Workplace computerization and inequality in schedule control.

I investigate how computerization increases access to schedule control and widens the class disparity in access. I combine time-varying measurements of occupational-level computerization with individual-level data from the Current Population Survey (1991-2004) and the American Time Use Survey (2018). Results confirm that computerization is positively associated with schedule control, but this association is not robust to the inclusion of other aspects of occupations. The positive association between educational attainment and schedule control is greater among employees in highly computerized occupations. The results shed light on how computerization is related to inequality in access to schedule control, and in turn, work-family conflict and well-being.

National work-family policies and the occupational segregation of women and mothers in European countries, 1999-2016.

Some scholars hypothesize that although work-family policies help incorporate women into the labour market, they do so by integrating women, and mothers specifically, into female-dominated occupations. Some suggest that although these policies are 'good' for lower educated women, they harm higher educated women by concentrating them in female-dominated professions. We revisit this debate using the highest quality data brought to bear on this question to date. We use the EU Labour Force Survey 1999-2016 (n = 21 countries, 235 country-years, 2.5 million men and women aged 20-44), combined with an original collection of country-year indicators. Specifically, we examine how the two most widely studied work-family policies-paid parental leave and early childhood education and care (ECEC)-and public sector size affect occupational segregation for men and women by educational attainment and parental status. We find no evidence that 'generous' welfare states promote segregation. Rather, a specific policy-parental leave in excess of 9 months-promotes segregation between men and women broadly, but most acutely for non-tertiary-educated mothers. Findings are generally null for paid leave of up to 9 months. ECEC is associated with greater integration, particularly for tertiary-educated women. Large public sectors are associated with segregation, with both tertiary-educated men and women more likely to work in feminized occupations. Public sector size, however, is not as tightly bundled with work-family policies as previous work suggests.

National Family Policies and Mothers' Employment: How Earnings Inequality Shapes Policy Effects Across and Within Countries.

Although researchers generally agree that national family policies play a role in shaping mothers' employment, there is considerable debate about whether, how, and why policy effects vary across country contexts and within countries by mothers' educational attainment. We hypothesize that family policies interact with national levels of earnings inequality to differentially affect the employment outcomes of mothers by educational attainment. We develop hypotheses about the two most commonly studied family policies-early childhood education and care (ECEC) and paid parental leave. We test these hypotheses by establishing a novel linkage between the EU-Labour Force Survey and the Current Population Survey 1999-2016 (n = 23 countries, 299 country-years, 1.2 million mothers of young children), combined with an original collection of country-year indicators. Using multilevel models, we find that ECEC spending is associated with a greater likelihood of maternal employment, but the association is strongest for non-college educated mothers in high-inequality settings. The length of paid parental leave over six months is generally associated with a lower likelihood of maternal employment, but the association is most pronounced for mothers in high-inequality settings. We call for greater attention to the role of earnings inequality in shaping mothers' employment and conditioning policy effects.