The end of polarization? Evolutions of the distribution of employment across couples in Europe over the past 40 years

Abstract

Abstract This article revisits the claim that heterosexual couple employment participation has increasingly been polarizing in Europe between dual-jobless and dual-earning. Studying twenty-seven European countries over 4 decades, it finds that polarization has increased, but at a clearly decreasing rate. Polarization rose in the 1980s/1990s, as women joining employment then were disproportionately likely to have a male partner also employed. It has slowed-down since, as rising female employment eventually started materializing into substantial rates of female-single-earning. The article explores different potential factors behind this shift. At the macro-level, the sectoral transformation of economies and the 2008 crisis have had lasting impacts on couple employment. At the couple level, partnered women have become more educated than partnered men, fuelling the rise in female-single-earning. Amongst disadvantaged couples, dual-worklessness has decreased, but is being replaced by the clustering of non-standard employment in couples.