The Effect of Job Flexibility on Female Labor Market Outcomes: Estimates from a Search and Bargaining Model

40 Pages Posted: 22 Mar 2010

See all articles by Luca Flabbi

Luca Flabbi

RES - Inter-American Development Bank; Georgetown University - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Andrea Moro

Vanderbilt University - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics

Abstract

This paper develops and estimates a search model of the labor market where jobs are characterized by wages and work-hours flexibility. Flexibility is valued by workers, and is costly to provide for employers. The model generates observed wage distributions directly related to the preference for flexibility parameters: the higher the preference for flexibility, the wider is the support of the wage distribution at flexible jobs and the larger is the discontinuity between the wage distribution at flexible and non-flexible jobs. Estimation results show that more than one third of women place positive value to flexibility, with women with a college degree valuing flexibility more than women with a high school degree. Counterfactual experiments show that flexibility has a substantial impact on the wage distribution but not on the unemployment rate. We comment on the implications of our approach for gender differentials in wages and schooling.

Keywords: search model, work-hours flexibility, structural estimation

JEL Classification: J30, C5

Suggested Citation

Flabbi, Luca and Moro, Andrea, The Effect of Job Flexibility on Female Labor Market Outcomes: Estimates from a Search and Bargaining Model. IZA Discussion Paper No. 4829, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1575882 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1575882

Luca Flabbi (Contact Author)

RES - Inter-American Development Bank ( email )

1300 New York Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20577
United States

Georgetown University - Department of Economics ( email )

Washington, DC 20057
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/lf74/

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Andrea Moro

Vanderbilt University - College of Arts and Science - Department of Economics ( email )

Box 1819 Station B
Nashville, TN 37235
United States

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