Full Citation
Title: The Specialization Gap between Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples: The Difference Marriage Makes
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2019
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Abstract: Using recent household data from the American Community Survey, I examine the differences in specialization in market and home production between married and unmarried gay, lesbian, and different-sex couples. I construct four measures of household specialization: the probability that both members of a couple participate in the labor force, the probability that both work full-time, the absolute difference in weekly hours worked, and the absolute difference in yearly hours worked. I find strong evidence of a specialization gap between married and unmarried same-sex couples in that married couples specialize noticeably more than unmarried couples in a way similar to different-sex couples. However, married same-sex couples divide household labor more equally than married different-sex couples. Further, unmarried same-sex couples specialize even less than suggested by previous studies that combined married and unmarried same-sex couples in their sample. JEL Codes: D13, J12, J22
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Jones, Jordan
Publisher: Georgia State University
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Family and Marriage, Gender, Other, Work, Family, and Time
Countries: United States