…Family allowances, on the other hand, were regarded a 'disincentive' for women's employment (Apps & Rees, 2004;Schwarz, 2012;Thévenon, 2011;Thévenon & Luci, 2012) and indeed found to suppress the labor force participation of mothers (Jaumotte, 2003;Nieuwenhuis, 2012Nieuwenhuis, , 2014. Thus, reconciliation policies are in line with this goal of the social investment state, whereas family support policies are not.…”

“…Nieuwenhuis, Need and Van der Kolk (2012) found that mothers' employment was lower in countries with generous family allowances. Dingeldey (2001) and Schwarz (2012) both found the same 'disincentive' for mothers' labor market participation of tax benefits for households with children.…”

“…Reconciliation policies are directly linked to poverty reduction, as employment is an important protection against poverty (Gornick, Meyers, & Ross, 1998;Gornick, 2004;Misra, Budig, & Moller, 2007). Many scholars have found that reconciliation policies are particularly effective in shaping women's employment outcomes (Gornick, Meyers, & Ross, 1998;Van der Lippe & Van Dijk, 2002;Jaumotte, 2003;Del Boca, Pasqua, & Pronzato, 2009;Hook, 2010;OECD, 2011A, 2011B;Nieuwenhuis, Need & Van der Kolk, 2012). However, it remains to be seen, to what extent reconciliation policies can facilitate the employment of single parents and reduce their poverty risk.…”

“…This study seeks to address this gap in the literature. In doing so, we will make an important distinction between two types of family policy: reconciliation policies that provide opportunities to reconcile work and family; and financial support policies that provide financial assistance to families with children (Gauthier, 1996;Thévenon, 2011, Nieuwenhuis, 2012.…”

How do educational and occupational resources relate to the timing of family formation? A couple analysis of the Netherlands

“…Career dynamics refer to the experience of upward and downward job mobility in the previous year. Because the compatibility of paid employment with fertility is, especially for women, dependent on the institutional context (Matysiak and Vignoli 2008;Nieuwenhuis, Need, and Van der Kolk 2012), the next section introduces the Netherlands as the institutional and cultural background of this study. The theoretical expectations with regard to the effects of earning potential and career dynamics on the timing of the first birth are then discussed.…”