IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_11300.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Work Meaning and the Flexibility Puzzle

Author

Listed:
  • Thimo De Schouwer
  • Iris Kesternich

Abstract

We study heterogeneity in the prevalence of and preferences for workplace flexibility and work meaning. We show that, internationally, women and parents value flexibility more but do not work more flexible jobs. The gender dimension of this flexibility puzzle is related to differences in meaningful work, which women value higher and sort into, at a significant price corresponding to 20 to 70% less flexibility. The parental dimension is connected to preferences for meaning and flexibility diverging after childbirth. We show through counterfactuals that making meaningful jobs more flexible reduces the gender gap in total compensation by almost a quarter.

Suggested Citation

  • Thimo De Schouwer & Iris Kesternich, 2024. "Work Meaning and the Flexibility Puzzle," CESifo Working Paper Series 11300, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11300
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp11300.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Le Barbanchon & Roland Rathelot & Alexandra Roulet, 2021. "Gender Differences in Job Search: Trading off Commute against Wage," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(1), pages 381-426.
    2. Viscusi, W Kip & Aldy, Joseph E, 2003. "The Value of a Statistical Life: A Critical Review of Market Estimates throughout the World," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 5-76, August.
    3. Kurt Lavetti, 2023. "Compensating Wage Differentials in Labor Markets: Empirical Challenges and Applications," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 189-212, Summer.
    4. James Albrecht & Aico van Vuuren & Susan Vroman, 2004. "Decomposing the Gender Wage Gap in the Netherlands with Sample Selection Adjustments," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-123/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. repec:reg:rpubli:282 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Claudia Goldin, 2014. "A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1091-1119, April.
    7. von Gaudecker, Hans-Martin & Holler, Radost & Simon, Lenard & Zimpelmann, Christian, 2023. "How has the increase in work from home impacted the parental division of labor?," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277603, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Kesternich, Iris & Schumacher, Heiner & Siflinger, Bettina & Schwarz, Stefan, 2021. "Money or meaning? Labor supply responses to work meaning of employed and unemployed individuals," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Markus Nagler & Johannes Rincke & Erwin Winkler, 2024. "Working from home, commuting, and gender," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(3), pages 1-23, September.
    2. Josep Amer-Mestre and Agnès Charpin, 2022. "Gender Differences in Early Occupational Choices: Evidence from Medical Specialty Selection," Economics Working Papers EUI ECO 2022/01, European University Institute.
    3. Kesternich, Iris & Schumacher, Heiner & Siflinger, Bettina & Valder, Franziska, 2022. "Reservation wages and labor supply," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 583-607.
    4. Azmat, Ghazala & Hensvik, Lena & Rosenqvist, Olof, 2020. "Workplace presenteeism, job substitutability and gender inequality," Working Paper Series 2020:9, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    5. Biermann, Marcus, 2024. "Remote talks: Changes to economics seminars during COVID-19," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    6. Hannah Illing & Johannes Schmieder & Simon Trenkle, 2024. "The Gender Gap in Earnings Losses After Job Displacement," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(5), pages 2108-2147.
    7. Borghorst, Malte & Mulalic, Ismir & van Ommeren, Jos, 2024. "Commuting, gender and children," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1ta425q4ev9o6a76uep4hjlunc is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Boring, Anne & Brown, Jennifer, 2024. "Gender and choices in higher education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    10. Corekcioglu, Gozde & Francesconi, Marco & Kunze, Astrid, 2024. "Expansions in paid parental leave and mothers’ economic progress," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    11. Itzik Fadlon & Frederik Plesner Lyngse & Torben Heien Nielsen, 2022. "Early Career Setbacks and Women’s Career-Family Trade-Off," CEBI working paper series 22-06, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    12. Gulia Bovini & Marta De Philippis & Lucia Rizzica, 2024. "The origins of the gender pay gap: education and job characteristics," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1470, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    13. Alexandre Mas & Amanda Pallais, 2017. "Valuing Alternative Work Arrangements," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(12), pages 3722-3759, December.
    14. Forth, John & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos, 2022. "Earnings Discrimination in the Workplace," IZA Discussion Papers 15357, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Benny, Liza & Bhalotra, Sonia & Fernández, Manuel, 2021. "Occupation flexibility and the graduate gender wage gap in the UK," ISER Working Paper Series 2021-05, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    16. von Gaudecker, Hans-Martin & Holler, Radost & Simon, Lenard & Zimpelmann, Christian, 2023. "How has the increase in work from home impacted the parental division of labor?," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277603, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    17. Matthieu Bunel & Dominique Meurs & Élisabeth Tovar, 2024. "Moving apart: job-driven residential mobility and the gender pay gap Evidence from a large industrial firm," Working Papers hal-04461137, HAL.
    18. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1ta425q4ev9o6a76uep4hjlunc is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Hannah Illing & Hanna Schwank & Linh T. Tô, 2024. "Hiring and the Dynamics of the Gender Gap," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 339, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    20. Carlos F. Avenancio-León & Alessio Piccolo & Leslie Sheng Shen, 2024. "Self-reinforcing Glass Ceilings," Working Papers 24-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    21. Lochner, Benjamin & Merkl, Christian, 2022. "Gender-Specific Application Behavior, Matching, and the Residual Gender Earnings Gap," IAB-Discussion Paper 202222, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    22. Barth, Erling & Kerr, Sari Pekkala & Olivetti, Claudia, 2021. "The dynamics of gender earnings differentials: Evidence from establishment data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    work meaning; workplace flexibility; gender; inequality; choice experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11300. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.
    pFad - Phonifier reborn

    Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

    Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


    Alternative Proxies:

    Alternative Proxy

    pFad Proxy

    pFad v3 Proxy

    pFad v4 Proxy