Household Labor Research Articles

The gendered division of household labor and decision-making in Tehran, Iran

The division of labor and decision-making within households is highly influenced by gender norms and resource allocation. However, there has been a marked shift away from traditional gender roles in domestic tasks and decision-making in recent years. This study examines the division of domestic responsibilities, childcare, and decision-making within households, as well as the socioeconomic factors that influence these dimensions in Iran. Data come from the “Survey of Married Lifestyle,” which included 1736 married people aged 18 years and over in Tehran, selected through a multi-stage random sampling process. The results reveal that while women are increasingly involved in decision-making, they still primarily shoulder the burden of household chores and childcare. Factors such as women’s education and income, as well as men’s education and dual-earner status, are key determinants of the division of labor in households. Social policies that focus on enhancing women’s access to education and economic opportunities are crucial for promoting gender equality and empowering women in household decision-making.

School starting age and mothers’ labour supply: causal evidence from the 2012 education reform in Turkey

PurposeThis paper assesses the impact of a reduction in childcare costs, resulting from a change in compulsory schooling law, on mothers' labour supply in Turkey.Design/methodology/approachThe 2012 Education Reform lowered the school starting age, allowing children up to 60 months old to enrol in primary schools. Previously, the starting age was seven years old, corresponding to 72-month-old children. We consider this change as an implied childcare subsidy for mothers with eligible children and investigate its labour market consequences. Using Turkish Household Labour Force Surveys, we applied a differences-in-differences method to estimate the effect of this law on mothers' labour supply.FindingsThe results reveal that the reform did not alter mothers' labour supply behaviour, even when categorized by educational attainment and marital status. While the findings for married mothers align with previous literature, the results for single mothers, despite showing a positive magnitude, are not statistically significant.Originality/valuePrevious literature shows a strong correlation but limited causal evidence on childcare subsidies and maternal labour supply in Turkey. This study is the first to use a change in compulsory schooling law to provide causal evidence. The results suggest that mothers in developing countries may respond differently to subsidies than those in developed countries, especially when there is an extensive informal childcare market. Policymakers should consider this when addressing mothers' behavioural inertia.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2024-0110

What sustains feminized part-time work at the gender equality frontier? Evidence from a vignette experiment

Feminized part-time work has been deemed a family policy conundrum yet to be solved by any welfare regime. To identify ways forward, this article examines structural drivers of part-time work decisions through a vignette experiment fielded in the gender-egalitarian context of Norway ( N = 3500). Six theory-grounded factors are tested in this multidimensional, causal framework: partner income level, physical and cognitive household labour burdens, the presence of a part-time culture at the workplace, and consequences of part-time work for career advancement and future pensions. Results show that overall, factors that regulate individuals’ material self-interest (partner income, career and pension consequences) have the largest impact on working-time decisions. Additionally, a priming treatment is given with a split sample concerning the factor of cognitive household labour – the organizational dimension of household work. Results from sub-group analyses show that non-primed respondents prefer significantly higher working hours when their cognitive labour burden is lower. Respondents who received experimental priming, however, portray the opposite behaviour (lower working-hour preference when cognitive labour burden is low). The pattern is driven by women, whereas men are left largely unaffected by both the priming and vignette treatment of cognitive labour. Thus, robust findings imply that gender inequality in material circumstances sustains feminized part-time work patterns. Suggestive evidence further indicates that gender inequality in cognitive labour loads may also contribute to sustaining feminized part-time work.

Self-employment survival in China: does family involvement matter?

Using data from the China Household Finance Survey spanning 2015–2019, we investigate the relationship between family involvement and self-employment survival. Instrumental variables are used to address the potential endogeneity of family involvement. We show that family involvement is crucial in reducing self-employment exit. This significant effect is more pronounced in elderly self-employed and self-employed with children aged 0–5. The underlying mechanisms reveal that family members’ participation in self-employment flexibly allocates idle household labor and improves the household employment rate. Meanwhile, self-employment with family involvement may have better access to credit and better performance, thus enhancing self-employment survival. Our findings are validated by robustness checks, including a discrete time complementary log–log model and estimations using alternative measurements of family involvement and self-employment exit. Our study has useful implications for policy-makers to stimulate family involvement to promote self-employment survival.

Labor supply effects of a universal cash transfer

I investigate the labor supply effects of the introduction of an exceptionally large unconditional cash benefit. I exploit the unique design of the child benefit program in Poland to identify the effects of the monthly transfer in a difference-in-differences design. The transfer had no short-term effects but caused sizable negative medium-term effects on household labor supply. In the medium run, population estimates indicate that for every extra 100 dollars in monthly child benefit transfers households received, they reduced their after-tax earnings by 25 dollars, spent 32 dollars on consumption, and saved 43 dollars. These negative labor supply effects are much larger and much more precisely estimated among households with low socioeconomic status. Additional evidence shows that the program had a positive impact on investments in human capital and home production efficiency.

Multiple faces of labour market segmentation within the Turkish construction industry

Abstract This study explores labour market segmentation within the Turkish construction industry, in a developing country context characterised by refugee influxes and heightened earthquake risks. We apply statistical and regression analyses using 2002–2020 Household Labour Force Survey data to explore segmentation with a specific focus on payment, job type and social security enrolment. The findings reveal a segmented labour market where the progress in regular, permanent and registered employment in the 2000s failed to encompass most construction workers. Lower wages, and temporary and unregistered work are more common among the youngest and oldest workers, those with poor education and qualification levels, immigrants, and those employed by micro enterprises. The construction industry lags behind both manufacturing and services in terms of registered and permanent employment rates and average wages. The prevalence of workers in elementary jobs with little education highlights the ongoing challenge of ensuring a highly skilled workforce, while reconstruction activities in earthquake-prone zones and the demand for urban transformation in Türkiye are increasing. We argue that improvements in working conditions constitute an urgent restructuring component in the sector for elevating the status of construction jobs, addressing the shortage of skilled labour and ensuring a high-quality building stock that upholds the right to a secure life in Türkiye.

Determinants of Fertility Intentions among South Koreans: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

(1) Background/objectives: This study aims to systematically review and conduct a meta-analysis of factors influencing fertility intentions among South Koreans. This research is crucial given South Korea's lowest-in-the-world fertility rate of 0.72 in 2023, necessitating rapid and effective policies to address this demographic challenge; (2) Methods: Articles published from database inception through April 2024 were collected from five Korean databases using keywords based on the PEO (Population, Exposure, Outcome) framework. Following PRISMA guidelines, 35 articles were selected. The effect sizes and network of predictors related to fertility intention were analyzed using the R statistical package; (3) Results: A meta-analysis of the effect sizes of factors influencing fertility intentions revealed that the husband's involvement in parenting (ESr = 0.131), women's education level (ESr = 0.127), socioeconomic status (ESr = 0.116), and the expected gender of the child (ESr = 0.068) showed statistically significant positive effects. Conversely, women's age (ESr = -0.175), parental stress (ESr = -0.146), and household labor ratio (ESr = -0.117) showed statistically significant negative effects. The network analysis further elucidated the complex interrelationships among these factors; (4) Conclusions: This study suggests the need for multifaceted policy approaches to address Korea's low fertility, emphasizing promoting men's participation in parenting, supporting women's education and career development, reducing parenting stress, supporting work-family balance, and ensuring economic stability. These findings provide important insights for policymakers and researchers addressing the complex issue of low fertility in South Korea and may inform more effective interventions to boost fertility rates.

Lost jobs, new jobs and optimal tax-transfer reforms

AbstractAutomation and globalisation imply deep changes in the labour market. An important policy issue is whether and how the tax-transfer rules should be reformed to help coping with those changes. While the prevailing response has consisted of more sophisticated designs of mean-testing and targeting, we also witness an increasing interest in policies inspired by simplicity. Using a combination of behavioural microsimulation and numerical optimization, we look for a (social welfare) optimal tax-transfer rule within a flexible class where total household disposable income is a 4th-degree polynomial in total household taxable income plus a constant. We use a model of household labour supply that makes it possible to account for equilibrium constraints and evaluate the effects of changes of the labour demand scenario. Beside the (observed) Status quo scenario, we consider two alternative stylized cases: the “Jobless” scenario and the “Polarised” scenario. We simulate and compare the social welfare attained by the current tax-transfer rules under the three scenarios and the social welfare attained by the different polynomial optimal tax-transfer rules identified in each scenario. We present results using the 2015 EU-SILC data sets for France, Germany, Italy and Luxembourg. The polynomial optimal rules are social welfare superior to the current ones in all the countries and under all the scenarios and—with the exception of Luxembourg—are close to a Universal Basic Income (or a Negative Income Tax) plus a not-too progressive tax rule (close to a Flat Tax).

Trade‐offs between labour migration and agricultural productivity: Evidence from smallholder wheat systems in Nepal

AbstractRural labour out‐migration has become a major contributor to off‐farm income through remittances and plays a crucial role in supporting the livelihoods of rural households in developing economies. However, research on the simultaneous on‐farm and off‐farm impacts of labour migration is still lacking. This study assesses the impacts of household labour migration on wheat productivity, labour and total costs, profitability and off‐farm income among smallholder wheat growers in Nepal. We use endogenous switching regression and two‐stage least squares regression models to control for potential endogeneity. The findings reveal that labour migration boosts off‐farm income due to remittances but negatively affects wheat productivity and profitability due to labour shortages. In addition, heterogeneous effects are observed, with large farms, cooperative membership, use of farm mechanization and non‐marginalized castes recording positive impacts. The study suggests that social institutions, such as cooperatives, and farm mechanization can create synergies between labour migration and agricultural productivity in Nepal.

A digital narrative study concerning global crisis period: The pandemic's impact on the domestic responsibilities of women health workers in Türkiye

The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted a profound influence on female healthcare workers, resulting in a notable escalation in the time allocated to domestic duties and unpaid household labor. This study delves into the professional and personal experiences of these women through the medium of digital narratives. Employing interpretive analysis within a phenomenological framework, the research scrutinized six female healthcare workers, all of whom were mothers of children under the age of 18. The investigation revealed that the pandemic has exacerbated existing gender disparities, manifesting in an increased burden of unpaid domestic responsibilities coupled with a concomitant reduction in personal time. Moreover, the utilization of digital narratives emerged as a multifaceted tool, not only facilitating socialization among healthcare workers but also nurturing their well-being and fostering the development of digital literacy skills.

Gender, socioeconomic status, and numeracy test scores

We study the interrelationship between the gender gap in numeracy and socioeconomic status (SES) based on household income, parental education, and labor force status. A composite measure of SES confirms the well-established fact that boys from lower SES are more disadvantaged. In contrast, we find that separately the three aspects of higher SES interact uniquely with gender to drive differential outcomes in numeracy for girls and boys. Income and mother’s role in particular, are important drivers of the gender gap at the extremes of the income distribution. Mother’s education and labor force participation is associated with increasingly higher test scores for girls across the income distribution, thus leading to a double disadvantage for poor girls. But the gender gap does not disappear at the top of the income distribution, as for boys, test scores increase with stay-at-home mothers. In high-income households boys benefit from a traditional household structure; while in low-income households, the gap is driven by girls having worse numeracy scores in the traditional household structure.

Measuring Families’ Outsourced Household Labor in Country-Context: Accounting for Country-Level Gender and Class-Based Inequality

Measuring Families’ Outsourced Household Labor in Country-Context: Accounting for Country-Level Gender and Class-Based Inequality

Equality in household labor allocation among married and cohabiting individuals in Italy: the role of unions history

This study focuses on the allocation of household labor in Italy, finely differentiating between various forms of married and unmarried cohabiting unions. Specifically, currently married and cohabiting individuals are differentiated on the basis of the type of their first union. We employ data on individuals’ partnership histories from the 2016 “Families and Social Subjects” survey, which allows us to consider the role of previous (marital or non-marital) unions and, for currently or previously married individuals, whether or not they cohabited before marriage. A composite index measuring gender equality in household labor allocation is constructed based on different domestic tasks, weighting each task according to how time consuming the associated activity is. Results highlight the importance of considering the first union to explain the division of household labor even within later relationships. In particular, for men, cohabitation does not, as one might expect, mean a more egalitarian division of labor, once selection factors are taken into account and independently from the type of previous relationships. However, considering activities by gender, some signals of a greater participation in female-typed tasks are observed for married and cohabitating men who experienced previous (premarital) cohabitations. For women, instead, cohabitation implies a more egalitarian way to share household labor, if it is a first union or in any situation for which it was the first approach to life as a couple. Cohabitation does not imply a more egalitarian division of labor for women if their first union was a marriage. These differences in household labor allocation for women mainly follow from those observed in female-typed tasks, whereas couple differences in male-typed activities are weaker.

Living arrangements and labor market volatility of young workers

Household size is countercyclical, mainly because of young people moving into or delaying departure from the parental home. Those living in older households earn less and have more volatile hours than their peers living alone. We pose a theory of household formation and labor choice over the business cycle. Young people decide where to live depending on their wage, taste for living within the old household, and implicit transfers received. Our theory accounts for the bulk of the contribution of the household's size volatility to the volatility of the aggregate hours. Including people with varying living arrangements yields an implied aggregate, or macro, Frisch elasticity around 70 percent larger than the assumed micro elasticity.

한국 코미디 프로그램 속 다문화 가정의 고정관념 분석 - ‘외국인 며느리 니퉁의 인간 극장’을 중심으로

This study analyzes the stereotypes of multicultural families presented in the Korean comedy program ‘Foreign Daughter-in-Law Nitong’s Human Theater’. To achieve this, six episodes were transcribed, and the interactions and behaviors of the characters were examined to collect and categorize the stereotypes. The analysis revealed that the frequency of speech by the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law Nitong was the highest, reflecting the authoritative position of the mother-in-law and the subordinate role of Nitong. In contrast, the husband's speech frequency was relatively low, indicating his role as a mediator in conflict situations and his lack of direct involvement in household affairs. The analysis of stereotype types identified those related to household labor, family roles, cultural elements, language issues, and appearance and age. Household labor stereotypes were reproduced through the mother-in-law's instructions and Nitong's compliance, emphasizing traditional patriarchal roles, the mother-in-law's authority, and the daughter-in-law's subordinate role. Additionally, cultural elements such as food culture, lifestyle differences, and language issues were found to be sources of conflict, with misunderstandings, conflicts, and pronunciation issues being major factors. Stereotypes related to appearance and age, including evaluations and derogations, were also present. This study elucidates how media forms and reinforces stereotypes about multicultural families, providing valuable insights into the discrimination and inequality faced by multicultural family members in society. It underscores the importance of multicultural education and media literacy, suggesting the need for viewers to critically engage with media. Ultimately, the study contributes to enhancing social inclusivity and respect for diverse cultural backgrounds.

A comprehensive study on the livelihood implications of transitioning from cocoa to rubber plantation in Ghana

The study, conducted in Manso Amenfi, Western Region, Ghana, explored the livelihood implications of transitioning from cocoa to rubber plantations. Using a cross-sectional survey with 384 participants, data revealed a decline in cocoa production levels. The socioeconomic factors that influence farmers’ land use shift behaviour were age, household size, being a household head, farm size, educational level, access extension and labour availability. The knowledge factor that was ranked first as influencing farmers shift behaviour was high price of rubber while the behavioural factor was the farmers’ personal belief that rubber plantation will do well than cocoa. The farmers agreed that rubber plantation has effect on their livelihood. The study recommends interventions to make cocoa cultivation more profitable, addressing concerns like low prices, pests, diseases, and soil fertility, emphasizing the need for support from agricultural extension officers, the Ghana Cocoa Board, and the government.

The Care Subsidy to the Labor Market: Rethinking the Care Diamond

Abstract The market is considered one of the four care agents and has been studied as a provider of paid services. However, the first part of this article posits the relevance of distinguishing two roles the market plays in care provision—private care provider and as the labor market—which shows, as feminist economics argues, that the market receives a subsidy from care work because the capital appropriates the value generated by the mostly female unpaid work in households through the family wage. The second part presents a methodology to estimate this subsidy of care to capital, based on time-use surveys and the computation of how many hours of total work are not paid for with household labor income using data from Mexico as a case study. With these figures, it is possible to develop public policy mechanisms that make the labor market co-responsible in care provision.

Socioeconomic Vulnerabilities of Migrant Labour Households in Delhi

The paper discusses the precarity of employment for vulnerable workers, and the laws and policies meant for protecting the interests of migrants. To provide a more complete picture of the migrants belonging to the marginalized and vulnerable sections, field work was carried out in two slums of Delhi to gauge their socioeconomic conditions, nature of employment, and living conditions. The employment structure in Delhi has also been examined, using secondary data, to gauge the pattern of informal employment. The figures reveal a very sordid picture, as a majority of the workers in Delhi do not have any social security or legal protection of their jobs, and work under terrible conditions. While the social security system has been expanded to cover informal workers, migrant workers are still excluded, as the institutional structure of these schemes is creating problems in being accessible to migrants. All these factors point towards the complete lack of visibility of migrants for decades from the policy framework. There is an urgent need to develop strategies that reduce the vulnerabilities of migrants in the cities and help alleviate their miseries.

For Whom Does One Toil? Time Use Differentials, Social Reproduction, and Occupational Prestige

Social reproduction theory builds upon Marxist theories that center on the extent to which labor power is the source of capital’s growth through the exploitation of the working class, providing a unique lens for analyzing how labor power differences may contribute to structural inequity. While research has shown that women and girls are primarily responsible for the majority of unpaid reproductive labor, little research has considered how time spent in unpaid work may also vary by social class position. We utilize nationally representative data from the American Time Use Survey to estimate time use differentials across occupational prestige deciles, separately by gender, to address this question. We find that higher occupational prestige is significantly associated with less time spent on unpaid household labor for women, but not for men. Our results highlight the complex nature of unpaid reproductive work under capitalism, emphasizing the importance of considering social class positions when examining inequities in the unpaid work burden.

‘I walk around with a list in my head’: qualitative research on perceived causes and consequences of the unequal gender division of mental labor in Croatian households

ABSTRACT The mental labor is the combination of cognitive and emotional labor, which is performed predominantly by women. It consists of anticipating needs, identifying options, making decisions, and monitoring their execution for all household members, and the emotional labor associated with this work. This qualitative study, conducted through focus groups, explores how women and men explain gender differences in mental labor, identifies the perceived consequences of such inequalities, and examines men’s perceptions on women’s mental labor. Thematic analysis yielded six key themes with the richest explanation of how women perform the greater share of mental labor because of stereotypical gender roles. Other explanations rely on efficiency, reliability, and managing conflicts. Most explanations are differentiated into essentialist and constructivist beliefs. Both the perceived consequences of mental labor and men’s perception are predominately negative, characterized by an over-evaluation of men’s initiatives and a devaluation of women’s mental labor. In qualitative research, the mental labor is identified as primarily female labor, leading to exhaustion among women, while it remains largely unrecognized and unappreciated by men.