Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:17:33.341Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do ‘institutional complementarities’ foster female labour force participation?1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2015

OLIVIER THÉVENON
OLIVIER THÉVENON*
Affiliation:
OECD–Directorate of Employment and Social Affairs, 2 rue André Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, FranceINED - Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We analyse how female labour force participation responds to policies supporting the work-life balance, and do so using country-level data for 18 OECD countries from 1980 to 2007. Included is an original analysis of ‘complementarities’ between different policy measures, as well as of potential variations in their influence across different family policy regimes. The results highlight that expanded childcare service coverage affects women's labour market participation, which is greater in countries where support for working mothers is higher overall. But the influence of each single policy measure varies across regimes. Interactions between policy measures and the context in which they are implemented are important factors to consider since they can, for instance, either foster the positive impact of one measure or lessen the adverse effect of another.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 471 - 497
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2015 

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.)

Footnotes

1

Willem Adema, Lucie Davoine, Nuria Diez-Guardia, Monika Queisser, Margarita Estevez-Abe and seminar attendants at the OECD, OFCE, INED, NY 2014 conference of the Work and Family Research Network, Collegio Carlo Alberto are acknowledged for providing valuable comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Andrea Bassanini is also thanked for sharing his programs. The author has no financial or other material interests related to this project to disclose. I acknowledge the financial support of the European Commission for a former version of this work. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or its member countries.

References

Anghel, B., de la Rica, S. and Dolado, J. (2011), ‘The Effect of Public Sector Employment on Women's Labour Market Outcomes’, IZA Discussion Paper, No. 5825, Institut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (Institute for the Study of Labor), Bonn.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anxo, D., Fagan, C., Cebrian, I., and Moreno, G. (2007), ‘Patterns of Labour Market Integration in Europe: A Life Course Perspective on Time Policies’, Socio-Economic Review, 5 (2): 233–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aoki, M. (1994), ‘The Contingent Governance of Teams: Analysis of Institutional Complementarities’, International Economic Review, 35 (3): 657–676. Google Scholar
Bassanini, A. and Duval, R. (2006), ‘Employment Patterns in OECD Countries: Reassessing the Role of Policies and Institutions’, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 35, Paris: OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
Bassanini, A. and Duval, R. (2009), ‘Unemployment, Institutions, and Reform Complementarities: Re-assessing the Aggregate Evidence for OECD Countries’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 25 (1): 40–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blau, F. and Kahn, L. (2013), ‘Female Labour Supply: Why is the US falling Behind?’, IZA Discussion Paper N°7140, Institut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (Institute for the Study of Labour), Bonn.Google Scholar
Brambor, T., Clark, W., and Golder, M. (2006), ‘Understanding Interaction Models: Improving Empirical Analysis’, Policy Analysis, 14 (1): 63–82.Google Scholar
Braumoeller, B. (2004), ‘Hypothesis Testing and Multiplicative Interaction Terms’, International Organization, 58 (4): 807–820.Google Scholar
Buddelmeyer, H., Mourre, G., and Ward, M. (2004), ‘Recent Developments in Part-Time Work in EU-15 Countries: Trends and Policy’, IZA Discussion Paper, No. 1415, Institüt zur Zukunft der Arbeit (Institute for the Study of Labour), Bonn.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erhel, C. and Guergoat-Larivière, M. (2013), ‘Labour Market Regimes, Family Policies and Women's Behaviour in the EU’, Feminist Economics, 19 (4): 76–109.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1999), Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estevez-Abe, M., Iversen, T., and Soskice, D (2001), ‘Social Protection and the Formation of Skills: A Reinterpretation of the Welfare State’, in Soskice, D. and Hall, P. (eds.), Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 145–183.Google Scholar
Fortin, N. (2005), ‘Gender Role Attitudes and the Labour Market Outcomes of Women Across OECD Countries’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 21 (3): 416–438.Google Scholar
Garibaldi, P. and Wasmer, E. (2004), ‘Raising Female Employment: Reflections and Policy Tools’, Journal of the European Economic Association, 2 (2–3): 1–12.Google Scholar
Goldstein, J., Sobotka, T., and Jasilioniene, A. (2009), ‘The End of ‘Lowest-Low’ Fertility?’, Population and Development Review, 35 (4): 663–699.Google Scholar
Gornick, J. and Jacobs, J. (1998), ‘Gender, The Welfare State and Public Employment: A Comparative Study of Seven Industrialized Countries’, American Sociological Review, 63 (5): 688–710.Google Scholar
Gornick, J. and Meyers, M. (2003), Families That Work: Policies for Reconciling Parenthood and Employment, New York: Russell Sage Foundation Press.Google Scholar
Hall, P. and Soskice, D. (2001), Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Häusermann, S. and Schwander, H. (2011), ‘Varieties of Dualization. Labor Market Segmentation and Insider-Outsider Divides across Regimes’, in Emmenegger, P., Häusermann, S., Palier, B. and Seeleib-Kaiser, M. (eds.), The Age of Dualization. Structures, Policies, Politics, New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jaumotte, F. (2003), ‘Female Labour Force Participation: Past Trends and Main Determinants in OECD Countries’, Economics Department Working Paper, No. 376, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Kurkowiak, B. (2012), Major Dispersion in Consumer Prices Across Europe. Comparative Price Levels in 37 European Countries for 2011, Statistics in Focus, 26/2012. Eurostat: Luxembourg.Google Scholar
Mandel, H. and Semyonov, M. (2005), ‘Family Policies, Wage Structures, and Gender Gaps: Sources of Earnings Inequality in 20 Countries’, American Sociological Review, 70 (6): 949–967.Google Scholar
Michaud, P. and Tatsiramos, K. (2009), ‘Fertility and Female Employment Dynamics in Europe: The Effect of using Alternative Econometric Modeling Assumptions’, Journal of Applied Econometrics, 26 (4): 641–668.Google Scholar
OECD (2010), ‘How Good is Part-Time Work?’, in Employment Outlook, Paris: OECD Publishing, pp. 201–266, www.oecd.org/els/employment/outlook.Google Scholar
OECD (2011), Doing Better for Families, Paris: OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
OECD (2012a), Closing the Gender Gap: Acting Now! Paris: OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
OECD (2012b), OECD Family Database, www.oecd.org/social/family/database, December 2012.Google Scholar
O’Reilly, J. and Fagan, C., (1998) (eds.), Part-time Prospects: An International Comparison of Part-time Work in Europe, North America and the Pacific Rim, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pissarides, C., Garibaldi, P., Olivetti, C., Petrongolo, B., and Wasmer, E. (2005), ‘Women in the Labour Force: How Well is Europe Doing?’, Paper Presented at the Fifth European Conference of the Fondazione Debenedetti, www.frdb.org.Google Scholar
Soskice, D. (2005), ‘Varieties of Capitalism and Cross-National Gender Differences’, Social Politics, 12 (2): 170–179.Google Scholar
Thévenon, O. (2006), ‘Régimes d’Etat Social et Convention Familiale: Une Analyse des Regulations Emploi-Famille’, Economies et Sociétés, Série Socio-économie du travail, 27 (6): 137–171.Google Scholar
Thévenon, O. (2009), ‘Increased Women's Labour Force Participation in Europe: Progress in the Work-Life Balance or Polarization of Behaviours?’, Population, 64 (2): pp. 235–272.Google Scholar
Thévenon, O. (2011), ‘Family Policies in OECD Countries: A Comparative Analysis’, Population and Development Review, 37 (2): 57–87.Google Scholar