Female job satisfaction: can we explain the part-time puzzle?

Sarah Bridges and Trudy Owens

Oxford Economic Papers, 2017, vol. 69, issue 3, 782-808

Abstract: Although it is generally accepted that women who work part-time are, on average, more satisfied in their jobs than their full-time counterparts, this is unlikely to be true for all women. Using the British Household Panel Survey, we estimate the determinants of job satisfaction using a fixed-effects linear regression and define categories of women according to their level of education, age cohort, family circumstances, and pathway into part-time work. We show that women who work part-time are more satisfied with their jobs, although the effect is noticeably weaker for key groups: those born in or after 1970, the better educated, and those who enter part-time employment directly from full-time work. We argue that these results reflect shifting attitudes by women towards their employment. Women today, especially those belonging to the younger cohort, expect more from their jobs and are beginning to express dissatisfaction if this is not realized.

JEL-codes: J16 J22 J28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpw064 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:69:y:2017:i:3:p:782-808.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Oxford Economic Papers is currently edited by James Forder and Francis J. Teal

More articles in Oxford Economic Papers from Oxford University Press Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().