City Research Online

Abstract

This paper asks whether moving to part-time work makes women happy. Previous research on labour supply has assumed that as workers freely choose their optimal working hours on the basis of their innate preferences and the hourly wage rate, outcome reflects preference. This paper tests this assumption by measuring the impact of changes in working-hours on life satisfaction in two countries (the UK and Germany using the German Socio-Economic Panel and the British Household Panel Survey). We find decreases in working-hours bring about positive and significant improvement on well-being for women.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Gash, V., Mertens, A. & Romeu-Gordo, L. (2012). The Influence of Changing Hours of Work on Women’s Life-Satisfaction. The Manchester School, 80(1), pp. 51-74., which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9957.2011.02255.x. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Publisher Keywords:	Part-time employment, happiness, job switches
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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