Women between Part-Time and Full-Time Work: The Influence of Changing Hours of Work on Happiness and Life-Satisfaction

42 Pages Posted: 17 Feb 2010

See all articles by Vanessa Gash

Vanessa Gash

The University of Manchester - School of Social Sciences

Antje Mertens

Berlin School of Economics and Law

Laura Romeu Gordo

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: February 2010

Abstract

This paper asks whether 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.

Keywords: Temporary Employment, Unemployment, Health

JEL Classification: J41, J64, I10

Suggested Citation

Gash, Vanessa and Mertens, Antje and Romeu Gordo, Laura, Women between Part-Time and Full-Time Work: The Influence of Changing Hours of Work on Happiness and Life-Satisfaction (February 2010). SOEPpaper No. 268, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1553702 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1553702

Vanessa Gash (Contact Author)

The University of Manchester - School of Social Sciences ( email )

Oxford Road
Manchester, M13 9PL
United Kingdom

Antje Mertens

Berlin School of Economics and Law ( email )

Badensche Strasse 50-51
Berlin, D-10825
Germany

Laura Romeu Gordo

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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