Part-Time Work, Gender and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from a Developing Country

37 Pages Posted: 2 Mar 2009

See all articles by Florencia López Bóo

Florencia López Bóo

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); Young Lives, Department of International Development, University of Oxford; IZA

Lucia Madrigal

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Carmen Pages

Inter-American Development Bank (IADB); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between part-time work and job satisfaction using a recent household survey from Honduras. In contrast to previous work for developed countries, this paper does not find a preference for part-time work among women. Instead, both women and men tend to prefer full- time work, although the preference for working longer hours is stronger for men. Consistent with an interpretation of working part-time as luxury consumption, the paper finds that partnered women with children, poor women or women working in the informal sector are more likely to prefer full-time work than single women, partnered women without children, non-poor women or women working in the formal sector. These results have important implications for the design of family and child care policies in low-income countries.

Keywords: job satisfaction, gender, part-time work, job flexibility

JEL Classification: C13, J16, J28

Suggested Citation

López Bóo, Florencia and Madrigal, Lucia and Pages-Serra, Carmen, Part-Time Work, Gender and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from a Developing Country. IZA Discussion Paper No. 3994, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1351158 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1351158

Florencia López Bóo (Contact Author)

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Young Lives, Department of International Development, University of Oxford ( email )

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Lucia Madrigal

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) ( email )

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Carmen Pages-Serra

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