The dynamics between partners’ careers have implications for household and gender inequality as heterosexual unions are usually formed by two individuals with similar educational attainment where the man has a stronger labor market position. This paper examines how the partner’s occupational status relates to individual career outcomes, and how the association varies by gender. The literature reports conflicting expectations on the subject. Social capital theory suggests that an occupationally successful partner can be beneficial to one’s career because of useful contacts, information, and advice. Economic theory assumes a negative relationship between the resources of the partner and own career outcomes due to less time and effort spent in the labor market. Using multiple regression analysis predicting hourly wage, annual income, and career progression, the contrasting hypotheses are tested on Swedish panel data including 1,065 married or cohabitating individuals. Results show a positive correlation between the partner’s occupational status at the start of cohabitation and hourly wage and career progression. The association does not differ significantly between men and women. However, the findings show that gender is more important than the partners’ occupational status for the interaction between careers in dual-earner couples.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-144410 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Lewenhagen, Lars |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Sociologiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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