Evolving Structure of Female Work Activities: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Mature Women, 1967-1989

摘要

The market work behavior of adult women in the Uhited States has changed radically in the last several decades as a greater and greater share spend substantial time in the labor market. Despite this large time reallocation, comparatively little study has been devoted to the structure of the resulting work activities or to changes in that structure. In this study, data from the Mature Women's Cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey is used to characterize the life cycle evolution of work structure from an annual perspective. Work is partitioned into four categories based on two work dichotomies: full- or part-time weeks and full- or part-time hours per week. Three 'part-time' work possibilities exist in this framework: (i) part-time weeks and full-time hours per week, (ii) full-time weeks and part-time hours per week, and (iii) part-time weeks and hours per week.