Gender segregation, underemployment and subjective well-being in the UK labour market

Kamerāde, D; Richardson, H

Abstract

This paper argues that gender segregation influences patterns of underemployment and the relationships that underemployment has with the subjective well-being of men and women. Previous studies have paid little attention to how gender segregation shapes underemployment, an increasingly prominent feature of the UK and European labour markets since the economic crisis of 2008. Using data from the UK Annual Population Surveys, this paper examines time-related underemployment: people working part-time because they cannot find a full-time job. The paper asks whether there are gender differences in underemployment trends and in the links between underemployment and subjective well-being. The results suggest that the probability of underemployment is growing at a faster rate among women rather than men and that underemployment is most common in the jobs that women are more likely to perform, namely in female-dominated occupations, the public sector, and small organisations. Underemployment is least common in male-dominated occupations and industries and in the private sector. Moreover, for employees with longer tenures, underemployment has more negative relationships with the subjective well-being of women than with that of men. These findings imply that gender segregation in labour markets is a crucial factor to consider when researching underemployment and its consequences.

Citation

Kamerāde, D., & Richardson, H. (2018). Gender segregation, underemployment and subjective well-being in the UK labour market. Human Relations, 71(2), 285-309. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726717713829

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 8, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Sep 8, 2017
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: May 8, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: May 8, 2017
• Journal: Human Relations
• Print ISSN: 0018-7267
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-282X
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Volume: 71
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 285-309
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726717713829
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0018726717713829
• Related Public URLs: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/hum