THE CHANGING LIFE CYCLE PATTERN IN FEMALE EMPLOYMENT: A COMPARISON OF GERMANY AND THE UK

Employment rates of women have been rising but women are often part‐time employed and employment interruptions over the life‐cycle are linked to family formation. This paper analyzes empirically full‐time and part‐time employment of different skill groups of women in the UK and West Germany. Patterns of part‐time and full‐time employment are different across skill groups and countries. Full‐time employment declines and part‐time employment increases with age. Time trends do not change in a monotonous way across skill groups and they differ by country. The strong increase in part‐time rates in both countries over time can mainly be attributed to composition effects.