The Great Recession and Unpaid Work Time in the United States: Does Poverty Matter?

Levy Economics Institute, Working Paper No. 806

41 Pages Posted: 4 Jun 2014 Last revised: 24 Aug 2014

See all articles by Tamar Khitarishvili

Tamar Khitarishvili

Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute

Kijong Kim

Levy Economics Institute of Bard College

Date Written: May 1, 2014

Abstract

Poverty status is an important factor influencing household production and the unpaid work time associated with it due to the role of household production as a coping strategy in mitigating the impact of economic downturns. In this paper, we examine the presence of poverty-based asymmetries in the unpaid work time changes of men and women during the Great Recession. Using the 2003-12 American Time Use Survey, we find that these changes indeed varied by poverty status. In particular, nonpoor women drove the reduction in unpaid work time among women. Among men, the lack of the change in unpaid work time masked the increase in poor men’s time and the decrease in nonpoor men’s time. Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions of the changes in the unpaid work time reveal that shifts in own and spousal employment status argely account for the gender-based differences in these changes, while shifts in the household structure partially explain the poverty-based differences. Nevertheless, sizable portions of the changes in time use remain unexplained by the shifting individual and household haracteristics. The latter finding supports the hypothesis of poverty-based variation in the unpaid work time adjustments in that poor and nonpoor individuals appeared to have responded to the recession in different ways.

Keywords: Time Use; Household Production; Poverty; Gender; Great Recession

JEL Classification: J22, D13, I32, J16

Suggested Citation

Khitarishvili, Tamar and Kim, Kijong, The Great Recession and Unpaid Work Time in the United States: Does Poverty Matter? (May 1, 2014). Levy Economics Institute, Working Paper No. 806, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2444768 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2444768

Tamar Khitarishvili (Contact Author)

Bard College - The Levy Economics Institute ( email )

Blithewood
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
United States

Kijong Kim

Levy Economics Institute of Bard College ( email )

Blithewood
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
United States
8457587738 (Phone)
8457581149 (Fax)

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