Does Home-based Work Offer Married Women Greater Opportunities for Full-time Employment and Earnings?

• In Event: 161 - Section on Organizations, Occupation and Work Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 16. Flexible Work and Family Leave Policies

Abstract

There is considerable debate over the impact of work-at-home opportunities for improving married women’s work-family compatibility. Some research finds that working from home increases schedule flexibility, enhancing women’s employment opportunities. Other research finds that women often take lower paying home-based jobs to coordinate work and family. This paper contributes to this debate by exploring the relationship between the demographic, socioeconomic, and employment characteristics of non-Hispanic, white married women and their spouses on women’s employment and work-at-home patterns. We use data from the 2008-2012 5-year American Community Survey that allow us to jointly consider the characteristics of married women and their spouses. In particular, we focus on differences in the predictors of working from home for women who are self-employed compared to employees. Our paper concludes with a discussion of the work-at-home arrangements that provide the most favorable full time employment and earnings opportunities for married women.

Authors

• Peter Mateyka, U.S. Census Bureau

• Liana Christin Landivar, U.S. Census Bureau