Wage Offers and Full-Time and Part-Time Employment by British Women

Abstract

Strong evidence in support of the hypothesis that women receive lower wage offers in part-time jobs than in full-time jobs is provided by estimation of wage offer functions for British women, which control for self-selection into these two types of jobs. Analysis of married women's employment decisions indicates that the difference in a woman's expected wage offers between full-time and part-time employment is an important determinant of whether she works full time, while husband's income mainly affects the decision of whether to work. In addition, it appears that women who work despite having observed characteristics that discourage employment are much more likely to work part time.