Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-06T23:01:16.717Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effects of Part-Time Work on Women's Occupational Mobility in Britain: Evidence from the 1958 Birth Cohort Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

Shirley Dex  and
Erzsébet Bukodi
Shirley Dex*
Affiliation:
Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London
Erzsébet Bukodi
Affiliation:
Oxford Institute of Social Policy, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, and Nuffield College, University of Oxford. We would like to thank Heather Joshi and two anonymous referees for their critical comments and suggestions. This study was funded as part of the ESRC Priority Gender Inequalities Network, Project 1, Reference RES-225-25-2001
*
E-mail: s.dex@ioe.ac.uk.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The effects of working part time on job downgrading and upgrading are examined over the life course of British women born in 1958. We use longitudinal data with complete work histories from a large-scale nationally representative cohort study. Occupations were ranked by their hourly average earnings. Analyses show a strong link between full-time/part-time transitions and downward and upward occupational mobility over the course of up to thirty years of employment. Probabilities of occupational mobility were affected by women's personal traits, occupational characteristics and demand-side factors. Downward mobility on moving from full-time to part-time work was more likely for women at the top levels of the occupational hierarchy working in male-dominated or mixed occupations and less likely in higher occupations with more part-time jobs available.

Keywords

Part-time workcareer progressionwomendowngradinglongitudinal dataJ16J62Z13
Type
Research Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 222 , October 2012 , pp. R20 - R37
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alakeson, V. (2012), The Price of Motherhood: Women and Part-Time work, London, The Resolution Foundation.Google Scholar
Blackwell, L. (2001), ‘Occupational sex segregation and part-time work in modern Britain’, Gender, Work and Organization, 8, pp. 146–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blank, R. (1998), ‘Labour market dynamics and part-time work’, in Polachek, S.W. (ed.), Research in Labor Economics, vol. 17, Greenwich, CN, JAI Press.Google Scholar
Blossfeld, H.-P. and Hakim, C. (1997), Between Equalization and Marginalization: Women Working Part Time in Europe and the United States of America, Oxford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Blossfeld, H.-P., Mills, M. and Bernardi, F. (2006), Globalization, Uncertainty and Men's Careers. An International Comparison, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA, Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Booth, A.L. and van Ours, J.C. (2008), ‘Job satisfaction and family happiness: the part-time work puzzle’, The Economic Journal, 118, F77–F99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bukodi, E., Dex, S. and Joshi, H. (2012), ‘Changing career trajectories of women and men across time’, in Scott, J., Dex, S. and Plagnol, A. (eds), Gendered Lives: Gender Inequalities in Production and Reproduction, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Bukodi, E., Goldthorpe, J. and Dex, S. (2011), ‘The conceptualisation and measurement of occupational hierarchies: a review, a proposal and some illustrative analyses’, Quantity and Quality, 45 (3), pp. 623–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, T.W. (1999), ‘Revolving doors re-examined: occupational sex segregation over the life course’, American Sociological Review, 64, pp. 86–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connolly, S. and Gregory, M. (2005), ‘Part-time work – a trap for women's careers? An analysis of the roles of heterogeneity and state dependence’, Department of Economics Discussion Paper Series, No. 245, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Connolly, S. and Gregory, M. (2008), ‘Moving down: women's part time work and occupational change in Britain’, The Economic Journal, 118, pp. F52–F76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corcoran, M., Duncan, G.J. and Ponza, M. (1984), ‘Work experience, job segregation and wages’, in Reskin, B.F. (ed.), Sex Segregation in the Workplace: Trends, Explanations, Remedies, Washington DC, National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Dex, S., Ward, K. and Joshi, H. (2008), ‘Changes in women's occupations and occupational mobility over 25 years’, in Scott, J., Dex, S. and Joshi, H. (eds), Changes in Women's Employment over 25 Years, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Doeringer, P.B. and Piore, M.J. (1971), Internal Labour Markets and Manpower Analysis, Lexington, D.C. Heath and Company.Google Scholar
Elias, P. and Main, B. (1982), Working Women's Lives: Evidence from the National Training Survey, Warwick, University of Warwick Institute for Employment.Google Scholar
Francesconi, M. and Gosling, A. (2005), ‘Gender paths of part-time workers’, Manchester: Equal Opportunities Commission Working Paper Series No.19.Google Scholar
Gallie, D. and Zhou, Y. (2011), ‘The changing job skills of female part-time workers in Britain 1992–2006’, Human Resource Management Journal, 21 (1), pp. 28–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gash, V. (2008), ‘Preference or constraint? Part-time workers’ transitions in Denmark, France and the United Kingdom’, Work, Employment and Society, 22(4), pp. 655–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golsch, K. (2006), ‘The process of globalization and women's careers in Britain’, in Blossfeld, H.-P. and Hofmeister, H. (eds), Globalization, Uncertainty and Women's Careers: An International Comparison, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA, Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Goos, M. and Manning, A. (2007), ‘Lousy and lovely jobs: the rising polarization of work in Britain’, Review of Economics and Statistics, 89 (1), pp. 118–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, L., Yeandle, S. and Buckner, L. (2005), ‘Working below potential: women and part-time work’, Manchester, Equal Opportunities Commission, Working Paper Series No.40.Google Scholar
Green, C.A. and Ferber, M.A. (2005), ‘The long-run effect of part-time work’, Journal of Labor Research, 26 (2), pp. 323–33, DOI: 10.1007/s12122-005-1028-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hakim, C. (2000), Work-Lifestyle Choices in the 21 st Century: Preference Theory, Oxford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hawkes, D. and Plewis, I. (2006), ‘Modelling non-response in the National Child Development Study’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A, 169, pp. 479–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofmeister, H. (2006), ‘Women's employment transitions and mobility in the United States: 1968 to 1991’ in Blossfeld, H.-P. and Hofmeister, H. (eds), Globalization, Uncertainty and Women's Careers: An International Comparison, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA, Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Hultin, M. (2003), ‘Some take the glass escalator, some hit the glass ceiling? Career consequences of occupational sex segregation’, Work and Occupations, 30, pp. 30–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, L.C. and MacInnes, J. (1991), ‘Employers’ labour use strategies – case studies’, Department of Employment Department Research Paper No. 87, London, Department of Employment.Google Scholar
Jacobs, S. (1999), ‘Trends in women's career patterns and in gender occupational mobility in Britain’, Gender, Work and Organization, 6, pp. 32–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joshi, H.E. and Newell, M.-L. (1987), ‘Job downgrading after childbearing’, in Uncles, M. (ed.), London Papers in Regional Science 18. Longitudinal Data Analysis: Methods and Applications, London, Pion, 89–102.Google Scholar
Joshi, H. and Paci, P. (1998), Unequal Pay for Women and Men: Evidence from the British Birth Cohort Studies, Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press.Google Scholar
Kalleberg, A.L. (2000), ‘Nonstandard employment relations: part-time, temporary and contract work’, Annual Review of Sociology, 26, pp. 341–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalmijn, M. and Luijkx, R. (2006), ‘Changes in women's employment and occupational mobility in the Netherlands: 1955 to 2000’, in Blossfeld, H.-P. and Hofmeister, H. (eds), Globalization, Uncertainty and Women's Careers: An International Comparison, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA, Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Makepeace, G., Dolton, P., Woods, L., Joshi, H. and Galinda-Rueda, F. (2003), ‘From school to the labour market’, in Ferri, E.Bynner, J. and Wadsworth, M. (eds), Changing Britain, Changing Lives: Three Generations at the Turn of the Century, London, Institute of Education, University of London.Google Scholar
Manning, A. and Petrolongo, B. (2008), ‘The part-time pay penalty for women in Britain’, The Economic Journal, 118, F28–f51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGregor, A. and Sproull, A. (1991), ‘Employer labour use strategies: analysis of a national survey’, Department of Employment Department Research Paper No. 83, London, Department of Employment.Google Scholar
Neuburger, J., Joshi, H. and Dex, S. (2010), ‘Part-time working and pay amongst Millennium Cohort Study mothers’, GeNet Working Paper, 2010-38, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Nickell, S. (1982), ‘The determinants of occupational success in Britain’, Review of Economic Studies, 59, pp. 43–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Reilly, J. and Bothfeld, S. (2002), ‘What happens after working part time? Integration, maintenance or exclusionary transitions in Britain and western Germany’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 26, pp. 409–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Reilly, J. and Fagan, C. (1998), Part-Time Prospects: An International Comparison of Part-Time Work across Europe, North America and the Pacific Rim, London, Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polachek, S.W. (1976), ‘Occupational segregation: an alternative hypothesis’, Journal of Contemporary Business, Winter Issue, pp. 1–12.Google Scholar
Reskin, B.F. (1988), ‘Bringing the men back in: sex differentiation and devaluation of women's work’ Gender and Society, 2, pp. 58–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reskin, B.F. and Hartmann, H.I. (1986), Women's Work, Men's Work: Sex Segregation on the Job, Washington DC, National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Savage, L. (2011), Snakes and Ladders: Who Climbs the Rungs of the Earnings Ladder, London, The Resolution Foundation.Google Scholar
Smeaton, D. (2006), ‘Work return rates after childbirth in the UK – trends, determinants and implications: a comparison of cohorts born in 1958 and 1970’, Work, Employment and Society, 20, pp. 5–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M., Fagan, C. and Rubery, J. (1998), ‘Where and why is part-time growing in Europe?’ in O'Reilly, J. and Fagan, C. (eds), Part-Time Prospects: An International Comparison of Part-Time Work in Europe, North America, and the Pacific Rim, New York, Routledge.Google Scholar
Sorensen, A.B. and Tuma, N.B. (1981), ‘Labour market structures and job mobility’, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 1, pp. 67–94.Google Scholar
Stewart, M.B. and Greenhalgh, C.A. (1984), ‘Work history patterns and the occupational attainment of women’, Economic Journal, 94, pp. 493–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilly, C. (1991), ‘Reasons for the continuing growth of part-time employment’, Monthly Labor Review, 114, pp. 10–18.Google Scholar
Tomlinson, J. (2006), ‘Women's work-life balance trajectories in the UK: reformulating choice and constraint in transitions through part-time work across the life-course’, British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 34 (3), pp. 365–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yamaguchi, K. (1991), Event History Analysis, Newbury Park, CA, Sage Publications, Inc.Google Scholar