These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: The emergence of the working wife in Holland.
    Author: Hartog J, Theeuwes J.
    Journal: J Labor Econ; 1985 Jan; 3(1 Pt 2):S235-55. PubMed ID: 12267648.
    Abstract:
    The rate of married women's labor force participation is lower in the Netherlands than in similar industrialized countries; however, since the end of World War II, this rate increased from 0 to almost 25%. Using estimation results obtained with a probit model on a 1979 nationwide cross section, this paper reconstructs the postwar growth of this participation rate. 3 explantions for this change are: 1) apart from the baby boom right after the war, fertility rates have been steadily declining in the Netherlands, 2) the real wages of male and especially of female workers has risen enormously since 1947, and 3) an increase in female market earnings due to increased educational attainments. The behavior of female participation rates at prime ages are interpreted in light of developments in the patterns of family formation and dissolution; between 1945 and 1971, the frequency of marriage among females increased, and during the 1970s, marriage rates declined, especially among young women. The average number of children per family has diminished drastically; from 3 in 1950, to 2.75 in 1960, 2.05 in 1971, and 1.65 in 1974. Until 1972, a woman's labor earnings were added to her husband's income, since then, a woman's labor income is taxed separately from her husband's income. This change had a powerful effect on net earnings, and hence on participation, in particular among wives of high earning husbands. Findings show that children past primary school age have an indirect effect on participation through the negative effect on the predicted market wage; having another child older than 11 reduces the predicted wage rate by .12 and reduces participation from .70 to .61. The negative effect of children on participation diminishes strongly as the children grow older. From analyzing partial prediction effects, it is learned that real wage contributes substantially to the explanation of the observed long run change, especially female real wages. Overall, Dutch women are rather sensitive to increased economic opportunities in the labor market.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]