Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Employment and wage trajectories for mothers entering low-skilled work: evidence from the British Lone Parent Cohort

Stewart, Kitty ORCID: 0000-0001-7744-8741 (2009) Employment and wage trajectories for mothers entering low-skilled work: evidence from the British Lone Parent Cohort. Social Policy and Administration, 43 (5). pp. 483-507. ISSN 0144-5596

Full text not available from this repository.

Identification Number: 10.1111/j.1467-9515.2009.00675.x

Abstract

UK government policy encourages mothers of young children in low-income families to enter or return to work, via tax credit subsidies and support for childcare. Maternal employment is seen a central plank in the campaign against child poverty, both because it raises income immediately and because working now is seen as paving the way to better employment prospects in the future. But there is little evidence about medium- and long-term outcomes for mothers entering low-skilled employment. We know little about how likely such women are to remain in work, let alone how likely they are to progress to higher-skilled and better-paid jobs. This article uses the British Lone Parent Cohort, a data set which tracked lone mothers from 1991 to 2001, to examine employment trajectories for up to 560 mothers with a youngest child under five at the start of the period. It creates a typology of trajectories over the decade, identifying the share of women broadly stable in work, those remaining at home and those following unstable pathways between the two. It goes on to explore the factors associated with different pathways, asking whether individual and household characteristics, job characteristics, or changes in circumstances such as new health problems are most important. Finally, the article examines differences in wage progression across groups of women following different pathways, and similarly tries to identify the main factors associated with faster progress.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0144-5596
Additional Information: © 2009 The Author
Divisions: Social Policy
Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Date Deposited: 11 Dec 2009 17:29
Last Modified: 13 Sep 2024 22:37
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/26293

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item