Sile Padraigin O'Dorchai

The Part-Time Wage Penalty in European Countries: How Large Is It for Men?

Economic theory advances a number of reasons for the existence of a wage gap between part-time and full-time workers. Empirical work has concentrated on the wage effects of part-time work for women. For men, much less empirical evidence exists, mainly because of lacking data. In this paper, we take advantage of access to unique harmonised matched employer-employee data (i.e. the 1995 European Structure of Earnings Survey) to investigate the magnitude and sources of the part-time wage penalty for male workers in six European countries (i.e. Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the UK). Findings show that the raw gap in hourly gross pay amounts to 16 per cent of male part-timer’s wage in Spain, to 24 per cent in Belgium, to 28 per cent in Denmark and Italy, to 67 per cent in the UK and to 149 per cent in Ireland. Human capital differences explain between 31 per cent of the observed wage gap in the UK and 71 per cent in Denmark. When a larger set of control variables is taken into account (including occupation, industry, firm size, and level of wage bargaining), a much smaller part of the gap remains unexplained by differences in observed characteristics (except in Italy). Overall, results suggest that policy initiatives to promote lifelong learning and training are of great importance to help part-timers catch up. Moreover, except for Italy, they point to a persisting problem of occupational and sectoral segregation between men working part-time and full-time which requires renewed policy attention.

Maybe baby: Comparing partnered women's employment and child policies in the EU - 15

Abstract This paper examines how child-related public policies influence womens employment in Europe. The analysis compares the difference in employment status between partnered mothers and nonmothers across the EU-15 using a wide range of self-constructed indicators of child policies such as childcare provision, parental leave, and tax-cash benefits. Using the recycled predictions method, it is possible to isolate the impact of the presence of a child from other characteristics likely to influence womens labor-market outcomes. Country-specific employment gaps among women are computed at different ages for the youngest child, for different outcomes (inactivity and part-time or full-time work), and for different levels of education. The main conclusion is that when it comes to securing equal labor-market access and conditions for mothers of young children and non-mothers, public childcare provision has the strongest impact. In the absence of public childcare, not even the most highly educated mothers can cope.

Making time for working parents: comparing public childcare provision

Introduction Early childhood education and care differ substantially across countries. First, opinions diverge as to the optimal age at which childrens socialisation should begin, that is, the age at which children should be cared for outside the family circle, and these differences are reflected in the way a countrys childcare system is organised (Letablier 1998). Some countries emphasise the importance of outside childcare options being available for children from as early as the end of maternity leave onwards. Others are in favour of children being cared for in the close family circle when they are very young and do not focus on developing outside care until children are 3 years of age (and up to the age at which they enter primary school). Second, countries also differ as to the sharing of childcare responsibilities between the domestic, the public and the private sphere. In some countries, ‘having children’ is considered to be a private choice, so that parents have to pay for the cost of children. In others, it is considered to be a public matter, in which case the state helps parents maintain their standard of living when they decide to have children. As a result, the former countries rely heavily on market intervention, while the latter focus on making the public system as all-encompassing as possible. Governments can act on three levels to provide care for children and to avoid deterring dual-earner families from having children.

Social Policies, Labour Markets and Motherhood: The position of mothers in a comparative welfare state perspective

Introduction In most European countries welfare states developed after World War II. Until 1960 most countries developing a welfare state were led by the idea that families would be provided for by their male heads, and therefore the design of social security schemes was based on a household-with-breadwinner perspective. Since the 1970s, however, labour force participation rates for women have risen in some European countries, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition, mothers increasingly have combined paid work and motherhood, even when children were still very young. Today, womens greater investment in education has resulted in their having equal levels of initial training. Although there are differences in mens participation rates across countries, the differences in womens participation rates are more significant, especially after children are born into the family. Women with a similar level of education behave differently in terms of both the age at which they choose to give birth to children and their labour force participation after childbirth. Moreover, the types of jobs women have vary considerably across welfare states. In order to understand welfare states and the difference between welfare states across Europe, social scientists began to classify countries according to various welfare criteria. Typologies can be used for different purposes and can focus on variables related to causes, institutions and/or outcomes. The most influential attempt to create a welfare state typology has been that of Esping-Andersen (1990).

Support for market care: comparing child cash and tax benefits

Introduction Besides public childcare provision and maternity/paternity leave arrangements, a third way for the state to intervene in the childcare sphere is to grant benefits to families with young children. These could help them finance the cost of childcare purchased on the market or cover part of their child-related expenses. However, the problem with this support is the broad use that parents can make of it. On the one hand, financial support can help families buy care time on the market and thus allow both parents to work (e.g. Del Boca et al. 2003; Viitanen 2005). On the other hand, when benefits are not issued for the specific purpose of purchasing market care, they can and are used to pay for other needs (food, clothes, etc.). A possible effect, which is very important from the gender point of view, is that, if financial support is perceived as being too generous, it risks inducing mothers to quit the labour market (e.g. Lewis and Ostner 1994; Naz 2004). The effect of such support on the work/family balance is then less clear. In the following sections we will present indicators that measure purely financial generosity, knowing that it should be kept in mind that ‘general’ cash or tax benefits have an ambiguous effect.

Trabalho e maternidade na Europa, condições de trabalho e políticas públicas.

Nosso objetivo e estudar qual sera a atitude das mulheres em face da maternidade e do emprego conforme os efeitos que a presenca de um filho venha a exercer sobre suas condicoes e perspectivas de trabalho; e medir os efeitos positivos ou negativos de politicas publicas sobre suas decisoes. Apresentaremos alguns resultados referentes ao custo dos filhos em termos de emprego e de eficacia das politicas publicas. A primeira parte e dedicada as estimativas dos efeitos especificos da maternidade sobre a participacao no mercado de trabalho e sua duracao. A segunda parte refere-se as politicas publicas implementadas em 15 paises europeus em apoio ao modelo da familia onde ambos os conjuges trabalham. Essa comparacao baseia-se na construcao de indicadores compatibilizados que sintetizam as informacoes de um conjunto exaustivo de dados quantitativos e qualitativos sobre tres formas de intervencao publica: os servicos de educacao e cuidado infantil, as licencas ligadas ao nascimento e as ajudas diretas as familias.

Competing Claims in Work and Family Life

Most of the 14 contributions (empirical, theoretical, qualitative and descriptive) published in this volume are by Dutch professors in sociology. However, there are also authors from other countries including Germany, the US, the UK, Belgium and Australia from fields including sociology, psychology, labour economics, management sciences and civil and environmental engineering. However, the analysis focuses mainly on the Netherlands and in the main adopts a sociological approach.