HOME-BASED WORK, GENDER AND TIME USE Jouko NATTI 1, Timo ANTTILA 2, Tomi OINAS 2 & Satu OJALA 1 1 University of Tampere, School of Social Sciences and.

HOME-BASED WORK, GENDER AND TIME USE

Jouko NATTI1, Timo ANTTILA2, Tomi OINAS2 & Satu OJALA1

1 University of Tampere, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Finland

2 University of Jyväskylä, Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, Finland

Funded by Academy of Finland

INTRODUCTION

• Focus on paid work at home– Increasing phenomenon, indicates changing

time-space relations of paid work– Mixed findings in earlier studies

• Extent– Different estimates (survey / diary data)– Duration: part-time / full-time– Timing: evening, weekend (Breedveld 2003)

Predictors

• Individual (family) factors– Older age (Callister & Dixon)– Family situation (spouse, children) (Golden

2008; Wight & Raley 2009)• Home infrastructure

– Separate space at home (Tietze & Musson 2002; Kossek et al. 2006)

• Work characteristics– High socioeconomic status, job autonomy

Time use consequences• Working time

– Longer working hours (Callister & Dixon 2001)– Commuting: no effect / shorter (Michelson &

Crouse 2002)• Household work: minor effects

– Men: less time to childcare (Wight & Raley 2009)

• Leisure: minor effects– Less social relations (Michelson 2002)

AIMS• (1) The extent, duration and timing of paid work at

home among women and men.

• (2) The predictors of home-based work. – Individual and family characteristics (age, children, and partner). – Home’s infrastructure (internet connection at home, number of

rooms at home), and – Work characteristics (socio-economic status, industry, and working

time autonomy),

• (3) The relationship of working at home to time use– Assumptions: HBW is linked to the lengthening of working hours,

reduced commuting time. – In addition, home-based work potentially increases time for

household work and child care, increases presence at home and time with family and decreases time for social relations.

DATA AND METHODS• Data

– Use of Time -study (2009-2010), collected by Statistics Finland.

– Time use diaries (7.480 days)– Focus on15-64 year old employees (n=3.382)

• Methods– Descriptive: cross tabulation– Multivariate: logistic regression (predictors)

and covariate analysis (time use)

1. EXTENT OF HOMEWORKING• Interview data

– Only few (1% of men and 2% of women) said that they work at home only (full-time)

– Working occasionally or partially at home was more common (42% of men and 32% of women).

• Diary data– Operationalization: combination of main activity

(paid work) and location (home)– 7 % of men and 6 % of women worked (10+ min.) at

home during average diary day

• Results vary depending on the type of data. – Focus on diary-based working at home.

Duration and timing• Duration (home-based workers)

– Mean 122 min. (men), 139 (women); – Distribution: 3+ hours 21 % (men), 24% women) (Fig.)– Gender differences: longer hours among women

• Timing – Weekly timing

• Weekdays 7-9 % (Monday 9-12 %; Friday 4 %)• Weekends 6 % (Saturday 3-5 %, Sunday 6-8 %)

– Season: Spring 8-9 %; Summer 3-6 %– Type of day: 9-10 % on working days, 5-6 % on

holidays, 3-4 % while being sick– Minor gender differences

HBW: distribution of duration

Prevalence of paid work at home among men and women during the day

(%, diary data, employees)

2. PREDICTORS OF HBW•Individual-level factors

• Age was classified into four groups (25-34, 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64 years old).

– Living with a partner or without a partner was indicated by Family status.

– Children were classified into two groups: no children at home, or at least one child less than 18 years old at home.

• Home infrastructure factors (Household interview data)• Internet connection (no, yes)• Number of rooms at home (1-2, 3-4, 5 or more)

• Work-related factors– Socio-economic status: manual workers, lower-level non-

manuals, upper-level non-manuals– Industry (NACE classification): 8 sectors– Working time autonomy was measured by asking respondents if

they can influence the starting and finishing times of their work by at least 30 minutes (no, yes).

Men Women Exp(B) (sig.) Exp(B) (sig.) Age (ref. 15-29) 30-39 ,948 1,087 40-49 ,924 1,226 50-64 1,075 1,322 Living with a partner (ref. No) 1,235 1,091 Children (ref. No children) 1,101 ,848 Number of rooms at home

(ref. 1-2)

3-4 1,992 2,284* 5+ 2,687* 2,680* Internet connection at home

(ref. No) 1,001 1,127

Socio-economic status Manual worker (ref) * *** Lower level white-collar 1,940 1,352 Upper level white-collar 2,441** 5,333*** Industry (ref. Manufacturing and construction) ** * Wholesale and retail trade, hotels 1,380 1,168 Transport, communication 1,692 ,872 Finance, business activities 1,199 1,166 Public administration ,749 ,661 Education 7,009*** 2,706* Health, social services 1,705 1,174 Other industry 3,270 1,351 Flexible working time (ref. Fixed starting and finishing

times) 1,306 ,871

Constant ,000 ,007 Chi Square 101,091 109,426 -2LL 668,944 787,677 Nagelkerke R square ,162 ,149 N 1492 1874

3. HBW AND TIME USE• In examining overall time use we apply

Robinson and Godbey’s (1997) classification of the main categories of primary activities.– paid work, – committed time for household maintenance, – personal time devoted for self – free time activities.

• Covariate analysis: estimated time use by comparison groups– Covariates: day type, background factors (age,

partner, children, socioeconomic status)

  Men Women

  Paid work at home Paid work at home

  NO YES Sig. NO YES Sig.

Contracted time 298 345 *** 252 285 ***paid work 271 319 *** 228 273 ***commuting 27 26   24 12 ***Committed time 159 139   208 241  household work 49 53   96 120  Construction, repairs and other 48 42   36 43  child care 18 8 * 25 40 *shopping and household travel 43 36   51 38 *Personal time 615 610   646 608 ***sleep 493 496   505 491  meals 77 72   81 66 ***groom 45 41   59 51 *Education (adult) 4 13   18 24  Free Time 354 326   311 277 *organizations 5 7   4 2  sports and exercise 40 28   36 33  culture and entertainment 5 7   6 4  reading 27 36   37 40  radio 3 1   2 2  television 128 113   93 95  socializing with family 6 3   7 8  socializing with friends 39 34   47 28 *hobbies 53 45   36 36  other free time 15 18   14 13  free time travel 33 32   27 17  

DISCUSSION• The extent of HBW is linked to the type of data

– Interview data: 34-43 %, diary data 6-7 %• Changes over time: some increase in interview data, no change

in diary data (1999 > 2009)

– Duration: Still supplementary (average: 2 hours per day)– Daily timing: morning, afternoon, evening (men)– Weekdays: high in Mondays, low in Fridays– Weekend days: high in Sundays, low in Saturdays

Predictors of HBW

• The role of individual and family (spouse, children) characteristics minor

• Best predictors: – work characteristics: high socioeconomic status

(women) and industry (men) – and home infrastructure (space)

Time use consequences

• Working time and commuting: stretching working hours– Longer working hours both among men and women,

less commuting time among women• Household activities: minor effects

– Women: home-based workers spent less time on shopping and more time on child care (men less)

• Personal time: less time among women– Women: home-based workers spent less time to

personal needs, especially to meals. • Leisure: minor effects

– Women: home-based workers spent less time to socializing with friends,

Limitations and strengths

• Limitations > further studies– Diary data (minutes):

• Higher limit for HBW hours (now 10 min)– Focus on employees

• Self-employed workers and freelancers missing– Finnish data > comparative perspective

• Strengths– Representative data– Combination of interview and diary data

Thank you!

[email protected]

Table 1. The extent (%) of paid work at home by gender in the interview data (employees only)

(in parentheses 1999-2000 figures)

Men Women

Paid work at home

- Work only at home 1 (1) 2 (3)

- Work sometimes or partly at home 42 (35) 32 (32)

- Does not work at all at home 57 (64) 66 (65)

Total 100 100

N 1500 1882

Motives (only home-based workers)

- Overtime 46 (42) 39 (38)

- Agreed (telework) 41 (44) 45 (41)

- Both 14 (10) 13 (9)

- Don't know 0 (3) 0 (4)

Total 100 100

N 107 121

Table 2. The extent (%) of paid work at home by gender in the diary data (employed persons)

Proportion of those who have done paid work at home during the diary days (%)

Men Women

Weekday 9 7 - Monday 12 9- Tuesday 9 6- Wednesday 8 7- Thursday 8 7- Friday 4 4Weekend 6 6- Saturday 5 3- Sunday 6 8Season of the year

- Winter (December-February) 7 8- Spring (March-May) 9 8- Summer (June-August) 6 3- Autumn (September-November) 7 7Type of the day

- Workday 10 9- Sick 3 4- Free day, weekend 1 1- Holiday 5 6- Other 9 5

Table 3. The duration (minutes) of paid work at home by gender in the diary data

Men WomenDuration of paid work at home (minutes)- Those who have worked at home 122 140

Distribution of paid work hours at home (%) - 0 93 94

- 10-50 min 3 2

- 1-2 t 3 2

- 3+ t 1 2

Only those working at homeDistribution of paid work hours at home (%) - 10-50 min 38 39

- 1-2 t 41 37

- 3+ t 21 24