Domestic responsibilities as predictors of labour market attachment trajectories in men and women

: Laura Peutere, Päivi Rautava, Pekka Virtanen

Publisher: EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD

: 2017

: International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy

: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL POLICY

: INT J SOCIOL SOC POL

: 37

: 9-10

: 536

: 554

: 19

: 0144-333X

: 1758-6720

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-04-2016-0039

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.