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Interactions between care-giving and paid work hours among European midlife women, 1994 to 1996

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2003

C. KATHARINA SPIESS  and
A. ULRIKE SCHNEIDER
C. KATHARINA SPIESS
Affiliation:
German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Berlin, and Berlin Technical University.
A. ULRIKE SCHNEIDER
Affiliation:
Department of Social Policy, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.
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Abstract

This paper uses data from the European Community Household Panel surveys of 1994 and 1996 to study the association between changes in care-giving and changes in weekly work hours. Our sample comprises women aged 45–59 years who participated in the labour force in at least one of the two years studied. Controlling for country variation, we find significant relationships between starting or increasing informal care-giving and changes in weekly work hours. No such association is found however among women terminating a care-giving commitment or reducing their care hours. Starting care-giving significantly reduces work hours for women in northern European countries (except Ireland). By contrast, women in southern Europe and Ireland respond to an increase in care-giving hours by a smaller increase or a higher decrease in work hours than non care-givers. In summary, our results show that the impact of care-giving on adjustments of weekly work hours is asymmetrical and that it differs in southern and northern Europe.

Keywords

employmentcare-givingelder careinformal carefamily carecare hourslong-term care policyEurope
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 41 - 68
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

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