Abstract
This article examines the working lives of British couple families across the first decade of the millennium using EU Labour Force Survey data (2001–13) taking a multiple equilibria approach. Some growth in dual full-time earners, increased working hours of mothers in part-time employment and a growing proportion of households with ‘non-standard’ working patterns are all identified, suggesting both a convergence and greater diversity in economic provisioning within parent couple households. Household employment patterns remain strongly associated with maternal education and family size but are becoming less sensitive to the age of the youngest child. The dual full-time earner model is growing in significance for British parents of young children but a new gender egalitarian equilibrium has not yet been reached.
Highlights
As female education and employment has grown in most affluent countries since the mid-1970s, how employed parents accommodate economic activity with the care of children has become a key challenge for citizens and policy makers alike (Sherif Trask, 2010)
The authors hypothesize that: 1) The male sole full-time earner model and the standard 1.5 earner model will both decrease in prevalence; at the same time the dual full-time earner model will become more common, in accordance with the UK moving away from the traditional towards the gender egalitarian equilibrium; 2) Maternal education will retain its importance in influencing household employment patterns, with better educated women being more likely to be in dual full-time earner households; 3) The significance of the age of the youngest child and the number of children in the household will become less pronounced, reflecting improvements in childcare provision and other work-family policy developments in the UK
The impact of mother’s education appeared to be stronger in 2013 than in 2001; this, combined with the growth in female education, has contributed to the rise in dual full-time earner households
Summary
As female education and employment has grown in most affluent countries since the mid-1970s, how employed parents accommodate economic activity with the care of children has become a key challenge for citizens and policy makers alike (Sherif Trask, 2010). The authors hypothesize that: 1) The male sole full-time earner model and the standard 1.5 earner model will both decrease in prevalence; at the same time the dual full-time earner model will become more common, in accordance with the UK moving away from the traditional towards the gender egalitarian equilibrium; 2) Maternal education will retain its importance in influencing household employment patterns, with better educated women being more likely to be in dual full-time earner households; 3) The significance of the age of the youngest child and the number of children in the household will become less pronounced, reflecting improvements in childcare provision and other work-family policy developments in the UK
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