Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Effects of Non-standard Employment on the Transition to Parenthood Within Couples: A Comparison of Germany and Australia

  • Published:
European Journal of Population Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Using longitudinal data from Germany and Australia for the 2001‒2013 period, this study investigates the link between non-standard employment, such as fixed-term contracts, temporary agency work, part-time and casual work, and first birth within couple relationships. In contrast to previous studies, competing risks event history models are estimated to simultaneously consider couples’ risks of first birth and of partnership dissolution. The results indicate, for example, that temporary employment of the female partner, and especially temporary agency work, decreases first birth risks in both countries. This suggests that women, in their dual role as primary carer and secondary earner, seek a secure employment position to return to after parental leave. In contrast, male partner’s part-time work negatively affects the first birth risk and simultaneously increases the risk of partnership dissolution only in Australia, suggesting a more important role of men as primary earners in this country. Overall, the study highlights the twofold impact of non-standard employment on fertility, consisting of a direct influence on the first birth risk among stable couples and an indirect influence through the risk of partnership dissolution.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Another source suggests that agency work has increased over the 2001‒2006 period, from around 350,000 in May 2001 to around 550,000 in May 2006 (BA 2016).

  2. These data were provided by the German Federal Statistical Office upon request. Note that breaks in the time series reduce the comparability of employment rates over time. Most notably, extrapolation was based on the 1987 Census until 2010 and on the 2011 Census since then. Consequently, there has been a jump in the maternal employment rate by 2.7 percentage points between 2010 and 2011.

  3. A parental leave payment specifically targeted at fathers, named Dad and Partner Pay, followed in 2013. It involves up to 2 weeks of pay at national minimum wage level. The analysis in this paper cannot account for this benefit, however, as it only includes births up to the year 2012.

  4. Whereas the HILDA Survey includes retrospective questions on the date at which couples started living together, in the SOEP data preparation had to rely primarily on observing couples moving in together during the panel. Around 16% of the SOEP couples had to be discarded due to the lack of information on the date of moving in together.

  5. Waves 2012 and 2013 are not used in the estimation as it requires up to two subsequent waves to establish whether a point in time was followed by a pregnancy given that many births are only reported two waves later.

  6. Whereas the option “not applicable” is mainly designed for the self-employed, around 5% of employees in the analysis sample also chose this response. Of this group, more than a third were Beamte, a type of state official that is not issued with an employment contract. Given that Beamte are generally hired for life after a few years of probation, Beamte reporting not to have a contract were re-classified as permanent workers.

  7. The “other contract” category had extremely few cases, and these were thus discarded.

  8. In the SOEP sample, a small number of observations (less than 2%) lacked information on usual working hours. In these cases, self-classification was used instead, with those identifying as part-time or marginal workers and those who consider themselves not working but worked in the last week classified as part-time workers.

  9. The largest group in this category are employees who report not to have an employment contract (and were not Beamte). The second largest group are workers classified by the SOEP as not working but who were working according to the ILO labour force concept.

  10. Around 1% of observations from the SOEP sample lacked information on health satisfaction. These values were imputed using the current state of health, which is measured on a five-point ordinal scale from “very good” to “bad”. Correlation between these variables is high (0.74).

  11. Broadly speaking, children are assigned to the household of the parent where they spend most of their time. As in both countries, most children live with their mother post-separation, the variable “resident children of the male partner” will capture a relatively small share of their children. However, the analysis cannot account for non-resident children given that not all these children are known in the SOEP. Further, resident children can be expected to have the strongest impact on partnership transitions.

  12. Note that income for the Australian self-employed is underestimated as the HILDA measure does not include business income.

  13. The interplay of part-time hours and a permanent contract was also formally tested by re-estimating Model 1 including a respective interaction term. For German women, results show that part-time hours are positively (but insignificantly so) associated with first birth risks for permanent workers, but significantly and negatively linked to first birth risks for temporary workers. Among Australian women, part-time hours are significantly and positively associated with first birth risks for permanent workers, but this association is weaker and statistically insignificant for temporary workers.

  14. The coefficient for fixed-term part-time work for Australian men is not reported due to very low cell size.

  15. It should be noted that the negative association of the broad category of temporary employment with women’s first birth risk (Model 1) remains statistically significant in both countries even if all working students are classified as “in education”.

References

  • Aletraris, L. (2010). How satisfied are they and why? A study of job satisfaction, job rewards, gender and temporary agency workers in Australia. Human Relations, 63(8), 1129–1155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allison, P. D. (1982). Discrete-time methods for the analysis of event histories. Sociological Methodology, 13, 61–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andress, H.-J., Golsch, K., & Schmidt, A. (2013). Applied panel data analysis for economic and social surveys. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auer, W., & Danzer, N. (2016). Fixed-term employment and fertility: Evidence from German micro data. CESifo Economic Studies, 62(4), 595–623.

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2013). Number of children ever born. http://stat.data.abs.gov.au/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ABS_CENSUS2011_B24. Accessed April 30, 2018.

  • Baxter, J. (2013). Parents working out work (Australian Family Trends 1). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter, J., Gray, M., Alexander, M., Strazdins, L., & Bittman, M. (2007). Mothers and fathers with young children: Paid employment, caring and wellbeing (Social policy research paper 30). Canberra: Department of Family and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. S. (1981). A treatise on the family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellmann, L., Grunau, P., Leber, U., & Noack, M. (2013). Weiterbildung atypisch Beschäftigter. Nürnberg: Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blossfeld, H.-P., Klijzing, E., Mills, M., & Kurz, K. (2005). Globalization, uncertainty and youth in society. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bothfeld, S., & O’Reilly, J. (2000). Moving up or moving out? Transitions through part-time employment in Britain and Germany. In J. O’Reilly, I. Cebrián, & M. Lallement (Eds.), Working-time changes: Social integration through transitional labour markets (pp. 132–172). Cheltenham/Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, D. (2007). Babies, budgets, and birthrates: Work/family policy in Australia 1996–2006. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 14(1), 31–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA). (2016). Leiharbeitnehmer und Verleihbetriebe: 1. Halbjahr 2015 (Arbeitsmarkt in Zahlen - Beschäftigungsstatistik). Nürnberg.

  • Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung (BiB). (2016). Frauen der Geburtsjahrgänge 1937 bis 1972 nach Anzahl der Kinder in Deutschland (Stand: 2012). Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung (BiB). https://www.bib.bund.de/Permalink.html?id=10244512. Accessed April 30, 2018.

  • Burgess, J., & Campbell, I. (1998). The nature and dimensions of precarious employment in Australia. Labour & Industry, 8(3), 5–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig, L., & Mullan, K. (2009). ‘The policeman and the part-time sales assistant’: Household labour supply, family time and subjective time pressure in Australia 1997–2006. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 40(4), 547–561.

    Google Scholar 

  • de La Rica, S., & Iza, A. (2005). Career planning in Spain: Do fixed-term contracts delay marriage and parenthood? Review of Economics of the Household, 3, 49–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Draca, M., & Green, C. (2004). The incidence and intensity of employer funded training: Australian evidence on the impact of flexible work. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 51(5), 609–625.

    Google Scholar 

  • Düntgen, A., & Diewald, M. (2008). Auswirkungen der Flexibilisierung von Beschäftigung auf eine erste Elternschaft. In M. Szydlik (Ed.), Flexibilisierung: Folgen für Arbeit und Familie (pp. 213–231). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dütsch, M. (2011). Wie prekär ist Zeitarbeit? Eine Analyse mit dem Matching-Ansatz. Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung, 43(4), 299–318.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, T., & Liefbroer, A. C. (2006). For richer, for poorer: The impact of macroeconomic conditions on union dissolution rates in the Netherlands 1972–1996. European Sociological Review, 22(5), 519–532.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, D., Hechter, M., & Kanazawa, S. (1994). A theory of the value of children. Demography, 31(3), 375–401.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giesecke, J. (2009). Socio-economic risks of atypical employment relationships: Evidence from the German labour market. European Sociological Review, 25(6), 629–646.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giesecke, J., & Groß, M. (2003). Temporary employment: Chance or risk? European Sociological Review, 19(2), 161–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, J. R., & Kreyenfeld, M. (2011). Has East Germany overtaken West Germany? Recent trends in order-specific fertility. Population and Development Review, 37(3), 453–472.

    Google Scholar 

  • González, M.-J., & Jurado-Guerrero, T. (2006). Remaining childless in affluent economies: A comparison of France, West Germany, Italy and Spain, 1994–2001. European Journal of Population, 22(4), 317–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, C. P., & Leeves, G. D. (2013). Job security, financial security and worker well-being: New evidence on the effects of flexible employment. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 60(2), 121–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heard, G., & Arunachalam, D. (2015). Fertility differentials. In G. Heard & D. Arunachalam (Eds.), Family formation in 21st century Australia (pp. 159–196). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heddendorp, H., & Lass, I. (2018). Atypische Beschäftigung = atypische Kinderbetreuung? Auswirkungen atypischer Beschäftigung auf Kinderbetreuungsarrangements. In D. Baron & P. B. Hill (Eds.), Atypische Beschäftigung und ihre sozialen Konsequenzen (pp. 123–155). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, D., Galinsky, E., & Morris, A. (1992). The effects of job characteristics on marital quality: Specifying linking mechanisms. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 54(1), 31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach (IfD). (2013). Monitor Familienleben 2013: Einstellungen der Bevölkerung zur Familienpolitik und zur Familie. Allensbach.

  • Jahn, E. (2015). Don’t worry, be flexible? Job satisfaction among flexible workers. Australian Journal of Labour Economics, 18(2), 147–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalleberg, A. L., Reskin, B., & Hudson, K. (2000). Bad jobs in America: Standard and nonstandard employment relations and job quality in the United States. American Sociological Review, 65(2), 256–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman, G., & Bernhardt, E. (2012). His and her job: What matters most for fertility plans and actual childbearing? Family Relations, 61(4), 686–697.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller, B., & Seifert, H. (2013). Atypical employment in Germany: Forms, development, patterns. Transfer, 19(4), 457–474.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kingsley, M. (2018). The influence of income and work hours on first birth for Australian women. Journal of Population Research, 35(2), 107–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, T. (2003). Die Geburt von Kindern in paarbezogener Perspektive. Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 32(6), 506–527.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kreyenfeld, M. (2010). Uncertainties in female employment careers and the postponement of parenthood in Germany. European Sociological Review, 26(3), 351–366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurz, K., Steinhage, N., & Golsch, K. (2005). Case study Germany: Global competition, uncertainty and the transition to adulthood. In H.-P. Blossfeld, E. Klijzing, M. Mills, & K. Kurz (Eds.), Globalization, uncertainty and youth in society (pp. 47–79). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert, S. J. (1990). Processes linking work and family: A critical review and research agenda. Human Relations, 43(3), 239–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lass, I., & Wooden, M. (2017). Measurement, prevalence and the socio-demographic structure of non-standard employment: The Australian case. Paper prepared for presentation at the IZA Labor Statistics Workshop: The Changing Structure of Work, held June 29–30, Bonn, 2017.

  • Lundström, K. E., & Andersson, G. (2012). Labor-market status, migrant status and first childbearing in Sweden. Demographic Research, 27, 719–742.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGinnity, F., Mertens, A., & Gundert, S. (2005). A bad start? Fixed-term contracts and the transition from education to work in West Germany. European Sociological Review, 21(4), 359–374.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mincer, J. (1963). Market prices, opportunity costs, and income effects. In C. F. Christ (Ed.), Measurement in economics: Studies in mathematical economics and econometrics in memory of Yehuda Grunfeld (pp. 67–82). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, M. D. S., & Vekker, A. (2001). An alternative look at temporary workers, their choices, and the growth in temporary employment. Journal of Labor Research, 22(2), 373–390.

    Google Scholar 

  • Offe, C., & Hinrichs, K. (1977). Sozialökonomie des Arbeitsmarktes und die Lage ‘benachteiligter’ Gruppen von Arbeitnehmern. In C. Offe (Ed.), Opfer des Arbeitsmarktes: Zur Theorie der strukturierten Arbeitslosigkeit (pp. 3–61). Neuwied, Darmstadt: Luchterhand.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oppenheimer, V. K. (1988). A theory of marriage timing. American Journal of Sociology, 94(3), 563–591.

    Google Scholar 

  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2013). OECD employment outlook 2013. Paris: OECD Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2017a). Benefits and wages: Statistics. http://www.oecd.org/els/benefits-and-wages-statistics.htm. Accessed August 11, 2018.

  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2017b). Real minimum wages. https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=RMW. Accessed August 20, 2018.

  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2018a). Family database. http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm. Accessed May 5, 2018.

  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2018b). Incidence of unemployment duration. https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=DUR_I. Accessed May 1, 2018.

  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2018c). Short-term labour market statistics: Unemployment rates by age and gender. http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=36499#. Accessed May 1, 2018.

  • Pailhé, A., & Solaz, A. (2012). The influence of employment uncertainty on childbearing in France: A tempo or quantum effect? Demographic Research, 26, 1–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfau-Effinger, B., & Sakac Magdalenić, S. (2009). Formal and informal work in the work-welfare arrangement of Germany. In B. Pfau-Effinger, L. Flaquer, & P. H. Jensen (Eds.), Formal and informal work: The hidden work regime in Europe (pp. 89–116). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pocock, B. (2003). The work/life collision: What work is doing to Australians and what to do about it. Sydney: Federation Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rabe-Hesketh, S., & Skrondal, A. (2012). Multilevel and longitudinal modeling using Stata: Volume II: Categorical responses, counts, and survival (3rd ed.). College Station, TX: Stata Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reimondos, A., Evans, A., & Gray, E. (2011). Reports of relationship timing: Missing data and couple agreement. Survey Research Methods, 5(2), 75–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, C. (2012). A cross-national perspective on unemployment and first births. European Journal of Population, 28(3), 303–335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soskice, D. (1991). The institutional infrastructure for international competitiveness: A comparative analysis of the UK and Germany. In A. B. Atkinson (Ed.), Economics for the new Europe: Proceedings of a conference held by the International Economic Association in Venice Italy November 1990 (pp. 45–66). Basingstoke: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Statistisches Bundesamt (StBA). (2015). Öffentliche Sozialleistungen. Statistik zum Elterngeld. Beendete Leistungsbezüge für im Jahr 2013 geborene Kinder. Wiesbaden.

  • Statistisches Bundesamt (StBA). (2017). Kinderlosigkeit, Geburten und Familien: Ergebnisse des Mikrozensus 2016. Wiesbaden.

  • Statistisches Bundesamt (StBA). (2018). Atypische Beschäftigung: Kernerwerbstätige nach einzelnen Beschäftigungsformen. Ergebnisse des Mikrozensus. https://www.destatis.de/DE/ZahlenFakten/GesamtwirtschaftUmwelt/Arbeitsmarkt/Erwerbstaetigkeit/TabellenArbeitskraefteerhebung/AtypKernerwerbErwerbsformZR.html. Accessed October 7, 2016.

  • Stewart, A., Forsyth, A. J., Irving, M., Johnstone, R., & McCrystal, S. (2016). Creighton & Stewart’s labour law. Annandale, NSW: The Federation Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sverke, M., Hellgren, J., & Näswall, K. (2002). No security: A meta-analysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 7(3), 242–264.

    Google Scholar 

  • The World Bank. (2016). Fertility rate, total (births per woman). http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN?page=2. Accessed April 14, 2016.

  • Tölke, A., & Diewald, M. (2003). Insecurities in employment and occupational careers and their impact on the transition to fatherhood in Western Germany. Demographic Research, 9, 41–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, M., & Weiß, B. (2006). On the variation of divorce risks in Europe: Findings from a meta-analysis of European longitudinal studies. European Sociological Review, 22(5), 483–500.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, N., & Wooden, M. (2012). The HILDA Survey: A case study in the design and development of a successful household panel study. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 3(3), 369–381.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weston, R., Qu, L., Parker, R., & Alexander, M. (2004). “It’s not for lack of wanting kids”: A report on the Fertility Decision Making Project. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkins, R., & Wooden, M. (2013). Gender differences in involuntary job loss: Why are men more likely to lose their jobs? Industrial Relations, 52(2), 582–608.

    Google Scholar 

  • Willekens, F. J. (1991). Understanding the interdepence between parallel careers. In J. J. Siegers, J. de Jong-Gierveld, & E. van Imhoff (Eds.), Female labour market behaviour and fertility: A rational-choice approach (pp. 11–31). Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wingerter, C. (2009). Der Wandel der Erwerbsformen und seine Bedeutung für die Einkommenssituation Erwerbstätiger (Wirtschaft und Statistik 11). Wiesbaden: Statistisches Bundesamt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamaguchi, K. (1991). Event history analysis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This paper uses unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research. The SOEP data were made available by the German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin. I am grateful to Mark Wooden and Martin Diewald for helpful comments on previous versions of this paper.

Funding

Parts of this study were supported by a mobility grant of the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology, Bielefeld University, and under the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme (Project # DP160103171).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, L5, FBE Bldg, 111 Barry St, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Inga Laß

Authors
  1. Inga Laß
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Inga Laß.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares to have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Laß, I. The Effects of Non-standard Employment on the Transition to Parenthood Within Couples: A Comparison of Germany and Australia. Eur J Population 36, 843–874 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-019-09548-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-019-09548-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation