Work-family Patterns Research Articles

Work\u2013family life course patterns and work participation in later life

Many developed nations seek to increase older people’s work participation. Work and family are linked to paid work in later life, and to each other. Few studies combined work and family histories using multichannel sequence analysis capturing status and timing of transitions in relation to work in later life. Using the MRC National Survey of Health and Development, for whom State Pension Age was age 65 (men) or 60 (women), we examined paid work at age 60–64 (and age 68–69 for men only) by work–family patterns across 35 years (ages 16–51). Women’s later work was related to the combination of timing of children and work during family formation. Women who had children later were more likely to work full-time at age 60–64 compared to the reference [characterised by continuous full-time employment, marriage, and children from their early 20s; adjusted OR 5.36 (95% CI 1.84, 15.60)]. Earlier motherhood was associated with lower likelihood of work at age 60–64 among those who did not return to work before age 51, but those who took a work break did not differ from those who worked continuously. Providing jobs which allow parents to combine work and family (e.g. part-time jobs) may encourage them to extend their working lives. In addition, men and women characterised by continuous full-time work and no children were less likely to work in their sixties. Associations were not explained by childhood health and social class, education, caregiving, housing tenure, or limiting illness. Research is needed to understand why childless people work less in later life.

Parental leave within the broader employment trajectory

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of parental leave use and long-term employment trajectories of parents in Luxembourg based on anonymous administrative records. This is the first systematic analysis of parental leave take-up rates and return rates for Luxembourg using a large and reliable data set.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use highly detailed administrative data to calculate take-up and return rates for parental leave for both men and women working in Luxembourg. To gain deeper insights into the employment trajectories of parents, the authors deploy the visualisation tools of the TraMineR package, which allow the authors to trace developments over time.FindingsThe authors estimate take-up rates for parental leave at 72 per cent for mothers and 13 per cent for fathers. The return rates for mothers are 88.4, 99.4 and 70.8 per cent depending on whether they took full-time, part-time or no parental leave. In contrast, over 95 per cent of fathers remain employed following parental leave. The trajectory analysis reveals that the event of birth is a clear turning point for the majority of the female trajectories, but not for the male ones.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature in at least several ways. First, this is the first available paper presenting the situation in Luxembourg using a large and reliable data set. Second, by including fathers in the analysis, the authors contribute to the available knowledge of male use of parental leave, which has been the subject of continued policy efforts in the past decades. Finally, the authors show how parental leave can be analysed using sequence analysis tools and how this method offers additional, holistic insights into work-family patterns over time.

The Interplay of Work and Family Trajectories over the Life Course: Germany and the United States in Comparison

This article uses sequence analysis to examine how gender inequality in work-family trajectories unfolds from early adulthood until middle age in two different welfare state contexts. Results based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the German National Education Panel Study demonstrate that in Germany, all work-family trajectories are highly gender-specific irrespective of social class. In contrast, patterns of work-family interplay across the life course in the United States are, overall, less gendered, but they differ widely by social class. In fact, work-family patterns characterized by high occupational prestige are fairly equally accessible for men and women. However, women are far more likely than men to experience the joint occurrence of single parenthood and unstable low-prestige work careers in the United States. The authors contribute to the literature by bringing in a longitudinal, process-oriented life course perspective and conceptualizing work-family trajectories as interlocked, multidimensional processes.

Work and family over the life-course. A typology of French long-lasting couples using optimal matching

Decisions regarding the division of labour are part of a dynamic process of negotiation between partners and thus develop throughout the life cycle, in relation to family events such as successive childbirths. This article investigates the degree of interaction between work and family of both partners in the long run over the life course. Using an innovative methodology, optimal matching analysis, and data from the French Family and Employers Survey (2004-05), it defines a typology of work-family strategies for about 950 long-lasting couples observed from 3 years before couple formation to 18 years later, and identifies related key life-course stages. Finally, it analyses the factors leading to the various trajectories, and assesses whether preferences or opportunities and constraints greatly influence couples' profiles. Results bring to light a wide variety of work-family patterns, where the number of children and the woman's employment trajectory are the key determinants of these couple profiles. In spite of the trend towards equal opportunities, only women adapt their work patterns, except in the most work-oriented couples . They use several strategies, by adjusting sequence and timing of births. In line with the standard human capital approach, partners' initial relative endowments influence couples' histories. A more traditional division of work is observed among less educated men and women, while women with greater human capital are more likely to remain employed through the transition to parenthood, whatever their partner's level of education.

Work-Family Relations in Transnational Perspective: A View from High-Tech Firms in India and the United States

This article presents a transnational analysis of work-family relations. Comparing three high-tech firms in India and the United States, we find that employees in each country establish different work-family boundaries. While those in the United States tend to prefer an integration of work and family realms through permeable boundaries, employees in India more often support a separation between work and family spheres through solid boundaries. Our analysis employs a “contextual” view of boundary formation. We argue that work-family relations observed in these U.S. and Indian firms reflect two important factors: 1) varying social contracts between workers, the state, and the private sector, which provide different types of support for families; and 2) varying trends in the persistence or reversal of historical, societal work-family divisions, which create pressures and opportunities either to insulate the household from the workplace, or to merge them together. In contrast to prevailing cultural explanations in the work-family literature that focus on culture or development, we argue for an approach that incorporates global power and inequality. We conclude by discussing implications for transnational debates about work-family. To many observers, the realms of work and family in the United States appear to be converging (Darrah, English-Lueck, and Freeman 2001; Hochschild 1997; Nippert-Eng 1996). As demands of family life and the workplace increasingly compete, activities within these historically distinct institutions often overlap, and have the effect of blurring, if not obliterating, customary boundaries and distinctions. Trends towards globalization suggest that this process may be transnational. These developments prompt several compelling questions. If labor patterns are converging globally (Lincoln and Kalleberg 1990), will this merging of work and family happen in other contries as well? If large corporations are becoming increasingly global, will (or should) their international branches establish work-family arrangements and policies that reflect current developments from their home countries, in our case those of the United States (see also Florida and Keeney 1991 on Japanses firms)? In short, are U.S. workfamily patterns the inevitable model for the rest of the world? This article addresses these questions through a transnational analysis of work-family relations. While the growing literature in this field provides an increasingly nuanced underEarlier versions of this article were presented at meetings of the American Sociological Association, and the Sloan