The influence of earlier adulthood transitions to employment outcomes of women in later life

Abstract

Hong Kong isfacing structural changes in the population composition prompting concerns about how to best engage non-working citizens, including women, in the labour force. There is current lack of understanding about the longer-term consequence of earlier adulthood transitions regarding family and career for later life employment outcomes, especially in the Hong Kong context. This study uses longitudinal data from four waves of the Panel Study of Social Dynamics in Hong Kong (HKPSSD) and proceeds in two stages. First we establish the key determinants of the gender wage gap using the full sample (n=2,739) highlighting the importance of marital status and children. In the second stage we restrict the sample to women aged 50-59 (n=950) to investigate how patterns in the timing of earlier adulthood transitions (age at first marriage/ birth of youngest child) are related to later life employment outcomes (labour force participation and earnings). We conduct sequence analysis to determine the individual life course trajectories from 18 years old for the sample followed by cluster analysis to derive a family life course typology. We identify four different profiles capturing the trajectories: 1) married with child(ren) (n=625); 2) never married but with child(ren) (n=83); 3) never married with no child (n=130); 4) married with no child (n=112). Regression analyses highlight the significant association between these trajectories and labour force participation (Multinomial) and earnings (OLS) in later life, controlling for other relevant covariates. The study offers insight into the how early family life course events are associated with women’s later life employment outcomes. Women face trade-offs regarding family formation and social reproduction on the one hand, and later employment and economic security on the other. Policy makers should address the structural barriers which women face to successfully combining employment and social reproduction, and consider the interrelated nature of labour market and family policy.