Vanessa Gash

Are fixed-term jobs bad for your health?: A comparison of West-Germany and Spain

ABSTRACT In this paper we analyse the health effects of fixed-term contract status for men and women in West-Germany and Spain using panel data. This paper asks whether changes in the employment relationship, as a result of the liberalisation of employment law, have altered the positive health effects associated with employment (Jahoda 1982; Goldsmith et al. 1996). Using information on switches between unemployment and employment by contract type we analyze whether transitions to different contracts have different health effects. We find that unemployed workers show positive health effects at job acquisition, and also find the positive effect to be smaller for workers who obtain a fixed-term job. We also establish surprising differences by gender and country, with women less likely to report positive health effects at job acquisition. For West-Germany, this was found to be a function of the dual-burden of paid and unpaid care within the home.

The Cost of Flexibility at the Margin. Comparing the Wage Penalty for Fixed-term Contracts in Germany and Spain using Quantile Regression

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 labor markets.

Wives’ part-time employment and marital stability in Great Britain, West Germany and the United States

Many hail wives’ part-time employment as a work—family balance strategy, but theories offer competing predictions as to the effects of wives’ employment on relationship stability. We use panel data to test these competing hypotheses among recent cohorts of first-married couples in Great Britain, West Germany 1 and the United States. We find effects of wives’ employment on marital stability var y across the countries. In West Germany with its high-quality part-time employment, couples where the wife works part time are significantly more stable. In the more liberal British and US labour markets, neither wives’ part- nor full-time employment significantly alters divorce risk. In the United States, however, mothers working part time have significantly lower divorce risk. West German and British husbands’ unemployment proves more detrimental to marital stability than wives’ employment. These results highlight the impor tance of the socioeconomic context in structuring the optimal employment participation of both partners.

Women between Part-Time and Full-Time Work: The Influence of Changing Hours of Work on Happiness and Life-Satisfaction

This paper asks whether part-time work makes women happy. Previous research on labour supply has assumed that as workers freely choose their optimal working hours on the basis of their innate preferences and the hourly wage rate, outcome reflects preference. This paper tests this assumption by measuring the impact of changes in working-hours on life satisfaction in two countries (the UK and Germany using the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey). We find decreases in working-hours bring about positive and significant improvement on well-being for women.

The Effects of Working Time, Segmentation and Labour Market Mobility on Wages and Pensions in Ireland

Most research on pay and benefit differences between full– and part–time work focuses on characteristics of part–time workers and part–time jobs. However, part–time jobs are more open to labour market ‘outsiders’, and such labour market mobility can influence wages. We analyse the effects of working time, gender, segmentation and mobility on wages and pension benefits in Ireland. Both segmentation and mobility influence wages directly, and controlling for segmentation in a wage model eliminates the negative effect of part–time working. The wage effects of labour market mobility differ by gender and labour market segment. Pension entitlement is strongly influenced by gender, working time, labour market segment and mobility.

The Influence of Changing Hours of Work on Women's Life Satisfaction

This paper asks whether moving to part-time work makes women happy. Previous research on labour supply has assumed that as workers freely choose their optimal working hours on the basis of their innate preferences and the hourly wage rate, outcome reflects preference. This paper tests this assumption by measuring the impact of changes in working hours on life satisfaction in two countries (the UK and Germany using the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey). We find decreases in working hours bring about positive and significant improvement on well-being for women.

Unemployed and alone? Unemployment and social participation in Europe

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between unemployment and social participation and aim to identify the role of national policies and attitudes as possible mediators. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use the 2006 EU-SILC module on social participation – a data set that provides rich information on social participation for 22/23 EU countries. They adopt a two-step multi-level design, allowing them to directly examine the impact of national policies and norms on individual outcome. Findings – The paper reveals clear evidence that the unemployed have lower levels of social participation than the employed across a range of indicators. The paper also reveals that macro-level variables significantly affect the extent of these differentials in social participation. For instance, the authors found that societies that expose the unemployed to poverty risk have a larger social participation gap between the employed and the unemployed. Originality/value – While the negative ...