Domestic responsibilities as predictors of labour market attachment trajectories in men and women
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
ISSN: 0144-333X
Article publication date: 12 September 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether high responsibility for housework or childcare is related to weak labour market attachment.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data on domestic responsibilities in 1998 and 2003 were linked to register data on respondents’ employment spells for 2004-2011. Effects of the responsibilities on labour market trajectories – identified with latent class growth analyses – were analysed with multinomial logistic regression analyses.
Findings
Four trajectories for labour market attachment were identified among both genders. When adjusted for prior labour market attachment and other control variables, a high responsibility for housework predicted weak labour market attachment, compared to the trajectory of strong attachment, only among men. Compared to the trajectory of strengthening attachment, a high responsibility for housework was related to weak attachment among both men and women.
Research limitations/implications
Personal orientations may, to some extent, explain both the division on domestic responsibilities and attachment to the labour market. In the Finnish type of welfare state, domestic responsibilities have long-term effects, especially on men’s careers. More attention should be given to men’s roles in families and their possible consequences.
Originality/value
This is the first study analysing the division of domestic responsibilities on later labour market attachment among both genders. The strength of this study is the long follow-up time and methodology; it combines survey data at two time points and register data on employment spells over eight years, identifying patterns in employment with latent class growth analyses.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Academy of Finland (Grant No. 132668).
Citation
Peutere, L., Rautava, P. and Virtanen, P. (2017), "Domestic responsibilities as predictors of labour market attachment trajectories in men and women", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 37 No. 9/10, pp. 536-554. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-04-2016-0039
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited