The effect of job flexibility on female labor market outcomes: Estimates from a search and bargaining model

Abstract

In this article, we develop a search model of the labor market in which jobs are characterized by work-hours flexibility. Workers value flexibility, which is costly for employers to provide. We estimate the model on a sample of women extracted from the CPS. The model parameters are empirically identified because the accepted wage distributions of flexible and non-flexible jobs are directly related to the preference for flexibility parameters. Results show that more than one-third of women place a small, positive value on flexibility. Women with a college degree value flexibility more than women with only a high school degree. Counterfactual experiments show that flexibility has a substantial impact on the wage distribution but a negligible impact on the unemployment rate. These results suggest that wage and schooling differences between males and females may be importantly related to flexibility.

Gender Gaps in Education and Labor Market Outcomes in the United States: The Impact of Employers' Prejudice

“…Two possible sources of this behavior are: 1) gender and education-specific preferences for job amenities and 2) gender asymmetries in household-level decisions. An example of the first is the result in Flabbi and Moro (2012): women with a College degree value the job amenity "work flexibility" more than women with an High School degree. An example of the first is the result in Flabbi and Mabli (2012): once we take into account that labor market decisions are taken at the household level, gender differentials in wage offers are estimated to be smaller than in an individual search model.…”

“…We borrow the terminology of Flabbi and Moro (2012) to propose just one possible correlation between field of study choice, occupational choice and job characteristics 5 . Figure 3 reports 4 The most complete explanations proposed so far focus on the return to education on the marriage market [Chiappori, Iyigun, andWeiss (2009) andGE (2011)].…”

“…Figure 3 reports 4 The most complete explanations proposed so far focus on the return to education on the marriage market [Chiappori, Iyigun, andWeiss (2009) andGE (2011)]. For a different explanation based on job amenities, see Flabbi and Moro (2012). For international comparisons, see Becker, Hubbard and Murphy (2010).…”

“…This is a crucial limitation when comparing men and women since they have different preference over job characteristics. For example, Flabbi and Moro (2012) claim that job flexibility may be crucial in explaining not only gender differentials in the labor market but also gender differential in education. As a result, technology and legislation able to reduce the cost of part-time or tele-commuting may accommodate preferences for flexibility, increase the range of jobs available to women, and possibly decrease opportunities for prejudiced employers.…”

Labor Market Search, Informality and Schooling Investments

“…A typical value at which α h is calibrated is 0.5, corresponding to the symmetric bargaining case [Flabbi and Moro, 2012]. Other contributions set the value lower than 0.5 if they perceive that workers have a weaker bargaining position [Borowczyk-Martins et al, 2018].…”