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How do fathers adjust their working hours after the birth of their first child? Though the impact of childbirth on women's employment is well-established, less is known about its effect on fathers. We investigate this question in the Netherlands (2006–2017), a country characterized by high prevalence of part-time work. We focus on two contexts that might shape the extent to which first-time fathers reduce their working hours after childbirth: the household and the organization. For this purpose, we use detailed longitudinal register data. The results reveal that men's employment displays a high degree of stability around childbirth: even in the Dutch "part-time economy," the vast majority of fathers remain full-time employed. We do find substantial heterogeneity in labor market responses after childbirth. Fathers earning relatively less than their partner pre-childbirth are more likely to scale down their working hours. The organizational gender composition is also associated with work hours reductions following childbirth. Although we find that fathers' employment is contingent on both the household and organizational context, the substantial stability in men's labor supply remains an obstacle to a more equal division of (un)paid labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dual Labour Market theory suggests that in collective bargaining, the perceived threat of outsiders leads to a more beneficial outcome for insiders, while the outsiders are further marginalized. The history of part-time employment in the Dutch labour market suggests a different path. After female labour force participation started to increase in the 1970s, the Netherlands witnessed a growing divide between core workers with a 'standard employment relationship', who were mostly male breadwinners, and part-time working women who were often underpaid and had little protection against dismissal and other social risks. Flexible part-time jobs, however, were not just desired by women who aspired to combine work and care, these jobs also fitted the needs of certain businesses, particularly in the retail sector. To prevent low wage competition between retail companies, unions in the retail sector started to demand equal treatment between part-time and full-time employees. To mitigate the burden of more expensive part-time jobs, however, several organizations promoted high-quality part-time work across the sectors so that part-time workers would not crowd in one sector. Eventually, this programme was meant to contribute to making voluntary part-time work a legitimate and fully fledged option in the Dutch labour market [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working part-time can potentially be a great means of reducing work-life conflict for parents of young children. However, research has not univocally found this attenuating relation, suggesting it may not be universal, but rather contingent on other factors. This study investigates whether the relation between part-time work and work-life conflict is contingent on workplace support and gender. Results show that short part-time work (<25 h) relates to lower levels of work-life conflict for both women and men. We find some evidence that workplace support affects this relation: short part-time working women in an organization with a family supportive organizational culture had lower levels of work-life conflict than short part-time working women in organizations with an unsupportive organizational culture. For men working short part-time we find tendencies in the same direction, although this falls short of conventional statistical significance. In addition, long part-time work (25–35 h) is not significantly related to (lower) work-life conflict for either women or men. In line with previous research, managerial support is found to be linked to lower levels of work-life conflict, irrespective of whether one works full-time or part-time. Notably, the relation between working part-time and work-life conflict does not differ for mothers and fathers, suggesting that this work-family policy could help both men and women reduce work-life conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many employees have gained more control over temporal and locational aspects of their work via a variety of flexible work arrangements, such as flexi-time and telehomework. This temporal and locational flexibility of work (TLF) is often seen as a means to facilitate the combination of work and private life. As such it has been recommended as a policy to increase the average number of working hours of part-time workers. To the best of our knowledge, the effectiveness of this policy instrument has not been tested empirically yet. We therefore analyse whether flexi-time and telehomework arrangements increase the number of actual, contracted, and preferred working hours. Based on Dutch household panel data, our results indicate that the link between TLF and working hours is quite weak. Telehomework is associated with moderate increases in actual hours, but not in contracted or preferred hours. Flexi-time generally does not seem to be associated with an increase in hours worked. Despite positive effects on job satisfaction and working time fit, we do not find any convincing evidence of a positive effect of TLF on labour supply. JEL classification: J22, J32, M52, M54 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Netherlands is often heralded for the success of its 'part-time model' of employment. Yet the supposed success of this model raises the question whether the Dutch part-time variant is the ideal gender-neutral policy approach. A comparative, longitudinal analysis of employment transitions in the Netherlands and the UK shows that while the Dutch part-time model may be unique, its outcomes are not. In both cases, gender inequality in employment transitions is evident. Gender inequality is apparent in Dutch care policy as well. Moreover, part-time work is quickly becoming the long-term norm for women's employment, even for women without care responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]