Abstract
Using British data from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey, the author examines whether and how the relationship between schedule flexibility and wages differs by gender. Using a basic measure of whether the worker has discretion over the start and end times of work, men have more than twice the wage return to flexibility than do women, even within the same firm and detailed occupation. This difference cannot be explained by differences in household responsibilities or by differences in part time work by gender, but gender differences in job authority and autonomy do matter. Differences in the wage returns to this type of flexibility account for 10% of the gender wage gap, which suggests that understanding the underlying cause for the disparity in the returns to flexibility is important for understanding the policy implications of promoting flexible work arrangements.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
