The typical U.S. workplace has adapted little to changes in the family and remains bound to norms of a workweek of 40 or more hours. How jobs are structured and remunerated within occupations shapes gender inequality in the labor market, and this may be particularly true at the critical juncture of parenthood. This study provides novel evidence showing how the inflexibility of occupational work hours shapes new mothers' employment. We use a fixed-effects approach and individual-level data from nationally representative panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (N = 2,239 women) merged with occupational characteristics from the American Community Survey. We find that women in pre-birth occupations with higher shares working 40 or more hours per week and higher wage premiums to longer work hours are significantly less likely to be employed post-birth. These associations are small in magnitude and not statistically significant for men, and placebo regressions with childless women show no associations between occupational inflexibility and subsequent employment. Results illustrate how individual employment decisions are jointly constrained by the structure of the labor market and persistent gendered cultural norms about breadwinning and caregiving.

中文翻译：

---

向生育过渡期间的职业不灵活性和妇女就业。


典型的美国工作场所几乎没有适应家庭的变化，并且仍然遵守每周工作 40 小时或以上的规范。职业中的工作结构和报酬方式决定了劳动力市场中的性别不平等，在为人父母的关键时刻尤其如此。这项研究提供了新颖的证据，表明职业工作时间的不灵活性如何影响新妈妈的就业。我们使用固定效应方法和来自收入和计划参与调查全国代表性小组（N = 2,239 名女性）的个人数据，并与美国社区调查的职业特征相结合。我们发现，从事产前职业的女性每周工作 40 小时或以上的比例较高，且工作时间较长的工资溢价较高，她们产后就业的可能性明显较低。这些关联的幅度很小，对于男性来说并不具有统计显着性，而对无子女女性的安慰剂回归显示，职业不灵活性和随后的就业之间没有关联。结果表明，个人就业决策如何受到劳动力市场结构和有关养家糊口和照料的持续性别文化规范的共同约束。