Riding the Waves of Work and Life: Explaining Long-Term Experiences with Work Hour Mismatches

Social Forces ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 427-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Reynolds ◽  
Ashleigh Elain McKinzie

AbstractPaid work has become more precarious in the recent decades, prompting many conflicts between employers and employees, including struggles over work hours. To better understand these struggles, we provide the first examination of long-term experiences with work hour mismatches (i.e., gaps between the number of hours people prefer to work per week and the number of hours they actually work). Using sequence analysis and nearly two decades of data from the British Household Panel Study, we find heterogeneous but patterned experiences. Nearly everyone has an hour mismatch eventually (typically overemployment), and most people oscillate between having and not having hour mismatches. Existing theoretical accounts anticipate some hour mismatch sequences, but the data contradict several key predictions. Moreover, no account predicts the most dominant pattern: oscillating overemployment. We thus offer a new explanation, which proposes that hour mismatches usually come in waves but can be generated in different ways. Sometimes mismatches are caused by unstable work schedules. Other times, mismatches stem from inflexible work hours or job demands that intentionally or unintentionally prevent employees from altering their work hours to accommodate changing personal needs.

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 923-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNE E. VAN PUTTEN ◽  
JAN DIRK VLASBLOM ◽  
PEARL A. DYKSTRA ◽  
JOOP J. SCHIPPERS

ABSTRACTThis study assesses the relationship between the number of work hours and the provision of instrumental support to parents among 779 middle-aged women and men in dual-worker couples in The Netherlands. Using data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study collected during 2002–04, we estimate a simultaneous two-stage probit least-squares model, which takes into account that the competing time and financial demands of a person's engagement in paid work and parental support are endogenous. We explicitly control for the effects of partners' earnings, housework and parent-support contributions, and of co-resident children's time demands and help with domestic tasks. Contrary to expectations, the results do not reveal a conflict between paid work and giving support to parents. Several possible explanations are discussed. The results emphasise the importance of the household context, in that the work hours of both women and men depend on other household members' activities and finances, as does men's provision of parent-support. The striking lack of relationships between women's provision of parental support and any individual and contextual characteristic demonstrates the persistence of gendered roles in family members giving support.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Norberg ◽  
Kristina Alexanderson ◽  
Elisabeth Framke ◽  
Reiner Rugulies ◽  
Kristin Farrants

Background: Knowledge is needed on associations between job demands and job control and long-term sickness absence (SA) and unemployment. We explored associations of job demands and job control with SA/disability pension (DP) and unemployment among women and men in paid work. Methods: We included all 2,194,694 individuals living in Sweden in 2001, aged 30–54 years, and in paid work. The Swedish Job Exposure Matrix (JEM) was used to ascertain levels of job demands and job control. Individuals were categorized into nine groups based on combinations of high, medium, or low values on both demands and control. Using multinomial logistic regression, we estimated odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of job demands and job control with risk of long-term SA/DP (>183 net days) and long-term unemployment (>183 days). Results: Regarding SA/DP, among women the risk was highest for those in occupations with low demands and low control (OR=1.32; 95% CI: 1.28–1.36), whereas among men the risk was highest among those in occupations with high demands and low control (OR=1.22; 1.11–1.34). Regarding unemployment, among women the risk was highest among those in occupations with low demands and medium control (OR=1.30; 1.24–1.37), whereas among men the risk was highest for those in occupations with low demands and high control (OR=1.54; 1.46–1.62). Conclusions: Using a JEM among all in a population rather than for specific occupations gives a more comprehensive view of the associations between job demands/job control and long-term SA/DP and unemployment, respectively.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayodeji Olukoju

This article presents a long-term explanation of port evolution in Africa. It focuses on the economic, political and social characteristics that influenced the development of maritime infrastructures and their interaction with inland transport systems. This article demonstrates how seaport evolution in Africa has been heavily affected by path-dependence patterns. In addition, this study provides evidence of the insertion of the African economy into the waves of globalization through the modernization of seaports and the necessary institutional and technological flexibility.


2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122110252
Author(s):  
Sebastián Valenzuela ◽  
Daniel Halpern ◽  
Felipe Araneda

Despite widespread concern, research on the consequences of misinformation on people's attitudes is surprisingly scant. To fill in this gap, the current study examines the long-term relationship between misinformation and trust in the news media. Based on the reinforcing spirals model, we analyzed data from a three-wave panel survey collected in Chile between 2017 and 2019. We found a weak, over-time relationship between misinformation and media skepticism. Specifically, initial beliefs on factually dubious information were negatively correlated with subsequent levels of trust in the news media. Lower trust in the media, in turn, was related over time to higher levels of misinformation. However, we found no evidence of a reverse, parallel process where media trust shielded users against misinformation, further reinforcing trust in the news media. The lack of evidence of a downward spiral suggests that the corrosive effects of misinformation on attitudes toward the news media are less serious than originally suggested. We close with a discussion of directions for future research.


Author(s):  
Olga Grünwald ◽  
Marleen Damman ◽  
Kène Henkens

Abstract Objectives Research on retirees’ engagement in informal caregiving, formal volunteering, and grandparenting often views retirement as a permanent exit from the workforce. Retirement processes are, however, increasingly diverse: some retire fully while others remain in paid work after retirement from a career job. A relevant but understudied question is how these different retirement processes relate to changes in engagement in unpaid productive activities. Building on role theory, we hypothesize that full and working retirees face different consequences of retirement and, therefore, differ in engagement in unpaid productive activities. Methods We analyze data that were collected in 2015 and 2018 among 4,882 Dutch individuals aged 60-65 and employed at baseline. Around half had fully retired at follow-up and ten percent worked after their retirement. At follow-up, more respondents are regularly volunteering (from 17% to 27%) and grandparenting (from 39% to 53%) than at baseline, while caregiving remains rather stable (from 33% to 30%). Results Conditional change models show that full retirement is associated with an increased likelihood of volunteering and grandparenting, but not caregiving. Engagement in post-retirement work is related to an increased likelihood of looking after the grandchildren, but not to volunteering or providing informal care. Discussion Our findings suggest that volunteering is important for replacing weak ties after full retirement, while grandparenting might be a new, central role in retirement – irrespective of work engagement. Retirees seem to engage in unpaid productive activities for different reasons.


Author(s):  
Roderik Rekker ◽  
Joost van Spanje

Abstract This study examined if and for whom prosecution of politicians for hate speech undermines support for the legal system and democracy. Three research designs were combined to investigate the case of Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who was convicted for hate speech against minorities in 2016. First, an experiment showed that observing a guilty verdict decreased support among ‘assimilationists’ who oppose the multicultural society. This deterioration of support was found among the entire group of assimilationists, regardless of whether they voted for Wilders. Secondly, a quasi-experiment demonstrated that assimilationists who were interviewed after Wilders' conviction indicated less support than those who were interviewed before the verdict and compared to a pre-test. Thirdly, a nine-year panel study suggested that these effects accumulate into long-term discontent. This case therefore demonstrates that hate speech prosecution can damage the democratic system it is intended to defend.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 1620-1641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Hye-Won Kim ◽  
Changjun Lee ◽  
Young Kyung Do

Objectives: We examine how statutory workweeks affect workers’ provision of long-term care for their non-coresident elderly parents. Method: The Korean government reduced its statutory workweek from 44 to 40 hr, gradually from larger to smaller establishments, between 2004 and 2011. Using multiple regressions, we assess how the reduction affected visits, financial transfers, and in-kind transfers to parents. Annual longitudinal data come from the 2005 to 2013 waves of the Korea Labor and Income Panel Study. Results: The reduction caused an increase in the frequency of visits and in-kind transfers among male workers, with no significant impact on their financial transfers. Among female workers, we found no impact on any outcomes. Discussion: We interpret the findings within the context of developed Asian countries with long work hours and Confucian traditions, and suggest regulating workweeks as a policy tool to encourage familial long-term care in the rapidly aging societies.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liana Christin Landivar

In all developed countries, women, especially mothers, work fewer paid hours than their spouses. However, the magnitude of the gender gap varies significantly by country, ranging from 2 to 20 hours per week in this study. Using data from the 2002 International Social Survey Programme, this article investigates whether work-hour regulations have a significant effect on household allocation of paid labour and gender work-hour inequality. Two main types of work-hour regulations are examined: standard weekly work hours and the maximum allowable weekly work hours. Results show that households in countries with shorter maximum weekly work hours had less work-hour inequality between spouses, as each additional allowable overtime hour over the standard workweek increased the work-hour gap between couples by 20 minutes. These results indicate that couples’ inequality in work hours and gender inequality in labour supply are associated with country-level work-hour regulations.


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