The economic lifecycle by gender - results combining monetary and time use estimates

Abstract

"In recent decades, we have witnessed profound changes in family size and structure. While marriage rates and the number of children have declined in most industrialized countries, female labor force participation rates have risen significantly. However, while the working hours and wages of women have increased, we continue to observe huge discrepancies in market production by gender. This picture changes if we take unpaid household production, consumption, and caring into account. We find that, after applying this inclusive approach, the female lifecyle resembles male consumption, income, and transfer patterns. These findings have strong implications for future demographic change, as they suggest that the explicit policy aim of increasing female labor force participation could place constraints on the currently observed division of labor in the market and in the household." (author's abstract)