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Female Labour Force Participation After Divorce: How Employment Histories Matter

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  • Gert Thielemans

    (University of Antwerp)

  • Dimitri Mortelmans

    (University of Antwerp)

Abstract

This article focuses on the labour market decisions of divorced women, surrounding the time of the factual separation. We build on earlier research, but explicitly distinguish between homemakers and unemployed women. Using retrospective data gathered from a sample of 1251 Flemish women from the Divorce in Flanders project (DiF 2009–2010), we performed anticipation-controlled event-history analysis to estimate the probability of an employment increase around the time of separation. We find that: (a) women were twice as likely to increase their employment for a short period of time after the separation, (b) there was an increasingly negative relationship between employment intensity at the time of separation and the probability of increasing employment immediately afterwards, and (c) observed differences between homemakers and unemployed women were likely due to compositional differences at the time of separation.

Suggested Citation

  • Gert Thielemans & Dimitri Mortelmans, 2019. "Female Labour Force Participation After Divorce: How Employment Histories Matter," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 180-193, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:40:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10834-018-9600-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-018-9600-9
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    2. Elizabeth Dolan & Elena Stancanelli, 2021. "Women’s Employment, Wages, and the Household," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 101-106, July.
    3. Daniel Brüggmann & Michaela Kreyenfeld, 2023. "Earnings Trajectories After Divorce: The Legacies of the Earner Model During Marriage," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(2), pages 1-34, April.
    4. Bram Hogendoorn, 2022. "Why do Socioeconomic Differences in Women’s Living Standards Converge After Union Dissolution?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(3), pages 577-622, August.
    5. Chau-kiu Cheung, 2022. "Occupying Protest and Life Dissatisfaction in Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 843-859, November.
    6. Dries Van Gasse & Dimitri Mortelmans, 2020. "Single Mothers’ Perspectives on the Combination of Motherhood and Work," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-19, May.
    7. Victoria Maleeva & Majlinda Joxhe & Skerdilajda Zanaj, 2020. "Poverty in Russia: the Role of the Marital Status and Gender," DEM Discussion Paper Series 20-16, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.

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