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How care‐work employment shapes earnings in cross‐national perspective
Author(s) -
BUDIG Michelle J.,
MISRA Joya
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international labour review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.433
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1564-913X
pISSN - 0020-7780
DOI - 10.1111/j.1564-913x.2010.00097.x
Subject(s) - earnings , work (physics) , care work , labour economics , inequality , perspective (graphical) , economics , demographic economics , health care , wage , public sector , economic growth , accounting , mechanical engineering , mathematical analysis , mathematics , economy , artificial intelligence , computer science , engineering
. This article investigates the wage effects of employment in care work – conceptualized as work providing face‐to‐face client services that strengthen the health, skills or safety of recipients – in 12 countries representing a range of economic and policy contexts. While previous research has found an earnings penalty for care work, this article finds remarkable cross‐national variation in that effect. The authors find that worker characteristics and job characteristics shape the effect of care employment on earnings. They also consider how country‐level factors – earnings inequality, size of public sector, and trade union strength – impact upon cross‐national variation in the effect of care employment on earnings.