Balancing Work and Family: The Impact of Job Characteristics on Gender Differences in Household Labor

Shih-Yi Chao, Academia Sinica

The majority of working couples in the U.S. prefer a gender-egalitarian approach to organizing work and family responsibilities, yet they often find themselves constrained by traditional divisions of labor, leading to suboptimal outcomes. This disconnect between gender values and practice may be due to the slow adoption of new workplace norms. To address this issue, this study uses the American Time Use Survey (2003-2019) in conjunction with O*NET data and employs OLS and decomposition methods to explore how job characteristics influence time spent on household labor and contribute to gender differences in this domain. The findings reveal that work hours are the most significant factor influencing involvement in household labor and account for much of the gender gap, particularly in childcare. Other time-related occupational characteristics, such as time pressure and autonomy, have started to impact household labor more recently, but their effects remain modest and do not significantly explain gender differences. This study underscores the importance of societal recognition and support for both men and women in their dual roles as workers and caregivers and highlights the need for investment in long-term infrastructure to better balance work and family life, especially in addressing the work devotion narrative.

Keywords: Families, Unions and Households, Gender Dynamics

See paper.