Human Capital - Effort - and the Sexual Division of Labor

Question: (1). Macunovich (2003) states, You will often encounter the claim that low birth rates have resulted from women's increased labor force participation, but you are equally likely to hear that it is the other way around: fertility declined, and therefore women were "freed up" to enter the labor force" (pp. 108-109). This is a classic example of the "chicken or egg" conundrum. Which do you feel came first, or do you believe the events happened simultaneously? Please support your answer using text material. (2). Using your own beliefs, please rank the following possible career arrangements for parents in the presence of young children. Also, provide a rationale for your rankings. a. both parents work full-time outside the home b. both parents work part-time c. wife full-time and husband part-time d. husband full-time and wife part-time e. husband full-time and wife at home f. wife full-time and husband at home. Answer: It is observed that over the fifty years, a remarkable drop in the birth rate has accompanied economic as well as social modernization in United States. In order to drive the economic growth, the nation around the world expanding the workforce. This happens due to the increase in womens education levels, increasing employment rate, which leads the women to drop the plan of having child. In addition, due to the increasing work pressure, women find it difficult to manage family and work. In addition, as the cost of living is high in the United Sates; the men have to do full-time job that puts a certain amount of pressure on them. Due to this factor, the quantity of sperm is decreased, which could also be the major reason. Ranking the following career arrangements Both parents work full-time outside the home 2/10 It is difficult for patents to look after a child if both are working outside the home. The child lacks proper care and nourishment. Both parents work part-time-4/10 In such context, the parents may get the time for their children. However, the time they get working as part-time may not be sufficient for a child. Wife full-time and husband part-time-3/10 A child requires proper nourishment from parents; especially from the mother. Husband full-time and wife part time-8/10 This should be the actual career arrangement as the cost of living can be managed and the parents get proper time for their child. Husband full-time and wife at home-6/10 In order to manage the cost of living, it may be necessary for both mother and father to earn money. Thus, a mother could do a part-time job and look after the child. Wife full-time and husband at home-3/10 In the earlier stage of human development, a child needs care and nourishment from his/her mother. If the mother works full-time, the child may lack proper care and it could emotionally affect the child. It is evident that in an urban area, the cost of living is comparatively high than the suburban area. Thus, both the parents manage the cost by doing a part-time and full time job and they hire a caretaker or a baby sitter for their child. In addition, they and keep their child under the supervision of play school. This requires a huge amount of money, which can be equalized with the average annual cost of public college tuition in the urban area. According to Shulma (2000), the care a child is even more expensive; in addition, if a family has more than one child in care, the overall expenses multiply in accordance to the requirement. Limited Workplace and Flexibility: According to the patens in the urban areas that their jobs are very inflexible with regard to scheduling and time off. The parents report this scenario often appears to be difficult to manage. It is difficult for them to find childcare facility. As the employment rate decreases, parents work in jobs with such as unfavourable benefits. Employment challenge and limitation: Most of the employment constraints parents faced with implications for their childcare opportunities and choices. On the contrary, the childcare could create obstacles to employment. As the employment benefits are low, the parents lack childcare options. Instability of work and earning: A large number of parents successfully found secure jobs but they have to deal with employment instability. It has been identified that some of the parents only are paid according to the availability of work. This makes the situation worse. According to the evidence provided by Hochschild (1989); there is a difference between the parents as well as children in attitudes towards based on the hierarchy in gender relationship. It is study, it is identified that men who share the work at home with their family members such as wife were not equal in characteristic than the men do not share the responsibility of housework. It is also observed that who share the work at home were trained by the patents to do chores at home to a large extent than the men who do not share the work. Furthermore, the study reveal that conflicts as well as the negotiation in a family exist because of not only the divergent goals; but also it may come due to the structure that mixes up the close involvement with social hierarchy and power relation. a). It is identified that married womens labour force participation increased dramatically from 4.6% in 1980 to 61.4% to 2000 (Mincer Polacheck 1974). This rise in female labour force participation forms the single most significant labour market trend in United States over the last few decades. On the contrary, mens labour force participation decreased dramatically from 81.3% in 1984 to 74.2% in 2000. This clearly show that above changing trends have implications concerning the secular change both in male and female human capital earning and acquisition . b) As opined by Jacobsen (2013), women earn less than the men do; it is due to the fact of division of labour within the family, which leads to productivity differences between the sexes. Further, anticipated responsibilities of running family influence womens decision about spending fewer years and less investment in market oriented skills. c) It is evident that women find it less profitable to invest in market-oriented skills for better employment opportunities. It is due to the discontinuous employment records depress their relative earning. a). According to the previous research, the occupational segregation is considered as the significant contributor to the gender-earning gap. The gender earning and the occupational segregation are inversely correlated (Becker, 1985). In 1980s, the decrease in occupational segregation was strongest and it is identified that womens earning was relative to mens earning, which indicates a biggest improvement. On the contrary, when the occupational integration declined, the improvement in the gender earning also declined. Becker (1985) divided the occupation into three different group such as predominantly female where the percentage of female workers were at least 75%, integrated occupations where the percentage female workers is fewer than 75% but more than 25% and lastly predominantly men occupations where the percentage of women is fewer than 25% of workers. This division is based on three requirements namely high skills, medium skills and lower skills. b). It is observed that the persistence of the gender wage gap leads to a search for explanation. It is identified that human capital explanation includes supply-side focus that revolves around the personal characteristics of working men as well as women (Treiman Hartmann (1981). On the contrary, demand side of human explanation focus on the characteristics of the jobs in which both and men usually work. Reference Becker, G. S. (1985). Human capital, effort, and the sexual division of labor. Journal of labor economics, S33-S58. Chertos, C. H., Haignere, L., Steinberg, R. J. (1982). Occupational Segregation and Its Impact on Working Women: Report of a Conference Held at the Ford Foundation, June 9, 1982. Center for Women in Government, State University of New York at Albany. Mincer, J., Polacheck, S. (1974). Family investments in human capital: Earnings of women. In Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital (pp. 397-431). University of Chicago Press. Treiman, D. J., Hartmann, H. I. (1981). Women, work, and wages: Equal pay for jobs of equal value (Vol. 2101). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.