Households’ responses to spousal job loss: ‘all change’ or ‘carry on as usual’?
Karon GushJames ScottHeather Laurie
Understanding Society Research Conference, 24-26 July 2013, University of Essex
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1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
UK Unemployment rate (aged 16+), seasonally adjusted
Men WomenSource: ONS, 2013
3
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995/9
6
1997/9
8
1999/0
0
2001/0
2
2003/0
4
2005/0
6
2007/0
8
2009/1
0
2011/1
20.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
Growth in equivalised household disposable income (UK households) Index:
1977=1
Source: ONS, 2013
4
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995/9
6
1997/9
8
1999/0
0
2001/0
2
2003/0
4
2005/0
6
2007/0
8
2009/1
0
2011/1
20.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
Growth in equivalised household disposable income (UK households) Index:
1977=1
Source: ONS, 2013
5
Job loss/reductions to paid working hours = a potentially serious threat to the economic stability of a household
What does this mean for the way paid and unpaid labour is shared between couples? In what ways does a partner react to changes in their spouses’ labour market
behaviour? What kinds of coping strategies do households adopt to weather periods of
economic uncertainty? What are the processes and motivations behind couples’ responses to changes
in labour market conditions?
Couple households’ responses to job loss
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Empirical results = mixed Added worker effect (AWE)
None: Layard et al (1980), Maloney (1987, 1991) Small: Lundberg (1985), Cullen & Gruber (2000) Small: pre-job loss, larger post-job loss: Stephens (2002) ‘Great Recession’:
Wives more likely to take on paid work in a recession Mattingly & Smith (2010)
Women with unemp. partners work more hours than those with emp.partners: Harkness & Evans (2011)
Discouraged worker effect (DWE) Bingley & Walker (2001) Disincentives UK tax and benefits system
Irwin & Morris (1993), McGinnity (2002), Harkness & Evans (2011)
Changes in spousal paid labour supply
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Process of ‘socially negotiated moral understandings’ (Duncan et al, 2003) Traditional ideologies remain/Challenge to ‘provider’ status
Legerski & Cornwall (2010), Jones (1992) Braun et al (2011)
The rise of the ‘dual breadwinner model’ Crompton & Harris (1999), Lewis (2001)
‘Resilience’ Strong capacities for coping with adversity - Harrow (2009) Batty and Cole
(2010) ‘Not a bottomless pit’ - Harrison (2010)
The division of labour within a household
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In what ways do couples act when faced with job loss:
Are these pro-active or re-active?
What kinds of short term and/or long term approaches do couples adopt?
Do they seek to maintain/regain their erstwhile share of paid and unpaid labour once their labour market prospects improve?
Research questions
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Primary data collection Associated Study on Understanding Society Sample selection
Understanding Society Innovation Panel Waves 1 - 4: cases experienced job loss or change in hours >10 hrs per week.
Purposive sample spread across England - clustered mainly in London/SE and the Midlands but including Devon/Lancs./ Cumbria/Yorks.
17 couples (30 respondents) 11 separately, 2 together, 4 one partner only
Methodology In-depth qualitative interviews Length = approx 30 mins – 1 hour Couples interviewed individually (where possible)
Data
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Do couples act pro-actively or reactively?
Respondents didn’t always see it coming, sometimes despite numerous outwards indicators of potential job loss
Avoid acting pro-actively on observable signs
Simply hope that if there are redundancies they won’t be affected.
This behaviour is evident in those who have experienced redundancy and those who are currently observing a downward turn in their employment context.
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“it was inevitable. They were going to sort of get rid of him....But it
was a shock. I think he sort of got an inkling it was going to happen,
but of course you go on and you think, “Oh, it might blow over,” but
you get a gut feeling....So I would say probably about four weeks,....
you know, before we knew. But even then, you know, we didn’t know.
And when it did happen, we were absolutely gobsmacked.” [Gail, Catering Assistant, Worcestershire.]
Anticipated shocks?Do couples act pro-actively or reactively?
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“You’ve got the choice of either hoping things are going to
get better or decide there’s some better opportunities
elsewhere, and to move and at the moment, I’m just
hanging in there...... I was put at risk redundancy-wise,
I’ve just come through that and it could well be that if
things don’t get better that will happen again. [Ian, IT Specialist, Berkshire]
‘Hanging in there’Do couples act pro-actively or reactively?
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Short term aims Short term measures
E.g. panicking and taking the first job that comes along - and sometimes later wishing they hadn’t
Long term aims Short term measures
E.g. concerns about lengthy workplace absences – need to act quickly to maintain a career
Long term measures E.g. changes in lifestyle
Short term and/or long term approaches?
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And I was thinking, who’s gonna want to employ me, nearly 50
years of age...I was quite surprised when they took me in. I
regretted going there...financially, we obviously, we got some
redundancy money to save...walking into a job straight away that
then becomes a bit of a benefit. But I just wish that I took a little
bit more time and...try and find something more suited to what I
want, you know, to what I would've enjoyed more rather than just
panicking and taking the first thing that sort of came along’ [Dave, Health Care Assistant, Worcestershire]
‘Panic’.....Short term and/or long term approaches?
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I didn’t really want to go full-time......my concern, when my last
school closed down was that...I’m not a cheap teacher anymore.
I’m not easy to employ because I’m more expensive. Students...
people just leaving college are obviously more a bit more
desirable because they’re cheaper with no experience but
nevertheless school budgets are...dictate that. My job...you need
to keep in my job otherwise, you lose touch what’s going on” [Wendy, Teacher, London]
Short term and/or long term approaches?
...to stay in the ‘game’....
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Lifestyle preferences Fostering, charity work, spending time with grandchildren,
starting a family
“...in a way, for us, it came at quite a good time because...they
said, “Yeah, you can start [IVF] in the June” and obviously, I got
made redundant in the June...... I did get offered a job just before
the shop closed and I was like in two minds to take it and then we
just decided, you know, just to concentrate on [the IVF] [Claire, Stay-at-home-mum, Devon]
......or a change of lifestyle.Short term and/or long term approaches?
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Emphasis on getting the unemployed partner back into work
Resistance to substantial changes in the share of paid and unpaid labour between couples
Other income smoothing techniques – ‘cutting down’ on general household expenditure/leisure activities, restructuring finances, drawing on savings and money from family
But things would have been different if in serious financial hardship
sdf
Do couples seek to maintain/regain erstwhile status quo?
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Well, when I'm looking for a job, [my wife] is up there with
me looking as well. And when I'm not at home, if I'm doing
something else, she's, she'll spend time looking for a job for
me on the Internet as well. [Dave, Health Care Assistant, Worcestershire]
No, I wouldn’t…well, no, I probably wouldn’t be able to
[increase work hours]. It’s only a morning nursery anyway,
and I do three mornings. And they wouldn’t take me on the
other two days if we haven’t got, you know, the children.
We’ve got enough staff, so I probably wouldn’t be able to
increase my hours. [Sarah, Nursery Assistant, Surrey]
Do couples seek to maintain/regain erstwhile status quo?
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Qualitative evidence offers some insight as to why the expected added worker effect in quantitative studies is often not present or quite small
The use of additional spousal labour as a response to unemployment is one response amongst a set of alternatives Couples may prefer to exhaust all other alternatives before
invoking additional spousal labour Couples seem work very hard to retain a status quo in their
division of labour Unless a change facilitates the realisation of a long term aim
To avoid making unnecessary changes to their share of labour couples appear to act re-actively
Conclusions
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Batty, E. and I. Cole (2010). Reslience and the recession in six deprived communities: Preparing for worse to come? Poverty and place programme. J. p. paper. York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Bingley, P & Walker, I (2001) “Household Unemployment and the Labour Supply of Married Women” in Economica Vol. 68 pp. 157-185
Braun, A; Vincent, C; & Ball, SJ (2011) “Working-class fathers and childcare: the economic and family contexts of fathering in the UK” in Community, Work & Family Vol. 14 (1) pp. 19-37
Crompton, R. & Harris, F. (1999) “Employment, Careers, and Families” in Crompton, R. (ed.) Restructuring Gender Relations and Employment: The Decline of the Male Breadwinner, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press
Cullen, JB & Gruber, J (2000) “Does Unemployment Insurance Crowd out Spousal Labor Supply?” in Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 18 (3) pp. 546-572
Duncan, S., R. Edwards, T. Reynolds and P. alldred (2003). "Motherhood, Paid Work and Partnering: Values and Theories." Work, Employment & Society 17(2): 309-330.
Harkness, S & Evans, M (2012) “The Employment Effects of Recession on Couples in the UK: Women’s and Household Employment Prospects and Partners’ Job Loss” in Journal of Social Policy Vol. 40 (4) pp. 675-693
Harrision, E (2013) “Bouncing back? Recession, resilience and everyday lives” in Critical Social Policy Vol. 33 (1) pp. 97-113
Jones, L (1992) “His Unemployment and Her Reaction: The Effect of Husbands' Unemployment on Wives” in Affilia Vol. 7 (1) pp. 59-73
References (1)
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Irwin, S & Morris, L (1993) “Social Security or Economic Insecurity? The Concentration of Unemployment (and Research) Within Households” in Journal of Social Policy Vol. 22 (3) pp. 349-372
Layard, R; Barton, M; & Zabalza, A (1980) “Married Women's Participation and Hours” in Economica Vol. 47 pp. 51-72
Legerski, EM & Cornwall, M (2010) “Working-class job loss, gender, and the negotiationof household labor” in Gender and Society Vol. 24 (4) pp. 447-474
Lewis, J. (2001). "The Decline of the Male Breadwinner Model: Implications for Work and Care." Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 8 (2): 152-169.
Lundberg, S (1985) “The Added Worker Effect” in Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 3 (1) pp. 11-37
Maloney, T (1987) “Employment constraints and the labor supply of married women: a re-examination of the added worker effect” in Journal of Human Resources Vol. 22 pp. 51-61.
Maloney, T (1991) “Unobserved Variables and the Elusive Added Worker Effect” in Economica Vol. 58 pp. 173-187
Mattingly, M & Smith, K (2010) “Changes in Wives’ Employment When HusbandsStop Working: A Recession-Prosperity Comparison” in Family Relations Vol. 59 pp. 343-359
McGinnity, F (2002) “The Labour-force Participation of the Wives of Unemployed Men Comparing Britain and West Germany Using Longitudinal Data” in European Sociological Review Vol. 18 (4) pp. 473-488
Stephens, M (2002) “Worker Displacement and the Added Worker Effect” in Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 20 (3) pp. 504-537
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