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Prevalence of Long Hours and Skilled Women's Occupational Choices

Author

Listed:
  • Cortes, Patricia

    (Boston University)

  • Pan, Jessica

    (National University of Singapore)

Abstract

Gender differences in occupations account for a sizable portion of the persistent gender pay gap. This paper examines the relationship between the demand for long hours of work (as proxied for by the share of men working 50 or more hours per week) and skilled women's occupational choice. Exploiting variation across 215 occupations and four decades in the US, we find that the prevalence of overwork in an occupation significantly lowers the share of college educated young married women with children working in that occupation. These findings are robust to controlling for the occupational distribution of similarly aged males and married women with no children, suggesting that the prevalence of overwork reduces the desirability of the work environment for women with family responsibilities and is not merely proxying for other demand side shocks. Similar results are obtained using a panel of European countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Cortes, Patricia & Pan, Jessica, 2016. "Prevalence of Long Hours and Skilled Women's Occupational Choices," IZA Discussion Papers 10225, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10225
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Nezih Guner & Ezgi Kaya & Virginia Sánchez‐Marcos, 2024. "Labor Market Institutions And Fertility," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 65(3), pages 1551-1587, August.
    3. McFarland Amanda & Pearlman Sarah, 2020. "Knowledge Obsolescence and Women’s Occupational Sorting: New Evidence from Citation Data," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, January.
    4. Amalia R. Miller & Ragan Petrie & Carmit Segal, 2019. "Does Workplace Competition Increase Labor Supply? Evidence from a Field Experiment," NBER Working Papers 25948, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Grace Lordan & Jörn‐Steffen Pischke, 2022. "Does Rosie Like Riveting? Male and Female Occupational Choices," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(353), pages 110-130, January.
    6. Kristen Sobeck, 2024. "Greedy Jobs, Labour Market Institutions, and the Gender Pay Gap," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 100(331), pages 462-490, December.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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