Gender and Work Hours Transitions in Australia: Drop Ceilings and Trap-Door Floors

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Gender and Work Hours Transitions in Australia: Drop Ceilings and Trap-Door Floors

Author Info

Drago, Robert (Pennsylvania State University)
Black, David (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne)
Wooden, Mark () (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne and IZA Bonn)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Mark Peter Wooden

Abstract

We introduce the ideas of "drop ceilings", that full-time employees who switch to reduced hours thereafter face an hours ceiling such that a return to full-time employment is difficult, and of "trap-door floors", that full-time employees may be denied the opportunity to reduce their hours and instead face a choice between full-time employment and quitting the job. These ideas derive from the potential existence of norms around the ideal worker and motherhood. Relevant hypotheses are developed and tested using information on usual and preferred working time from the first two waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey. The key findings are that women face drop ceilings significantly more often than men; that professionals and managers confront trap-door floors significantly more often than employees in other occupations; and that trap-door floor effects are generally stronger than drop ceiling effects in the data.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1210.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: Jul 2004
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1210

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Paper
- Robert Drago & David Black & Mark Wooden, 2004. "Gender and Work Hours Transitions in Australia: Drop Ceilings and Trap-Door Floors," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n11, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

NEP-ALL-2004-08-02 (All new papers)
NEP-LAB-2004-08-02 (Labour Economics)

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

Kea G. Tijdens, 2002. "Gender Roles and Labor Use Strategies: Women's Part-Time Work in the European Union," Feminist Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 71-99, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Heckman, James J, 1979. "Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 153-61, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
René Böheim & Mark P. Taylor, 2004. "Actual and Preferred Working Hours," British Journal of Industrial Relations, Blackwell Publishers Ltd/London School of Economics, vol. 42(1), pages 149-166, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Rebecca M. Blank, 1994. "The Dynamics of Part-Time Work," NBER Working Papers 4911, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Buddelmeyer, Hielke & Mourre, Gilles & Ward, Melanie, 2004. "Recent Developments in Part-Time Work in EU-15 Countries: Trends and Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 1415, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
Mark Wooden & Simon Freidin & Nicole Watson, 2002. "The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA)Survey: Wave 1," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 35(3), pages 339-348. [Downloadable!] (restricted)

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