Honey, I’m Home: Maternal Employment and Spousal Work Schedules

Katie Genadek, University of Minnesota

The decision to enter the labor force for mothers is based on a variety of factors that includes characteristics of spouses. Husband’s work schedules, work hours, and flexibility of work time will play an important roll in this decision to enter the labor force, and additionally, in the decision to work part-time or a set number of hours. This paper uses detailed time-dairy and work schedules data to investigate the relationship between husband’s work schedules and maternal employment. Preliminary results suggest that married women with children are less likely to participate in the labor force when their husbands working until 6:00pm when compared to husbands that finish work before 6:00pm. This has important implications for policy makers, and for understanding the growth in married women’s labor force participation over the last fifty years.