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Timing and Flexibility of Housework and Men and Women's Wages

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Author Info
Bonke, Jens (Danish National Institute of Social Research)
Gupta, Nabanita Datta (CIM and Aarhus School of Business)
Smith, Nina () (CIM, Aarhus School of Business, DIW Berlin and IZA Bonn)

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Abstract

This paper analyses the effect of housework on men and women’s wages in Denmark by estimating quantile regressions on Danish time use survey data from 1987, merged to register information on hourly wages and other labour market variables for each of the years 1987-1991. We find, as in U.S. studies, that housework has negative effects on the wages of women and positive effects on the wages of men, except at the high end of the conditional wage distribution. At the 90th quantile, housework has a positive effect on the wages of women and a negative effect on the wages of men, and in fact, high-wage men receive the largest wage penalty of doing housework. Timing and flexibility of housework turn out to be more important than the level of housework, and women, particularly at the high end of the conditional wage distribution, who time their housework immediately before or after market work or engage in home tasks that require contiguous blocks of time are significantly penalized in terms of lower wages. These findings are even stronger for married and cohabiting couples and for workers on fixed time schedules as opposed to workers with flexible time schedules which are part of a bargain with the employer.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 860.

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Length: 38 pages
Date of creation: Aug 2003
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp860

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Related research
Keywords: housework; time use; flexibility; timing; wages;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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.:
  1. Becker, Gary S, 1985. "Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages S33-58, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  5. Datta Gupta, Nabanita & Smith, Nina, 2002. "Children and Career Interruptions: The Family Gap in Denmark," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 69(276), pages 609-29, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Schettkat, Ronald, 2003. "Differences in US-German Time-Allocation: Why Do Americans Work Longer Hours than Germans?," IZA Discussion Papers 697, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  7. Omar Arias & Walter Sosa-Escudero & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Individual heterogeneity in the returns to schooling: instrumental variables quantile regression using twins data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 7-40. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. James Albrecht & Anders Bjorklund & Susan Vroman, 2003. "Is There a Glass Ceiling in Sweden?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 145-177, January. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Jacobsen, Joyce P. & Kooreman, Peter, 2005. "Timing constraints and the allocation of time: The effects of changing shopping hours regulations in The Netherlands," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 9-27, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Leslie S. Stratton, 2001. "Why Does More Housework Lower Women's Wages? Testing Hypotheses Involving Job Effort and Hours Flexibility," Social Science Quarterly, The Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 82(1), pages 67-76. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Joni Hersch, 1991. "Male-female differences in hourly wages: The role of human capital, working conditions, and housework," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 44(4), pages 746-759, July.
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  13. Moulton, Brent R, 1990. "An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 334-38, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Roger Koenker & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Quantile Regression," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 143-156, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, 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.)

  1. Henrekson, Magnus & Dreber, Anna, 2004. "Female Career Success: Institutions, Path Dependence and Psychology," Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 574, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 27 Jan 2005.
  2. Henrekson, Magnus & Stenkula, Mikael, 2009. "Why Are There So Few Female Top Executives in Egalitarian Welfare States?," Working Paper Series 786, Research Institute of Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. Bloemen, Hans & Pasqua, Silvia & Stancanelli, Elena, 2008. "An Empirical Analysis of the Time Allocation of Italian Couples: Are Italian Men Irresponsive?," IZA Discussion Papers 3823, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Cristina Fernandez & Almudena Sevilla-Sanz, 2006. "Social Normas and Household Time Allocation," Economics Series Working Papers 291, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Elisabeth Hermann Frederiksen, 2006. "An Equilibrium Analysis of the Gender Wage Gap," EPRU Working Paper Series 06-08, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. repec:ese:iserwp: is not listed on IDEAS
  7. Aniela Wirz, 2004. "To my Wife, with Love! Does Within-household Specialisation Explain Husbands' Better Job-education-match?," KOF Working papers 04-93, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich. [Downloadable!]
  8. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Nina Smith & Mette Verner, 2008. "PERSPECTIVE ARTICLE: The impact of Nordic countries’ family friendly policies on employment, wages, and children," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 65-89, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Joni Hersch, 2009. "Home production and wages: evidence from the American Time Use Survey," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 159-178, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Cathleen Zick & W. Bryant & Sivithee Srisukhumbowornchai, 2008. "Does housework matter anymore? The shifting impact of housework on economic inequality," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-28, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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